Communicating with Others

I find that I communicate differently within different contexts and with different people.  The way I communicate with my children differs from how I communicate with my husband, and I communicate differently with my extended family.  I communicate differently with my colleagues at school than I do when we are away from work.  My friends are communicated with differently than all the rest.  All of the above people have different cultures and I communicate with them in different contexts.  There are professional, social, and just play contexts that I communicate within.  I am very professional within a professional context with my colleagues and during other times I am less professional. 

My nonverbal communication is what I really have to watch when communicating or attempting to communicate.  I think that my nonverbal language is used more often than my verbal communication.  However I am working on improving my nonverbal communication.

The things that I learned this week that will help me in my communication are the Platinum Rule, as it would be beneficial to me if I worked on looking beyond myself and taking in what others are feeling.  I also need to work on my tone of voice and my nonverbal communication skills. 

I am learning a lot about my communication skills and what I need to do to help improve these skills.

Communication in Television

This show seemed to jump from scene to scene.  The show started with small talk with a couple of teenagers cleaning the pool.  A lot of body language was used such as arm shrugs and pointing.  The facial expression was serious.  The next scene showed a housekeeper leaving the house her expression was tires.  Teenager went to room looked angry as he was making his life plan.  Teenager moves earphones away from ear as opens the door some small talk around the table. 

This show is about a dysfunctional family.  The teenager had a one night stand with a murder and takes responsibility for his baby when the murder was executed.  It was really hard to see that it was about a family until you got into it.  They all looked about same age except mamma that was considerately older. 

The communication that I saw would have been easier if I knew the characters that were in the story or the story theme.  I would probably make better observations if it was a show that I was familiar with.

This was somewhat challenging activity.  I have a hard time watching silent shows and then my family wanted to turn the volume on.

Effective Communicator

One of the most effective communicators that I had the privilege to listen to was Dr. Lillian Katz.  I heard her speak as a keynote speaker at the NCaeyc study conference a couple of years ago.  She is a very motivational speaker that maintains the attention of the group that she is speaking with.  She was respectful in her communication about children and used her life experiences as examples that went along with what she was talking about.  As the keynote speaker she had a large group of early childhood professionals to speak to and she did a very crowded two hour session afterwards.  She invited people to ask questions and to share their thoughts or experiences with the group.  This was a professional setting in which she used her body and voice to get her meaning across to the crowd of people listening to her.  Her message was received as questions were asked to make sure that they understood what she was saying.

           

Dr. Katz was very motivational in her speaking and I would recommend her if you ever got the opportunity to listen to her.