Saturday, August 24, 2013
"Many Thanks, Best Wishes, and Many Blessings to my fellow Walden Students"
I wanted to thank my fellow Walden students and new friends for everything you have done for me. You have all been a wonderful support system to me. Online learning can be difficult at times. There has always been someone available with advice and feedback. I have enjoyed our discussions throughout all of our courses. We have all learned and grown so much together as professional early childhood professionals and individuals. I am forever grateful to each of you! Best wishes and many blessings for your career advancement and personal enrichment! Looking forward to finishing this adventure with all of you. We have all come so far! Congratulations! Cindy Rube
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Adjourning Stage of Team Development
Adjourning Stage of Team
Development
The Adjourning
stage of team development means the project will be coming to an end and the
team members celebrate their success or evaluate any problems and then capture
the best practices for future use (Abudi, 2010). My school works together each year to create
an atmosphere of fun, positive strategies with a sense of teamwork several
weeks before our standardized testing weeks for all of our students. Teachers decorate the hallways with banners
of encouragement. Our primary grades are
test buddies for the upper grades. They
provide snacks and create awesome art projects for the older students. We all gather together for a huge pep rally
the day before testing. Teachers perform
skits and dress-up in themed costumes.
The children sing, dance, and cheer.
By the time testing day arrives, the students and teachers feel more
prepared and relaxed. We have seen a
great improvement in attitudes and test scores.
It ends each year with each of us looking forward to next year. We start brainstorming ideas all throughout
the next year. Everyone shares a great
sense of accomplishment.
I have absolutely loved being a team with my fellow
Walden students with each course. It has
been amazing meeting and working with educators from all around the world. I appreciate how we encourage and support
each other with every new endeavor. This
has been a learning experience I will never forget. I hope we are able to keep in touch in the
future as colleagues.
References
Abudi,
G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution
Learning about conflict resolution has been very
helpful to me. I can see the benefits as
an educator working with students, families, and colleagues. However, I realize how essential these
strategies would have been for my family six years ago. My daughter was only two years old and we
were going through a difficult divorce process.
My ex-husband and I were on good terms and had communicated our wishes
with each other about visitation, child support, and hopes for our little girl. Unfortunately, his parents decided to
intervene and ask for their own “grandparent rights” and he did have
self-esteem and strength to go against them.
This was an unwarranted request; however, it had to be negotiated
through the court system. Their decision
completely changed the dynamic of the relationships and communication
completely broke down. Protecting my
child, along with hurt and anger became the central issue. We were unable to step back and evaluate both
sides; we were unable to identify and express our feelings that did not imply
judgment, criticism, or blame/punishment; we were unable to connect and relate
our own feelings and needs; and requests for resolutions were not heard –
everything resulted in making demands (NVC, n.d.). The extreme level of emotions and lack of
positive communication did not lend itself to being respectful, reciprocal, or
responsive to each other. It becomes very difficult to communicate with someone
appropriately when a negative third-party interferes with the process. I have no doubt that our divorce process and
following years would have been a much smoother transition had we been able to
use the above strategies. It has taken a
long time to rebuild a relationship of respectful, positive communication.
In conclusion, my
daughter finally gets to experience having parents that get along and
communicate positively with each other.
We are doing so much better that my daughter does not know why we ever
divorced. I am glad she does not
remember the hurt and arguments and she can see positive communication and
conflict resolution strategies. As an
educator, I will also use these strategies with my students along with my
daughter and her friends. I will
definitely take more time to see both sides and work towards positive, fair
results.
References
The
Center for Nonviolent Communication (n.d.).
The center for nonviolent communication.
Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/
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