This week the class assignment was to take a few assessments and see how we communicate also we were to ak others to take the same assessment of how they see us as communicators. I completed the assessments and was surprised in some areas on how it came out. I asked my granddaughter Javon ( in photo above) who is 18 to do the assessment . I explained to her what it was for and she was all to happy to assist! After seeing the excitement in her face, I reminded her that she did live with me and allowence time was approaching, just kidding there was no bribbing at all. After seeing the results I was also surprised that in the verbal aggression and the communication inventory it was almost the same in the scoring with somme small changes. I contributed this to her living with me at different times in her life and for the last 4 years she has been with me and we have become closer, and I do believe that makes a big difference. I asked my youngest daughter who is 35 to do the same thing and it was totally different in how the scores were from her viewpoint.

 I have realized that that is due to me not communicating with her the same as with Javon. I tend to allow the grandchild to get away with more that I ever allowed my daughter to get away with and back when my daughter was growing up, I was not a good communicator and did not know how to express myself the way I do now. This has really been an eye opener as to how I am percieved by myself and others and I will ensure that I do a better job at being mindful of how I verbalize, use gestures and tones.

Week 3 Blog Assignment

When reading the assignment I immediately said to myself  that I don't treat anyone differently when communicating with them . I treat everyone with respect and courtesy. Well after rethinking that statement, I realized that there are some groups of people who I do treat differently.When a parent comes to me who does not speak english well or who does not speak english at all I do have to communicate differently because I dont speak any other language but english. I have to find someone to translate what I need communicated ,and when I let the parent know I am looking for some one who can assist us, I find myself using hand gestures like pointing to myself and pointing away as to tell the person I will return with help.I seem to speak a little slower to them and make sure that I have eye contact the entire time as to connect with them some way. Three strategies that I have used to help me communicate more effectively is to speak clearly,make and keep eye contact, and make sure that I am aware and mindful of the cultural differences and language barriers that I am faced with regularly with some of the individuals I come in contact with.

For this week’s assignment I decided to watch the show New Adventure of Christine. I watched for 15 minutes with the sound off, and 15 minutes with the sound on. While viewing with no sound it seemed like the two ladies were frustrated for most of the 15 minutes. their facial expressions were that of many frowns and body language such as waving of their arms quite often. There was a man who entered the home and seemed to laugh a lot , and although he laughed a lot, the women smiled for a short time but did not seem to be as excited as the man. Once I turned on the sound, I found that the woman with the frown most of the show was divorced and the ex -husband was remarried to a woman of the same name and her and her ex remained friends.

I interpreted that the characters in the show were angry and did not get along with one another .I do believe that had I been watching a show that I regularly watch, I would have been able to tell the plot just from watching even with the sound off.

I learned from this assignment that facial expressions are often misleading as well as a person’s body language,

The person I chose to write about that demonstrates competent communication is my Aunt Melissa. My Aunt Melissa is calm no matter the situation she speaks clearly and when speaking to anyone she is always mindful of what she says and how she responds when dialoging. She exhibits eye contact and appropriate facial expressions. She sits up straight to let you know she is giving you her full attention.

I want to model some of my own communication behaviors after her because she listens, reflect on what is being said before she responds and have positive outcomes when dealing with people.