I would like to thank all of my classmates for all their support, responses, discussions, suggestions, thoughts and ideas. They truly mean a lot to me and I appreciate them all. As we all embark on our specialization courses, we are coming down to the wire, before the big G...GRADUATION. I am sure all of you are just as excited as I am, and look forward to conquering these last few courses as we have done so gracefully with our prior courses. In this course, and from my counterparts, I take with me, all of the encouragement, advice, suggestions and applause's provided to me during these eight weeks. I truly loved the discussions we had during our DB and look forward to meeting all of you very soon.
I wish my 6165 community all the best and I pray that you will have a successful remaining school year...see you all soon!!!!!!
Best wishes,
Nicole Cunningham
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
It's Time For "Adjourning"
Adjourning, according to the authors, refers to "groups whose project or task has come to an end" (2012, O' Hair and Wiemann, p.257). As the end stage of group development, during this time, groups find themselves coming to a close and either anticipate or dread group separation. I can relate to the adjourning phase of group development, as I have experienced this myself, with my assistant teacher from last school year. That particular school, by far, was the most fun, exciting and productive school year I have had. The year went by so fast, that we did not even realize the school year had come to an end. The children had such a blast that school year, and we as teachers, had so much fun with the children. My teacher assistant has such a creative mind, and her ability to bring those creations to life was amazing. Working together, we were so productive in our doings both inside and outside the classroom. I dreaded ending that school, however, I look forward to working with her again in two years. As we ourselves prepare for the adjourning phase of our MSECS program, I look forward to taking with me all that I have learned from working with my groups. Although I may not have a particular physical attachment or connection to my classmates or educational community, I do look forward to meeting all of you as we prepare to walk together at GRADUATION!!!!!
References
References
O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M.
(2012). Real communication. An introduction. New York, NY:
Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
My most recent conflict...
The most recent conflict I had was with my husband. He loves to rent movies but when it's time to watch them, within fifteen minutes of the movie, he falls asleep. Just recently, he came home with two movies he just rented. Before he even put the movies in, I told him he was going to fall asleep. He argued with me claiming that he was not even tired and he wanted to see these movies. Sure enough, ten minutes into the movie, he was fast asleep. I was so upset. Not that he actually fell asleep, I knew he was going to do that, but the fact that he can never admit when he is tired. He actually fought with me for at least twenty minutes, after I woke him up the first time, claiming that he was not sleepy, and then, still fell asleep. I even attempted to change my choice of words in efforts to meet at some common ground, but that failed as well. I attempted to change my tone of voice, to show that I am not as angry as I appeared to be, but he still argued with me. At that point. I just gave up and let him sleep and I enjoyed both movies by myself. I did, however, refuse to give him any information about the movies, so now he is upset because he has to rent them all over again and watch them by himself.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
How Well Do You Communicate With Other Cultures?
Working as an Early Childhood Educator, I do find myself communicating with people of different cultures, religions, ethnicities, etc. Amongst my staff alone, in a professional setting, I communicate with various individuals from different cultures. I learned that some topics I can speak about with people of certain cultures, while other's do not understand exactly what I am talking about. As no one person is alike, I also talk differently with my own family members. For example, I can talk to my brother about music and making beats, but can not talk to my cousin about these topics. I can talk to my cousin about acting, but my brother would have no clue what I was talking about. We encounter different people of different cultures everyday, sometimes without even realizing it.
The same applies with my parents and children in my classroom. I communicate with all of my parents differently. The way I communicate with one parent may not be the best way to communicate with another. Some of my parents like my full honesty when discussing their children while other parents would rather not focus on the objectives that need enhancement but one the objectives already accomplished. Growing up in a Jamaican household, with a father and uncles who were raised by a father from Hong Kong, and an Irish grandfather, not to mention all who have lived under British rule for years, I have learned to adapt and communicate with others from different cultures. I have come to appreciate the essence of diversity within my parents and children, as I try to infuse such diversity into my classroom.
The same applies with my parents and children in my classroom. I communicate with all of my parents differently. The way I communicate with one parent may not be the best way to communicate with another. Some of my parents like my full honesty when discussing their children while other parents would rather not focus on the objectives that need enhancement but one the objectives already accomplished. Growing up in a Jamaican household, with a father and uncles who were raised by a father from Hong Kong, and an Irish grandfather, not to mention all who have lived under British rule for years, I have learned to adapt and communicate with others from different cultures. I have come to appreciate the essence of diversity within my parents and children, as I try to infuse such diversity into my classroom.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
How Would You Interpret This?
The show that I chose to watch was the "Modern Family". I have seen bits and pieces of this show, but was never truly intrigued by it. In the segment I was watching, the woman, who I already knew was the mother, was fussing at the young boy, who I already knew was the son. In the episode, based on body language, she was pregnant, and using her hands and fingers to gesture what she was saying. It appeared that she was fussing at the young boy, but the young boy was laughing. This was kind of confusing to me. Her hands were flaring in the air, and she was pointing her fingers at the young boy. Then she turned around, as though someone said something to her. That was even more confusing. As the young boy was laughing, she walked away, and it appeared as if she was crying. I assumed in this segment of the show, she was yelling at the young boy for something, and I guess the young boy found it hilarious.
After turning off the mute button, I learned that the mother was fussing at the boy because according to the son, she snores like a gorilla in heat. The mother was trying to explain to the son, and to the father, who was standing behind her, that because she was pregnant, her hormones were out of whack. This is when she begin to wave her hands and fingers in the air, demonstrating how passionate she was about the conversation at hand. When she turned around, was when the father made a comment about her snoring, which triggering the young boy to laugh even harder. The young boy was laughing because according to him, the mother has always tried to be this prissy individual, who thought it was unlady like for any woman to snore, and now she is the one snoring. The young boy found this hilarious, which was why he was laughing so hard.
My perceptions of the actions portrayed in the show were not too far off, but they were off in some points. I couldn't understand why the young boy was laughing so hard at the mother, while she was showing that she obviously was upset about something. Also, the boys facial expressions were also confusing, as I was trying to understand what he was implying, but had a hard time. The elements of communication demonstrated in this show was some what explanatory, but also kind of difficult to decipher. In this show, it also demonstrated that her method of communication was not very effective in getting her point across to her son and husband, as neither the son nor her husband took her seriously, or even attempted to understand her point of view. Clearly, her flaring her arms, hands and fingers in the son's face and in the air were not very effective ways in communicating her feelings and emotions regarding the topic.
Either way, I am still not intrigued by the show....lol
After turning off the mute button, I learned that the mother was fussing at the boy because according to the son, she snores like a gorilla in heat. The mother was trying to explain to the son, and to the father, who was standing behind her, that because she was pregnant, her hormones were out of whack. This is when she begin to wave her hands and fingers in the air, demonstrating how passionate she was about the conversation at hand. When she turned around, was when the father made a comment about her snoring, which triggering the young boy to laugh even harder. The young boy was laughing because according to him, the mother has always tried to be this prissy individual, who thought it was unlady like for any woman to snore, and now she is the one snoring. The young boy found this hilarious, which was why he was laughing so hard.
My perceptions of the actions portrayed in the show were not too far off, but they were off in some points. I couldn't understand why the young boy was laughing so hard at the mother, while she was showing that she obviously was upset about something. Also, the boys facial expressions were also confusing, as I was trying to understand what he was implying, but had a hard time. The elements of communication demonstrated in this show was some what explanatory, but also kind of difficult to decipher. In this show, it also demonstrated that her method of communication was not very effective in getting her point across to her son and husband, as neither the son nor her husband took her seriously, or even attempted to understand her point of view. Clearly, her flaring her arms, hands and fingers in the son's face and in the air were not very effective ways in communicating her feelings and emotions regarding the topic.
Either way, I am still not intrigued by the show....lol
Saturday, July 5, 2014
How Well Do You Communicate?
Growing up, I have encountered many forms of communication. For example, growing up in a Jamaican household, many of my family members, when excited, tend to speak extremely loud. One who is unfamiliar with this, would assume that an argument is taking place, when in fact, my family expresses their form of communication very passionately. One person, who I believe demonstrates competent communication is mother. I love they way she articulates her thoughts, how she allows the other individual to express their thoughts and concerns, no matter how much she may disagree, she does not interrupt. She just has this way of making the other individual think about about what they are saying. After they have said all they had to say, the look on their face is priceless. I have experienced this myself, too often. Now that I am older, and have my own family and children, I hope to one day develop the ability to be patient and listen first, before interrupting or disagreeing with another, no matter how passionate I am about the discussion.
Friday, June 27, 2014
My Professional Hopes and Goals for the Early Childhood Field
I would like to begin by thanking my 6164 Perspective Diversity community for all their support and guidance throughout these eight weeks. This course has been a very interesting one, and I wish my 6164 community all the best as they continue to strive for greatness throughout there MSECS program.
One hope that I have when thinking about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is providing these families with a level of acceptance and compassion beyond words. I always tell my husband, "actions speak louder than words", and providing diverse families of various backgrounds with a spirit of humbleness, acceptance and gratitude is the first step. The reason I say gratitude is because, without the diversity of these families, coming here to america and their willingness to expose and share their cultures with us, we would only have access to a limited level of diversity to display and share within our classrooms and amongst our children, so we should also be thankful that our multi-cultural families are open to sharing their cultures and levels of diversity with us.
One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is the hiring of more adequate and qualified teachers, who are open and humbled by the leverage that each of these variables hold. Diversity within a classroom is the epitome of our social world today. The level of inequity displayed in society today is the very reason why knowledge, comprehension and deliverance of equity in early child care is imperative today. We as teachers, often times become so engulfed in our biases, personal issues and internalized privileges that we disregard how our personal social injustices affect the social justices due to our children. It is time that we all jump on the same bang wagon and strive for the best for our young children, in the field of Early Childhood Education.
One hope that I have when thinking about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is providing these families with a level of acceptance and compassion beyond words. I always tell my husband, "actions speak louder than words", and providing diverse families of various backgrounds with a spirit of humbleness, acceptance and gratitude is the first step. The reason I say gratitude is because, without the diversity of these families, coming here to america and their willingness to expose and share their cultures with us, we would only have access to a limited level of diversity to display and share within our classrooms and amongst our children, so we should also be thankful that our multi-cultural families are open to sharing their cultures and levels of diversity with us.
One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is the hiring of more adequate and qualified teachers, who are open and humbled by the leverage that each of these variables hold. Diversity within a classroom is the epitome of our social world today. The level of inequity displayed in society today is the very reason why knowledge, comprehension and deliverance of equity in early child care is imperative today. We as teachers, often times become so engulfed in our biases, personal issues and internalized privileges that we disregard how our personal social injustices affect the social justices due to our children. It is time that we all jump on the same bang wagon and strive for the best for our young children, in the field of Early Childhood Education.
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