Communication Assessments

When I evaluated myself, I saw something's that I do need to work on as far as Verbal aggression. What surprised me was the fact that one person scored me lower than what I score myself and one person scored me slightly higher than what I scored myself. I didn't take anything personal because I am using these scores to help me improve in my communication skills. What I have gained this week is that communication is more than just speaking, but you can also communicate through your body language. We can sometimes look at a person and tell exactly how they feel based on the way they look.

Diverse communication

• Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

When I communicate with people who are from different groups and cultures, I find myself communicating with them in a different tone and I find myself being more proper and professional. When I talk to people who I am comfortable with and have known for years, I tend to get relaxed and more laid back. When communicating with my Hispanic families, I tend to learn and communicate with them in their own language. They really appreciate the effort I go to learn their language so I can communicate with them.  Communication is all about listening and hearing. You have to be able to do both. Effective communication is important I realize when I work with individuals and families are different background I am a really good listener and I tend to be more understanding then most of my colleagues.

NonVerbal Vs. Verbal Communication

No Sound
 
I decided to watch the show “The Secret Life of the American Teenager“. When the show came on the two main characters are a woman who seems to be a mother of the teenager. The teenage had on what seemed to be a band uniform. As the mother was talking to her the teenage facial expression became agitated. After a while, the woman allowed her to go and the woman finished cooking. The teen went into the bathroom and took a pregnancy test out of her bag. The teen took the test and by her facial expression, I believe the test came out positive. The next day, the teenager went to school based on the lockers, students and the text books. As she was walking to her locker, she looked very nervous as if she was looking for someone. As she was taking her books out of her locker, two girls came up to her locker and based on their body language, they seemed to be her friend, but the teenage did not look happy to see them.

With Sound

After watching the show with sound, I was correct about the woman and the teenager. The woman was her mother and the teenager was a member of the band. The mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner for her family and she making her daughter favorite meal. When she went to school, she went to her locker and attempted to take her books out of her locker. When the girls ran to see the teenager they were her friends. They ran up with excitement to tell her they saw someone. I realized she was nervous when she first saw them, She was asking them who they saw." Once the girls explained, She then began talking to them in a nervous tone about she had sex. Her friends then asked her "With who? When? Was it good? Did you like it? After that the girl went quiet and put her head down.

 

Communication Behaviors

When I think of someone who demonstrates competent communication I would have to say my mother. My mother is a beautiful person who is always there for me and my siblings. I state my mother because my mother is the type of person who will tell you what needs to be said; however, she will say It in a professional manner. Even when talking to me and my siblings about certain issues, my mother never raises her voice, use foul language, nor disrespect us in any way. My mother is so good with communication, that my family members use her as a communication person to get information out within the family. 

                When it comes to my mother and communication, I would want to model some of my communication behaviors after her because my mother loves being around people and so do I. This is why I chose the education field because I love being around people. Children are my passion and I love to see them grow. Even with young children, you have to have adequate communication with them. Because of how my mother interact with others who she may know and may not know makes me want to gain some of her communication behavior and use them within myself.

When I Think of Research

         Research is a routine that is done daily in most fields of employment including early childhood education. In early childhood education, situations and issues within the field change frequently which is why research is important to keep up to date in this field of education. During my time in this course, EDUC 6163, I have gained insight on information such as, getting consent from parents and participants to have research conducted on them, information that is allowed to remain confidential and information that cannot remain confidential due to mandates within early childhood education as well as state, local, and the federal laws, doing interviews on your participants to get to know them a little better, and many triangulation within research (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). When I researched information on NAEYC website, I learned that, "Children benefit from research when it used appropriately (Fleishman, 2006). When is comes to doing research, my view have changed because I learn research takes time to plan and conduct. Its not just about picking a topic and doing research on it, but about the process, time, and steps it takes to put research together. It is important that you take your time and make sure what you want to research will have a outcome instead of just a yes or no response, but explain why its either yes or no.

              
      The lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood that I learned is to prepare and plan before conducting research "Choose a topic that will be of interest and significance to other people" (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, Siraj-Blatchford, 2010, pg. 16), search for information on reliable sites, and know where you want to collect your data from and who will be included in your research. Research is a process and it takes time to have a successful research that will be valid, but you also have to make sure that what you observe is what you observed and not have any assumptions within it.


     When it comes to research, one challenge that I had was picking a question that I wanted to get an outcome about and one that wasn't to broad. Some ways I met this challenge was getting feed back from my professor, Dr. Parrish and some ides that she provided me. She has truly been a blessing and a big help to me in this class. I am grateful to have been able to learn more about research and the process of making a research valid and successful.


References

Fleishman, S. (2006). Research matters:  Moving to evidence based professional practice.
                 Educational Leadership, 63 (6), 87-90.

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research
                International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd  
                ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.). Using early childhood
                research. NAEYC. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/research/using 

Research Around the World

The website I decided to check out is Early Childhood Australia. This website has various resources for professionals, parents, webinars, Learning Hub, Modules, a facebook as well as a twitter page.
The most recent webinar was on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 1:00pm. This site also have webinars that you can purchase from past webinars that have already passed. When you first look on this site, on the left side of the site you will see free sector updates where you can receive newsletters, ECA events, and how you can advertise with them. The learning hub section consist of the "About, Webinars, learning modules education resources such as Asthma and Asthma Management, Babies and toddler: Amazing Learners, Children's Rights, Flexibility Practices and Patterns, Reconciliation Resources. Each provide information and facts that can help parents, educators, and other professionals. On this site, you are also able to become a member and gain various perks.

www.earlychildhoodaustrailia.org.au

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

As a mother to a young prince, I was scared when I found out he was born with a mild condition that can be deadly if its not treated. When my son was three days old, his father and I took him to his first doctor appointment to get his shots. We found out that our son had jaundice. Jaundice is yellow discoloration within the skin and eyes. It can be treated by placing your child under a UV lighting or by sitting your child in the natural sunlight. When we first found this out, I was terrified because I feared that if it wasn't treated correctly, I could risk losing my baby. I began to do my research on what I can do to help clear this faster. I was told by my son pediatrician as well as research online that breastmilk as well as constant bowel movements can help cure his jaundice. My son pediatrician also stated that I can open my curtains and sit my son in his bouncer in from of the son to help clear up his jaundice also because of the natural sun rays. Within two weeks, my son jaundice cleared up and his blood levels were normal. I was relieved and found that research can truly help you cure and ease your mind when it comes to various situation. I was relieved when I found out we no longer had to worry about my son having jaundice.