Congratulations & Thank You EDUC 6165!

                I would like to take a moment to extend my sincerest thank you to my colleagues for always encouraging me, supporting me and offering me new insights into the early childhood field. It is through your personal experiences, blog and discussion postings, as well as the questions you posed which have allowed for me to gain a more diverse perspective on communication and collaboration within the early childhood field. I wish each and every one of you continued success in your journey to becoming a more effective, collaborative individual who fosters trust and respect within their lives. As I complete this last course in my M.A. program and move on to my capstone project, it is thanks to each and every one of you that my journey to achieving my degree has been so rewarding. I wish you all the best of luck and look forward to seeing your names on the graduation ceremony list soon! :)

The Adjourning Stage

            Working in the field of educations means there are numerous experiences where team work and collaboration exist. Understanding the five stages of team development, specifically the adjourning stage, can help us to seek out positive end results as we look to accomplish this final stage of our team development (Learning Center, 2011).

            Within my own experiences, I have found the hardest good-byes during the adjourning stage to take place when I have a personal relationship built with the person, more specifically when the relationship is a friendship outside of the working environment (Learning Center, 2011). I highly enjoy many of my colleagues, however those who have similar personalities to mine are people I tend to build stronger relationships to due to our similarities both within and outside of a group setting. As a result, when leaving a situation in which I may not work with specific individuals whom I hold these relationships,  it can be more difficult to leave the team. Other aspects which make it difficult to leave when working with a group include people who I felt have committed themselves to the effort, allowing for us to work together in a more efficient way, where respect and clear communication was fostered (Learning Center, 2011). It is the support received and the positivity which leaves me with lasting impressions of individuals, therefore these group aspects are ones which are hard to leave behind as I work with new teams.

            Some closing rituals which I have experienced include exchanging personal emails and phone numbers in order to keep in touch with the members of my group, adding each other on social media to keep in touch, and going out to dinner or attending a small gathering such as a potluck at a group member’s home.

            In adjourning from the group of colleagues I have formed while working on my master’s degree in this program may be different than many of you. I first completed my graduate certificate, then went back to complete my master’s degree, causing me to have to complete classes a bit out of order than many other individuals. As a result, I have not had more than two courses with the same individuals, causing me to lose a lot of connections in our group work. I do look forward to keeping in touch with fellow classmates from each of my courses through their blogs and emails but beyond that, due to the distance of the graduation ceremonies and the location of many of my classmates around the world, I feel as if it is going to be difficult to celebrate the success we have captured as a collective group beyond the means of technology.  While I may not be able to continue on with strong working relationships with my classmates, I am thankful to have a well-supportive team of coworkers at my current employer, allowing for me to build upon the degrees they are obtaining as we reflect together on our learning and apply it to the needs of our children and families.

            I believe adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it provides a sense of closure and a way to relieve any last stressors which were still present after the project’s completion. Allowing for a clean slate to be drawn in terms of work and allowing for relationships to become stronger as individuals reflect on best practices which will be used for the future is essential for people’s commitment to future team exercises (Learning Center, 2011). Being able to say good-bye to one another also helps individuals to put behind any lingering negative feelings as they can focus more on each other, as opposed to having a task at hand. I hope each person in a team development situation can have a positive adjourning stage where lifelong relationships are built as individuals work together both personally and professionally for the best interest of children and families within the early childhood field.

Reference

Learning Center. (2011). How to build a team using vision, commitment, and trust. Retrieved

from http://www.learningcenter.net/library/building.shtml.

Conflict Strategies within my Life

            Each of us has times within our lives where we become frustrated and engage in a disagreement with another person. Knowing strategies to help manage and resolve conflict more productively is important as we push ourselves to becoming more effective communicators.

            Within my own life, I have had a conflict with one of my coworkers due to the comments she makes about one of her special education students. I am a very reserved person, but when it comes down to looking out for the best interests of children, I become defensive. In one particular situation I made sure to continuously make positive comments about the child each time she had something negative to say. While this may have been frustrating to my colleague at the time, I wanted her to understand how it was a child we were talking about and while all children make mistakes, it is not okay to continuously talk negatively them. Eventually she walked away from me knowing I was not going to listen to the negative comments she was making and the following days were discomforting until she finally came to apologize to me.

            One strategy which would have helped me to manage this conflict more productively would have been to be a more empathetic listener to my colleague by listening to her feelings and needs more so she could calm down about her situation (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.). Upon letting her finish her conversation completely, then validating her feelings by summarizing what she stated, I could then recommend strategies for working with the child instead of interjecting with positive comments about him which cut off the communication the first time.

            Another strategy I could try is to state my own needs to my colleague which is that of needing all children to feel safe and welcomed into our school, as well as having a supportive educator because for many children, we are where they spend the majority of their day and where they first learn to love school and build relationships (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.).  Due to my need of feeling I must stand up for all children and help them to have the same opportunities as the other children in school, I would hope my colleague would understand where I am coming from after I identify and clarified my feelings and needs. My hope would be for next time, there would be more mutual understanding of where my recommendations and comments are coming from in response to my colleague’s struggles with the child, therefore she would respond with an empathetic ear and reflect upon her own strategies for communication.

            Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to ask my colleague her input on this situation as she has been on vacation, however I do feel my experience in reflecting on this situation has allowed for me to grow professionally and to hopefully be a more professional and effective communicator for the future.

Reference

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication.

Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/.