So Long Farewell, but not goodbye!

My last blog post for at least a week and here I sit recollecting of the many times I have said goodbye.....Oh how it has been an adventure.  The late night emails and funny blogs that make my day after a hard work week or a stressed paper.  I thank everyone for their words of encouragement.  I guess you could say collaboration are the friends you make after the project is over.  I have made many friends here at Walden the last 14 months and especially in this course.  The knowledge everyone has shared has been profound and impacted my life as a teacher positively.  I wish everyone nothing but the best and hope the next few months are painless as most of us will be approaching graduation.  Just llok at it this way with each passing day we are closer to not writing anymore papers!!!!!!!!!! Good Luck and God Bless!! 

Adjourning.....

I believe the hardest groups to leave are the ones that we get the most support from and accomplish our goals.  A little over two years ago I graduated from Mount Olive College in which I was a part of the first cohort.  I met 15 women who impacted my life greatly and 1 great friend who has been my support system through it all.  This cohort meant everything to me.  We were like a family, we fought together, we collaborated together, and we let no one come between our successes.  I cannot imagine another time I was a part of a cohesive group that meant so much to me not form a professional stand point but also a very personal one too.  At the end of our long 18 month journey together  we celebrated by going to what we called the” last supper” and gave a small speech in which we told how each individual impacted our lives and then exchange a small gift.  I know that the experience I had at Mount Olive will not be like the one here at Walden as my relationships are not as intimate and I can only see their faces through pictures.  However, I do wish them the same success as my cohort and hope to see them in Washington D.C. changing the views of early childhood and impacting the world.  In the end, adjourning is critical to the stage process as it closes a chapter of accomplishments in one book in order so that you can move forward in opening a new one if you choose.  Reflection is a great achievement. 

Nonviolent Communication

I believe the two biggest strategies I have learned in my communication with others especially disagreements is to be respectful and receptive to the other person’s differences.  Often times, I have noticed it is not what you say in the disagreement but how you say it with force or not acknowledging the other person’s views.  There is nothing wrong with not agreeing with an individual.  However, how you respond could be a huge factor in being respectful and disrespectful.  Disagreements are often personal biases.  I believe if we were more open to other’s views even when we don’t agree we can still be receptive in trying to understand their opinion or biases.  I know yesterday I asked two of my colleagues their strategies for resolving conflict and they both said compromising and understanding the other person’s reason for their strong opinion.  I believe that the NVC of communication should be a training mandated for educators because it is often the conflicts in ourselves that separate our differences with families. 

 

Assumptions of Communication

I believe the biggest surprise that I gained from my mom, husband, and best friend evaluating me was that all of the scores were very close meaning they all knew me probably better than I did of myself.  I always try to be who I am and never change for anyone and well it seemed very apparent in the questionnaire as the scores were all eerily similar.  I believe what I have learned this week which was very profound for me was the appearance interaction theory.  I know as a young adult I use to pass judgment based on appearances, but as I got older I learned that appearances are not everything.  It is genuinely better to get to know someone and assume based on appearance because what you are really doing is passing on your own securities and sometimes your hidden prejudices.  This has been a very enlightening week on exposing true feelings of ignorance based on prejudices and not meeting a person but judging them based on their appearance.