One Child at a Time

As this course comes to an end, it has been a pleasure studying alongside my classmates, the likes of Myrna, Jennifer, Rebecca, and others who had contributed in no small measure to discussions. Their blogging gave new insight into every new topic each week, relating them to personal stories or experiences. Kudos to Dr. Davis for her honest feedback and unwitting guidance throughout this course. Taking this course has helped me immeasurably, exposing my shortfalls in communication and giving me new tools that I dearly need for effective communication with families and colleagues. I also believe my blog posts and postings to the discussion board each week have also been beneficial to my classmates, giving them a new understanding of the issues relating to communication and collaboration. I hope that all we gained in this course will make us better teachers and effective communicators wherever we find ourselves. Hey guys, I am looking forward to sharing and developing through the posting...

Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, identified a five-stage development process that most teams follow to become high-performing. He called the stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning Lumen learning, n.d.). Team progress through the stages is shown in the following diagram. This process of learning to work together effectively is known as team development. Research has shown that teams go through the final stages during development. The adjourning phase has been the most difficult for me of all the projects I have been involved in. In my bachelor's degree final year, we had a team assignment. In my group, we had great chemistry, so the adjourning phase was the hardest for us. The bond we formed was so strong that we still keep in touch through social media platforms to this day. In the adjourning phase, the team's goals have been accomplished. The focus is now on tidying up the documentation and results. As the workload diminishes, the group is di...

  Conflict in the workplace is inevitable. Conflict in the workplace is a painful reality and a key reason for poor productivity and frustration.  I have had my share of conflicts in work with colleagues at various times over the years. However, one that readily comes to mind is the one that happened last year when I started my new job. My co-teacher was “habitually” on the phone during activities with the children in the class. Our program policy requires teachers to leave their smartphones in the staff room. However, I did confront her in a way that I should say was unprofessional. Knowing what I know now, the approach employed using Nonviolent Communication (NVC) strategies would have been different. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) has been described as a language of compassion, a tool for positive social change, and spiritual practice. NVC gives us the tools and consciousness to understand what triggers us, take responsibility for our reactions, and deepen our connection w...