Who Am I as a Communicator? 6165 Wk 4

Who Am I as a Communicator?



For the blog this week, I thought about the similarities and differences between how I evaluated myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me. The one thing that surprised me the most is that I felt that I was significant in verbal aggressiveness; with little provocation, I might cross the line of “argumentativeness” which might attack a person’s position or statements. My sister, whom I interviewed believed that I maintain a good balance between respect and consideration for others viewpoints. It was shocking to me that I was harder on myself than my sister was because, she often tells me that I interrupt her while she is talking. 

One insight about communication that I gained this week was that others think that even though I am a people person and love to talk, I often appear to feel somewhat concerned about a number of communication contexts, but probably not all.  A second insight about communication that I gained this week was  that  I sometimes might  feel that I am not concerned about others because, I watch my clock/watch or inform them that I do not have long to hear what they have to say because, I am in a time crunch. These two insights might affect my professional work and personal life by having others feel that I am not confident in what I know or teach to their children if I appear un-easy when speaking.  Secondly, if I appear as someone that provokes people while they are talking then, I might come across as a bully or someone that feels that others thoughts and beliefs are not significant.

Thinking About Cultural Diversity- Educ 6165 Wk3

Thinking about the cultural diversity I see in my colleagues, in my neighborhood, in my workplace, and also, possibly, within my family, I have considered all the aspects that make up culture, including race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, varying abilities, and so on and I used to find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures.  I used to be whatever environment that I was in.  Then, after going through a divorce and teaching my son to be “his own kind of wonderful”, “always love himself first”, and “Don’t let others define you”, I discovered my own kind of beautiful and realized that all the different groups and cultures I am affiliated with were not a part of my life because of my skin color but because, I  did not see their color; because I had a heart full of love and compassion for others.

Prior to becoming my own kind of beautiful, I used to change my voice when talking individuals or my persona, for example, when I was with my colleagues and family, I was cool, calm, collective, poised, and used proper grammar. Meanwhile, when I was with my husband, his family and friends, I would talk loud, utilize slang, and work hard to proof to them that I was “black, proud, rough and tuff”.  However, being a black American does not mean that you cannot be educated, tough, determined, well poised, speak correct grammar, be involved in and aware of political issues, and etc…  Thus, my ex-husband was blinded by all of these viewpoints and I worked hard my entire marriage to be all that he wanted me to be even though that “me” was not “me” and the “me” that I was raised to be and enjoy being in life. No matter what your culture, nationality, religion, size, height, color, and etc… love yourself first and the skin you’re in!

 

EDUC 6165 Wk2 - Communication continued...

     How I Met Your Mother

 

Over the course of the last two weeks we have focused on communication.  This week, we were asked to focus on various forms of non-verbal communication and how we as individuals, Educators, Children and Families are impacted by non- verbal communication.  Thus, for this week’s assignment, we were asked to focus on non-verbal communication by selecting a television show that we normally do not watch and record that show and watch it two times; first, without sound and next with sound. The television show that I selected was “How I Met Your Mother".

I watched this movie without sound and from just the images and facial expressions, it appeared to be a group of friends and siblings thinking back on how their mom and dad met.  Based on the non- verbal communication, it appeared that the group of individuals were have a blast; it looked like a modern day “friends” series. I then watched it with sound and discovered that my assumption was far-fetched. After watching the television show with sound, I watched the remainder of the first two seasons and then researched it to discover that it is based on the thoughts of one of the gentleman flashing back and expressing to his child the true story of how he met and fell in love with the child’s mom; the other cast members were just a part of the journey and reflections leading up to the marriage of the man’s wife.  I believe that my assumptions would have been more accurate if I had been watching a show that I knew well.

Educ 6165 Week 1 Blog Post- My Competent Communicator by Neketha Polley

 

My Competent Communicator...

 

My Dad has always been a great communicator who demonstrates competent communication.  My dad reads a lot to stay current on all the latest happenings around the world and foreign communication.  He majored in history in college.  He is a very good listener that always has an optimistic view on things.  My dad always goes the extra mile to help others. My dad has always taught me that listening is the most important part of communicating because you learn a lot when you listen to others.  I would love to model some of my own communication behaviors after my dad.  He believes that everyone should have a voice even if those voices do not always agree or say the same thing. He believes that communication is letting your voice be heard.  He often tells me this when dealing with my own son.  My son, like many children, talks to no end.  Often times at the end of a long day of work, it is just too much talking and I always say would you please stop talking. My dad will always tell me when he is visiting us, “let him talk until he gets out everything that he wants to say; let him get his point out”.  He will continue to let me know, just because he is little doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have anything to say; his voice should be heard. This sticks with me daily when communicating with other children; especially my own son. Therefore, I would love to model my dad’s communication skills because he is patient, open-minded, color-blind, and un-bias when communicating with others. My dad is a calm, loving, respectable, hardworking individual with great communication skills and I love him for teaching me all that I know including how to communicate with others.

Neketha Polley