SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN HOW YOU ARE EVALUATED AS A COMMUNICATOR

On the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, my mom scores me in the moderate level. She says I’m respectful and considerate of all view points, and I know how to argue fair. She reminded me as a young adult we would discuss things with my father, and I would listen to their side before making a decision. I believe my mom is able to notice these attributes, because she knows my personality.

 

   It was amazing to learn how others see my communication skills differently from what I see for myself. I’ve learn that I’m a skilled communicator, but there are areas I need to improve to be an effective communicator to others.

     *  I’ve learn I need to improve my communication skills with my particular context encounters to lower my anxiety level in my personal life, and professionally life to work effectively.

   *   I’ve learn I need to improve my listening skills by focusing on more details in order to help my communication with my family members and colleagues.

COMMUNICATION AMONG OTHERS

I’ve always keep my personal life and professional life separate. It's very important to have standards of professionalism when interacting with colleagues. In my currently position, I’m a Head Start Teacher and during staff development meetings, my communication is always professional using high language (formal) and gestures. In my home environment around my friends and family, my guard is down, and I’m more relaxed. I use more low language (slang) when talking to friends and family. Also, when I work with families in the early childhood profession, I avoid speaking to families using words that could be intimidating. For example, “YOU NEED TO……!” Using a phrase like that with families can set the tone of the relationship and hinder building a quality relationship with the family. Also, it gives the impression that I’m tell them what to do. In my family culture, I may tell my children, “You need to complete your homework", which is acceptable in my family culture. So I believe communicating should be different based on the situation because individuals can take things the wrong way.

COMMUNICATION INTERPRETATION

“The Big Bang Theory” is a cable show I’ve never watched but seen so many commercial for it. I thought this would be a great opportunity to watch the show to interpret the communication. The show consists of friends that are scientists that are not the coolest guy to communicate with others outside the science world. Watching the show without sound was very interesting; I started to play close attention to the nonverbal cues such as gestures, movement, and eye contact to interpret the plot of the episode. I could interpret the relationship between the characters are close friends and they had similar interest.  I could tell the expression between the characters is friendly and could be serious at times. Watching the show with sound gave it a new light. There was a particular scene where one of the characters was actually telling a joke but his facial expression was so serious, but it was actually funny. Without hearing the joke I missed it the first time I watched the show. If I would have watched a TV show I was more familiar with I could have did a better job assuming on the plot and characters. The familiarity of watching previous episodes would lead me to interpret the show. What a "Oh My Stars" moment I had during this experience. Everything is not what it seems. It is important not prejudge from a gesture or look, but to examine the situation. Verbal communication can bring new mean to a conversation.

COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR

My supervisor demonstrates competent communication during our staff meetings by making sure that she maintains eye contact with everyone when she is speaking and by always having an agenda.  She allows everyone in the meeting a chance to share personal/professional news at the beginning of the meeting which sets a comfortable tone for everyone in the room.  She makes sure everyone understands everything being discussed and gives everyone a chance to ask questions after each topic on the agenda.  She always makes sure the meeting progresses without too many interruptions, and if an issue comes up that needs more individual attention, she asks the person to see her afterwards in order to keep the meeting on point and to a minimum.

I would want to model some of my own communication behaviors after her because I hate sitting in long, boring meetings, and I know many other people do as well.  I think she does an excellent job of making the staff meeting enjoyable as possible by keeping it to a minimum while making sure all points are covered.  She's always interested in learning new things from the staff and encouraging others to share.