For your blog this week, think about the similarities and differences between how you evaluated yourself as a communicator and how others evaluated you. What is the one thing that surprised you the most? Why? What other insights about communication did you gain this week? Choose at least two to share with others through your blog and consider how each might inform your professional work and personal life. I realized through the different evaluations that often others may perceive me in a different light than I view myself. In order to be a role model for young children and to communicate effectively with parents, teachers, friends and colleagues, it is important to develop effective skills in communication. This means avoiding gossip and any negative self-talk, it means self-monitoring and carefully watching how we present ourselves to others. This doesn’t mean that we should pretend that everything is perfect or convey a “fake” image, rather it means being selective about disclosing private information. Learning how to behave in an appropriate manner also means taking cues from other people in the situation. Behaving in a domineering and controlling manner without listening are not skills that would work with a young child. Rather, learning how to listen and convey positive attention which is responsive to the young child is an effective way of communicating.

I realized from this assignment that I do communicate differently with different groups of people. For example, with my parents or teachers I may speak with a more formal tone, perhaps I am more reserved. Whereas, when I am speaking with young children I use a different tone of voice, more high pitched and cheery and maybe I speak a bit slower. Or if I run into a friend, I have a less formal mode of communication. It is funny how without realizing it, I communicate differently between different age groups. I realize that race, religion, sexual orientation does not change how I communicate, but rather it is the type of relationship I have with the person that determines my communication style. One of the best strategies for communication I have learned during this course is the importance of active listening. I realized that with my family, friends and children I do a lot of talking but not always the best listening. When learning to listen better, I feel a closer connection to others because I feel they can open up and tell me what is going on in their lives. Before this class, when I would of thought of the word "communicate" I would have thought "talking" but now if I hear the word, I would think of the word "listen." 3 Strategies for Improved Communication: 1. Instead of making a statement, learn to ask questions. 2. Don't make assumptions, make sure to get clarity on any misconception 3. Work on listening skills to improve communication.

For this assignment I watched the CBS sitcom, "Rules of Engagement" which I have never seen and watched it with the sound turned off. I could see that the show was about relationships and love. I could tell there was some fighting or arguing going on based on the facial expressions. Without any sound I really did not know what was going on until I watched it with the sound turned on. The scene which I knew was an argument of sorts was a wife upset that she believed her husband was homophobic. The show was trying to shed light on homophobia and educate others on the fact that both straight and gay relationships struggle with the same issues. Ironically much of the show was about people misinterpreting communication and the importance of asking questions directly rather than making assumptions. I believe that this lesson is very important because it is easy to make assumptions about what someone is thinking based on their actions alone, but in order to truly understand, we must to learn to ask questions before we assume anything.

Competent Communication

The most competent communicator I know is my son's special education teacher. She is so articulate and explains everything down to the last detail. She is so inspirational that when she speaks I am actually in awe of how smart she is. I recently attended my son's IEP meeting and she led the meeting and she was so excited about all the progress my son has made and was telling all these stories about him. She explained all the District wide and state wide tests they will be taking this year, including all the supports and breaks he will have during the tests. She was so articulate about every detail and explained all the rules of the tests and she wanted to make sure I understand. I feel so lucky that my son has such an amazing teacher, it is truly inspiration when I see the positive impact she has on my son's behavior, I feel so lucky.

My hope as an early childhood educator is to help nurture and support the healthy development of young children from diverse backgrounds. One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is to remain committed to social activist work I began last semester working with Professor Aref Abu Rabia and the Bedouin community. Since last semester we are still working on moving forward with the grant proposal for a Bedouin Ecology Center located in Southern Israel. He asked me to build the website, here it is: http://firdawsalhikma.wix.com/ecologycenter Lastly I would like to thank my colleagues for their positive support throughout this course. I feel very close to you all, especially since we have been delving deep into our social identity and childhood, it has been a very rewarding experience. I would also like to thank Professor Anthony Morgan for his helpful insights in this challenging and rewarding course.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

New Student's Country of Origin noun: Kazakhstani(s) adjective: Kazakhstani Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 63.1%, Russian 23.7%, Uzbek 2.8%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Uighur 1.4%, Tatar 1.3%, German 1.1%, other 4.5% (1999 census) Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.)

* At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family 1. Study about the child's country, culture and food. 2. Encourage other students to be welcoming, assign a buddy for the new student. 3. Learn a few key phrases in their native language. 4. Prepare some openers which will allow the child to feel part of the classroom. 5. Post up some pictures of the child's home country and show the class where it is located on the globe. * A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family I hope through these preparations that I will be able to make the new student feel comfortable and a part of the group.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I love to shop at my local drugstore. I must have shopped there multiple times a week for over a year. The store manager “Dale” always struck me as a bit strange, but I always was friendly to him. One time during Halloween I needed helium balloons for the class party, and nowhere in town had helium. I brought my deflated balloons to Dale and asked if he had helium, “Sure, you’re one of our best customers!” He filled up my balloons for free and a woman saw and asked if he could fill some balloons for her and he said no. He was always friendly and would even give me the clearance price on some items that probably weren’t on sale. Then one day, I went to shopping a few days before Christmas. He asked, “Oh, do you need Christmas ornaments, they just got marked down, check isle 5.” And I replied, “No actually, I’m Jewish.” Suddenly, it was a very awkward moment. He replied, “What!” I said in a friendly voice, “Well I do need some holiday wrapping and cards for the teachers, but we actually celebrate Hanukkah.” At that moment, Dale looked at me with this almost look of disgust. And I will admit it, it hurt me. I couldn’t understand how he could be so shocked when he discovered I was Jewish.I felt almost betrayed that a year and half of friendly interactions could all go out the window in a split second. I learned from that incident, that it is better for me to stay quiet. In some ways, it silenced me. I learned that it’s better to fly under the radar and not share the details of my life with random strangers. After that incident, I stopped shopping there for a month or so, but finally I went back. I still see Dale, and we are still cordial, but he has never treated me the same even though he is still nice, he looks at me differently.