Stratergies for Effective Communication

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

In communication with diversity within my family occurs with my precious bi-racial niece and nephew whose mother is Caucasian. Over time I have learned to understand, respect our differences as I have learned to adapt my behavior and we communicate well each other. We have developed interpersonal relationships.  However, there remain issues within some family members in communication effectively particularly, when dialogue becomes heated and communication shuts down between her family and mine when is the subject of prejudice comes up.  The children are left with much confusion.

Strategies to help me communicate more effectively with the Caucasian people in my family:  

1.       Develop motivation to learn and improve our acceptance of others who are different from us (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011).

2.       Develop knowledge to break barriers of having different communication codes to improve our and communication with the Caucasian member of our family to become (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011).

3.       Develop skills to adjust to others to overcome cultural barriers and individual differences to become other oriented in order to communicate effectively (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011).

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

 

 

 

 

Nonverbal Communication

The title of the show chosen was “Martin” and watching it with the sound off forced me to focus solely on the body movements and facial expressions of the characters. Based on the body language that consisted of eye contact and movements, facial expressions, smile, hugs, and touches I believe that the man and woman was a couple. They seemed to display feelings of affection and intimacy with each other by the way they hugged, leaned in close and glanced at each other across the room. The man and woman sat on the sofa next to each other, and the man put his arms around the woman’s shoulder and she laid her head on his chest and watched television. Throughout the show the same two men used key came into the house, got food, watched television, etc. I assumed they were relatives that lived there. The woman in the room walked to the door and opened it, threw both hands up and rolled her eyes at the man who was standing at the door. Based on her facial expression and hand gestures, I assumed that she was not happy to see the man.  

With the sound on the assumptions about the characters’ communication was fairly accurate. The man and woman was a couple and with the sound on they talked about daily events of their lives, work, dinner, etc. and how they loved each other. My assumption concerning the two men was incorrect because they were not relatives nor did they live there. I gained no insight of the plot by watching nonverbal behaviors.

My assumptions likely would have been more correct if I had watched the show because the plot and character would be familiar and I would have certain knowledge and expectations.

Insight gained from this experience is that nonverbal communication is convincing and tells a lot about what people are really saying through their verbal communication. I am realizing how influential nonverbal communication is as reinforcement to verbal communication (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012), which would be beneficial to understanding as I engage in forms of communication with my colleagues.

 

Competent Communication

My paternal Grandmother demonstrated competent communication within the framework of our extended family. In the midst of everything that went on amongst my four siblings, cousins, granddaddy, uncle, my parents and me; Grandmother communicated through a variety of ways of outside of verbal. Behaviors she exhibited that made her effective were her calm soft spoken voice, and loving direct demeanor that left no doubt of the message being conveyed. Her communication was representative of something and the majority of the time I was able to receive and interpret what was meant whether verbal or non-verbal communication was taking place. For example, by reading the message from her eyes when she gave certain looks or a hand gesture, I knew precisely what it meant and in return she knew what I meant through my responses. My grandmother seemed to be in sync with me when she communicated and I would like to model that behavior through my personal and professional communication. In my opinion, she matched the definition of the “competent communication model” which takes in account those sending and receiving the messages, the nature of communication and role of communicators and context in which they operate (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).

 

Hopes and Goals

Hope

·         I hope that children and families know that attitudes of bias and discrimination are not acceptable from anyone and they should be valued regardless of their race/ethnicity and language. It is also my hope that we in the early childhood field make assertive efforts to fight to be the voice for diversity, equity and fairness for children and families that we are blessed to have in our programs.

Goal

·         Early childhood field will educate itself concerning the importance of respecting individual and cultural differences in children and families in order to establish and promote equity and social justice for all children and families.

Note of thanks

·         Colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your perspectives and insights concerning cultural diversity, equity, social justice, and sharing your stories through your discussions and blogs. I wish you goodness and blessings as you go forward in your future endeavors at Walden and beyond. I would also like to thank Dr. Tuthill for her quick responses and feedback.  Again, thank you! Hopefully we will meet again!  

Welcoming Families From Around the World

My family migrated from Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 Ways to prepare myself to be culturally responsive in order to serve this family effectively in my early childhood setting would consist of:

1.    Becoming knowledgeable concerning the Vietnam’s history and cultural traditions.

2.       Being aware of my social identities and acquainting myself with the ecological systems that are a part of the child’s life.

3.       Respecting and validating cultural values and traditions in the program to include language.

4.       Establishing relationships with families and provide resources to provide lifelong success for both children and their families.

5.       Arranging environment and providing material and activities that reflect Vietnam’s culture and language.

      These preparations will enhance my abilities in providing high quality educational learning experiences for children and families. It is also my hope that these provisions will allow me to assist families in making necessary connections with the dominant culture to enhance their quality of life.

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

My memory of an incident occurred in my professional career at my workplace when I was denied a position that I was more than qualified for to a Caucasian colleague who was less qualified educationally and experience wise. It came down overtly from our Caucasian administrator that my Caucasian colleague would be the better fit for the position. She offered no clear explanation; however, it was obvious that it was an issue of race and privilege and I understood very well the hidden message. The incident created neither feelings of anger, hurt and resentment for being overlooked for what should have been my position without question if it was done on merits, but I did not possess the look nor culture of the dominant culture, and thus was disqualified.

In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity institutionalized discrimination and oppression in hiring and promotions practices in the work place has to be eradicated.  Internalized privilege and internalized oppression diminished the fairness in the incidence and robbed me of a promotion that was due based on education and years of experience.  So, instead of competitiveness there has to be a spirit of cooperation to work toward equally shared goals of promoting social justice.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

My nephew was diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder when he was five years old. This year he entered high school and is studying all day in the classroom with typical developing children. This week he was departing the bus after school at the bus stop when he experienced microassult by a couple of the bus riders. He was deliberately called retarded and mocked by them imitating how he flapped hands. I was surprised that it had happened in the presence of his mother and me as though we were not there. I was angry to discover that it happened previously and his mother was not informed by the bus driver. It was upsetting seeing him emotional and treated like that because of his differences.

The observation helped me realize how often and how easy people are hurt and harmed intentional or unintentional on a daily basis by comments. Individuals, leaderships, and communities at large have a lot of work to do resolve discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping. Will it really every rate as an issue of importance to seriously address in society?