Thursday, March 28, 2013

Communication Week 4



This week I had the opportunity to evaluate myself as a communicator. I also had two other people evaluate me who were my husband and a coworker. From this exercise I noticed that I scored myself lower in all areas than others. This gave me the insight that others see me as a more confident communicator and listener that I view myself as being. I am surprised by this, but it a good way. By taking these tests it has also shown me my areas of weakness and how to help improve these skills. By improving these skills it will make me not only a better communicator personally, but for the early childhood education field and most importantly for my students. One insight I would like to share is that my personality traits and listening skills put me in the category of trusting individuals. This is positive in a way that I am able to see through stereotypes and other racial characteristics but negative in a way that once a person is untrustworthy I tend to lose my relationship with them. This affects my personal life much more, but professionally this is important to note when dealing with coworkers and other people involved in the education field. By understanding all different listening styles and not writing people off so fast for losing my trust, I will be able to make more concrete relationships. A second aspect I would like to share is that I am more verbally aggressive towards adults than children. I need to keep this is mind when dealing with adults so that my communication is precise and shows empathy for them, their ideas, and does not harm them in any way. I feel that I pretty understanding with all people, but to be aware of this will only help me gage my communication better. I am glad I was able to evaluate my communication and others rated me very nicely as well. By taking these tests I have become a more confident communicator. 

4 comments:

  1. Abigail,
    I to was surprised about the other’s evaluation but I was surprised in a bad way. I thought my best friend would see me as having a high level of communication anxiety but she did not. My co-worker noticed it. Also, I am like you, broken trust for me is hard to mend. I am working on that though. Good post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think we are all learning so much about ourselves in this class through the interactions that we have with classmates, family and co-workers. I noticed my daughter being very honest about how I come across to others and I am trying to pay more attention when communicating with others. All we can really do is learn from these experiences and continue to grow from what we learn. I truly enjoy reading your posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Abigail,

    This was a great exercise that help us to become communicators. It was also a surprised to me to learn that in one of the areas the two people scored me different that what I thought I was.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is also hard for me to deal with untrustworthy people, once you show your true colors I cease all commnication if posssible. My husband said that I am to hard on people and that I should forgive and forget.

    ReplyDelete