Communication within television

My husband recently became a real estate agent. Real-estate is his passion and plays a big role in the types of shows we watch. There is a plethora of ‘home shows’ including House Hunters, Love it or List it, Million dollar listings and Property Brothers. As the supportive wife, I have been started watching these shows with him. One of the new shows we started watching is Property Brothers.

The premise of the show is brothers’ Drew and Jonathan Scott find couples that want to buy a house that is out of their price range. They convince them a fixer upper is the way to go. The show follows the challenges and benefits of doing a renovation.

When I watched the show with no sound I realized how much of an impact nonverbal communication has on communication. The facial expressions of the couples said a lot. For example, when they went into the decoy home the facial expressions were of excitement and awe until they realized the home wasn’t affordable and the instant shift to disappointment and anger when they realized they couldn’t afford the home. Watching the process of renovating the home I could tell through the body language and expressions what they couples were feeling. It was often a rollercoaster of ups and downs between excitement and frustration/anger.

Watching the show with sound made me more aware of how nonverbal and verbal communication goes together and can contradict each other. For example, the couple’s non-verbal communication was clearly showing excitement and the verbal communication supported that. However, there was an situation during the renovation when the body language of the couple clearly showed anger and defensiveness but the verbal language was contradicting that.

Watching the show with both the sound on and off made me more aware of the detail involved in communication. I often listen to what is being said rather than paying attention to the non-verbal cues. This assignment made me focus more on the message nonverbal communication rather than verbal language.

           

Effective C ommunication

Effective communication skills are important when running an organization. The director of the company I work for has these skills. When I was first hired I went through orientation. My director, David, spoke to the group the first day. He was clear when describing his expectations of us. He spoke eloquently and was prepared while remaining lighthearted and entertaining. He was motivational, encouraging and uplifting. Since then I have listened to him speak on more than one occasion and I experience the same thing. He listens when someone asks a question, answers it completely while remaining respectful. I would model my communication behaviors after David. He is effective, respectful and prepared in his communication. He is engaging and motivational. His ability to communicate with several different disciplines on the same topic is a great skill. These are skills I strive to have when I communicate with others.

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when working with children and families from diverse backgrounds is that I can form a meaningful, strong and lasting relationship with them. I believe that all families want the best for their child although they may not have the resources or strategies necessary to provide it. My goal is to be that for the families I work for.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field in relation to diversity is to require diversity training on a yearly basis. When I was in college, the idea of diversity was not addressed. Perhaps the thought was that in wasn’t important in relation to academics, curriculum or classroom management. However, I believe ALL teachers should have training on diversity and working with families from various backgrounds.

Finally, I would like to say thank you to my colleagues. I have sincerely enjoyed reading your posts and discussions on the board.  It has been eye opening reading your personal experiences and thoughts on the weekly topics. I have learned so much from all of you and I hope we have future classes together.

Amber

Welcoming Families Around the World

The family I am working with is from Israel.  In order to be culturally responsive towards this family I conducted research on Israel to learn about their values and customs. 

The people of Israel generally celebrate Jewish holidays; therefore, I will make sure to include these holidays in celebration. I will provide books, pictures, coloring pages, etc that are reflective of the Jewish holiday’s.  We will observe these holiday’s in the classroom with celebrations as well.

Clothing is reflective of religious or political views. This may include men wearing skullcaps and women keeping their heads covered. In order to respect the family, I will ask about the importance of this and if there is any other important information I need to be aware of. I will incorporate books and pictures of children and families wearing this type of clothing.  

Many families are considered nuclear; however, in some families women and men live separately.  In order to be culturally responsive towards this family, I will ask if the husband or wife is the person of contact when it comes to providing information about their child.  Grandparents are also included in this nuclear family so I will include them in interactions if necessary.

Families from Israel are information with their social interactions. In some instances, they may be considered rude.  Being aware of this will help manage my expectations of interactions when meeting for conferences or other school related activities. Please and thank you are not spoken often, therefore, children may not use these terms as comfortably as children from the United States. As a teacher, I need to be aware and respectful of this and realize it is not out of disrespect.

            Being culturally aware of this family and preparing for their needs will help interactions run smoothly. It allows me to be educated and respectful of their culture. My awareness and desire to learn more will show the family that I am interested in learning about their culture. My hope is that the relationship between family and school will be strong.

The personal side of bias, prejudice, and oppression

I live in an area where homelessness is very prevalent. The downtown area of my city has homeless people scattered on every street corner and in local parks. While they generally keep to themselves occasionally holding out a sign for help, many people are bothered by them. I am not sure if they are uncomfortable, fearful or ignorant, probably all of the above.  Most recently, our city voted to ban panhandling within the downtown area.  This bill was passed and in a few weeks these individuals will be arrested for holding a sign or asking for money.  I disagree with this bill because I think it infringes on their first amendment right, freedom of speech. I believe these individuals are being oppressed by our city council because they are concerned about the perception of our city. While these individuals may be homeless, on drugs or mentally ill they deserve the same rights as everyone else. Wealthy people are able to express their freedom of speech thorough advertisement. Local shop owners are able to advertise their stores on billboards or fliers in their window. However, the homeless are not able to ask for help. I believe this diminishes their equity as human beings.

I have been following this bill closely because I live in an old part of town. Many people are concerned that if this bill passes the homeless will migrate to our part of town. OUR PART OF TOWN! This thought process makes me angry that I am still living in a society where people feel entitlement to things that are not their own. I am disappointed in the city for trying to hide this group of people rather than provide more services and support. I am embarrassed that I live in an area where tolerance is not demonstrated and oppression is acceptable. I yearn for a society that embraces and helps the homeless rather ban them from public places.

In my opinion, in order to change this into an opportunity for equity the priority and the thought process of the city council members must change. Citizens of this city must stand up and advocate for people who don’t have a voice and challenge what is right.

Awareness of Microaggressions

Several years ago, I lost about 35 lbs. I worked hard. I watched what I ate and exercised regularly. It was a life changing experience for me.  I have a friend who constantly makes comments to me about being “thin and blonde”.  She is tall and dark haired and her body structure was bigger.  When we would go out together for dinner or drinks and were approached by men, she would always assume they were interested in me because I was “thin and blonde”.  She always made these comments in a joking manner but afterward I always felt uncomfortable and more self-conscious about myself. She was committing a microaggression about my physical appearance. She assumed that because I was “thin and blonde” that was “lucky in love”.  When the reality was that I had gone through several bad relationships and my appearance had nothing to do with it.  There were many times when she made comments to me and I didn’t say anything. Eventually, I had enough of feeling bad about myself and told her how her comments were making me feel.  She didn’t realize how her words were impacting me and she made an effort to stop. I think it is important to have an open dialogue with people about microaggressions and how to eliminate them.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked my husband, sister and co-worker their definition of culture and diversity. Each person had a different perspective.  My husband’s definition of culture is based around a person’s lifestyle.  It is the way they eat, live and their set of beliefs. Diversity is a melting pot of many different cultures to make unique populations of people.  My sister defined culture as a group of people who have similar values and beliefs.  She feels diversity is the opposite of culture. It is the different values and beliefs of people in the same place.  My co-worker defined culture as the encompassment of different groups including work place, ethnicities and religious groups. She believes that people behave differently based on which group they are with.  Diversity is the differences within a culture.  Diversity may connect individuals to their cultural group. 

I think each definition is reflective of the aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied within this course. I think each definition is individual to each person’s life experience.  It is difficult for me to evaluate their definitions of culture and diversity because I see how it is reflective of their own life. 

I think my husband and sister could have been more descriptive in their definition of culture. Within their definition I feel as though they were only describing “surface” culture and could have thought harder into “deep” culture. Obviously, my co-worker is a part of early childhood education and had a solid definition. 

As I said earlier, after listening and talking with each of individual about their definition of culture I could tie in their definition to their own life experiences.  For example, my sister lives in an area that is not very diverse and I believe her definition reflects that. It is important for me to respect individual definitions of culture and diversity and to remember there is no right or wrong answer.