Walden Masters

Like many of you, here I am once again sitting in front of my computer. Writing to you, my colleagues. And as I look back, I catch myself smiling. I think about what an incredible road this has been that we have traveled together over these past fourteen months. I ponder, too how lucky I have been to experience these travels with many of you. This is I must say is one of the strangest ways to form a relationship. But even though it has worked. Through our computers, relationships have been created. And through our varied discussion posts, and our blogs I have grown to get to know you and have come to admire each of you! I feel too that I have had this great fortune to have grown, both personally and professionally because of you. And for that I say THANK-YOU!!

        I wish each of you all the best. My email address is Millicent1417@aol.com. I would love to keep in touch!

Take care, wishing you all the best.

Millie

       

Adjourning

        “Tuckman’s Stages” was based on research he conducted on team dynamics. He believed that these stages are inevitable in order for a team to grow to the point where they are functioning effectively together and delivering high quality results. The fifth stage “Adjourning,” is when the team is completing the current project. They will be joining other teams and moving on to other work in the future (Abundi, 2010).

When I consider, look back and equate which groups were hardest to leave, I immediately think of the group of professionals I worked with during my fifteen years as the early childhood special education teacher. Each year we had a ritual prior to the “IEP,” season. We would find a meeting place, either my classroom, a colleague’s house, or a meeting room at our office. We spent two to three days each year hashing out goals and objectives, and present levels for children we had been working with during the school year. Those children would be with us again the following year, so we reviewed their accomplishments and set goals for the next school year. What made these “group,” meetings so memorable as well as effective, is the fact that we were all on equal footing. No supervisor was present, we worked with one purpose in mind, and we worked hard and we had fun throughout the process. Leaving this group annually was often celebrated after the last IEP meeting was completed we went to a local restaurant and conversed about each of our own interpretations and reactions to the meetings.

This group of professionals was high performance kind of folks, and yes this group was hard to leave. Leaving the group wasn’t hard because we were so effective, leaving the group was hard because of the depth of the relationship we had with one another. We had built trust, and had great respect for each other, and in turn that’s what made it difficult to leave this group of professionals who became my good friends. 

Prior to my move across country, my good friend, called each of the members of this group, and we met at her house to enjoy one last evening together. We laughed, caught up and spent our time schmoozing. When the evening winded down, we said our good byes, and a few tears were shed.

I have been and worked with other groups of individuals, on varied levels, for different reasons, but I would have to say, this one was incredible.

When I look back at the experience of the Masters program, I must say I feel really good about the relationships that have been established with many of you. Though we had miles and a computer between us, I believe a wonderful connection has been established. And with that said, my hope is that when we go through commencement proceedings, my thought is that we can get together and meet in person. I am not sure which path each of you are embarking on, but know that I have gained great insight and knowledge from each of you. I so value that!

The process of adjourning provides a great sense of closure. It allows those professionals involved to reevaluate their shared efforts, celebrate their accomplishments and to try and communicate on a real personal level.

Millie

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Communication Strategies which Promote Conflict Resolution

 Just yesterday, I was mentoring a teacher; it was her fourth day working with preschool children. Her previous teaching experience is working with Junior High technology students. I had provided her with support a week previously and had asked her to hang a picture schedule for the children to follow. I had gone over examples, explained the reasoning behind it. When I arrived she had created two schedules, one that was hanging outside the classroom door for the parents to review and another hung in the classroom, above the child’s view. The schedule inside the classroom was non-child friendly. So, when I talked to her about the schedule, she immediately became angry and defensive.

I understand that she has little experience so initially I took the approach of avoiding the conflict, an escapist strategy (O’Hair & Weiman, 2012). I did this by suggesting that I we use Board Maker, to help up created a schedule, and that I can work on this later.  My thinking is that it had resolved this issue. Yet, I could tell for her she was still angry. She then asked what was next on the list. Her tone, led me to believe that she had not put that issue to bed.

I then took a different approach. I asked her if she wanted to talk about, debate the issue for why the children needed a schedule. She brought about a few key points. I asked her probing questions, like without a schedule, how will the children know what is next on the classroom routine? Asking probing question can help parties explore the pros and cons of an issue, encouraging either side to consider both the positive and negative aspects of it (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012). This approach did help. The conflict though a simple one still carried with it more layers. It I believe it is a symptom of a larger problem between the two of us, which will probably require continued conflict resolution.

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Who am I as a Communicator

Who I am as a Communicator?
After I had my family and friends complete the communication inventory I learned a few things about myself. One thing is that I have always slightly known that I struggle with a little communication anxiety. Yet, what was surprising is that neither of my friends picked up on this. I was a bit surprised. And yet I think somehow I have learned to fool two of the people who I consider to know me very well. Maybe then do I fool others? I think that I am a bit apprehensive when I am communicating with others who are extremely well versed in a particular subject, one that I may only know a little bit about. This assignment allowed me to also consider how to remember to take the emotion out when communicating with my teenage children. This communication activities for the week reminded me how complex the communication process really is. There is a great deal to consider when we are communicating with family, friends and colleagues.