Beyond the Basics

       For this blog post, I will be observing the differences or similarities between how I view myself as a communicator, and how others evaluate my communication skills. In a previous assignment, I asked two friends to complete a survey  impressions of my dialogue when we talk. This blog post will be a reflection upon those responses. Most of their responses I had anticipated, but there were one or two that surprised me.     The biggest feedback that surprised me was how much more confident others saw me compared to how I viewed my own level of confidence. I am diagnosed with general anxiety, so conversations tend to make me feel incredibly anxious. Because I feel anxious, I have the belief that my anxiety is visible to the person I am communicating with. However, it became apparent by asking friends to note how they view my communication during our conversation, that this is not the case. To the friends I asked, they saw me as a much more self-assu...

      For many individuals, the setting, or other people they are talking to can determine how they communicate. An example of this would be the change in the language you might use with a close friend or partner, compared to how an individual would talk to a stranger. In my own life, I can see ways in which I communicate differently.  As a teacher, I can speak confidently on the differences in how I communicate with parents, families, and teachers.     When I am in a professional setting, I tend to discuss work more with my co-workers compared to my conversations with friends or my husband. This is partially because work is more relatable to all of us, and as a young teacher, I aim to learn as much as I can so asking my coworkers about early childhood-related topics. Beyond the topic mentioned, the way in which I speak does not change. I aim to show the same level of kindness to everyone. By taking time to focus on more casual or personal topics, I would p...

  "Hey Google, play "It's the End of the World as We Know It" by R.E.M.     The year is 2050, and a widespread famine due to long-term monoculture as well as unsustainable farming practices has ravaged the United States. Emergency powers, which had not been utilized since the pandemic of 2020 are invoked once more as a response to protests that the government rations have too much cheese in them, and in addition, do not contain the essentials needed to survive. The president of these famished and crazed Americans announces that each family unit (or self-identified families up to 12 individuals), can apply to be relocated to a randomly selected country that has allied with the U.S., and agreed to take on a certain number of immigrants. The president, recommends that individuals leaving the U.S. pack lightly, and only carry a small backpack on the flight to prevent overcrowding. They end their speech by apologizing on behalf of all politicians for letting the American ...

       For this blog post, I watched an episode of Brooklyn 99 without sound, and then re-watched it with sound. I chose this show because in the advertisements for it, the characters seem very goofy, so I thought it would be fun to try and understand the storyline. I chose a random episode, which was in season 5 and titled "HalloVeen."      When watching without sound, it was much harder to determine the dynamic of each person's relationship with the other cast members. To me, it seems like they are co-workers who have a certain level of rough banter with each other. The one exception to this is Jake and Amy since at the end he proposes to her. When watching this without any context, I assumed that they were supposed to be police officers who are off-duty and still opting to hang out at the office and compete for the large belt. The common emotion seemed to be confusion in regards to the competition. Also, there were a lot of serious expressions, whic...

  Communication is a crucial skill in any professional field that requires people to talk with other individuals. On a more personal level, any therapist or relationship expert would agree that communication is essential for a healthy dynamic between yourself and others. Healthy communication is something I had to learn through trial and error as an adult. An individual that I learned from was my husband, Brandon.      Brandon works as a manager of recreation facilities at our local university. He manages the facilities and the employees staffed in those gyms. Some of the skills that I have learned from him are advocating for myself in a professional setting and communicating my thoughts on a topic professionally.      Working as a manager, he has learned how to communicate with his boss professionally and has also learned how to communicate with employees. I am currently a teacher, but I hope to be a director. Many of the roles of a manager and a dire...

       The research question I asked almost eight weeks ago was: What is the effect of social-emotional literature on preschool-age children? At the start of the Building Research Competencies class, I asked this question because this was a question I often wondered as I would read social-emotional books in my own classroom. Placing emphasis on this type of literature seems fairly new, so this topic is beneficial to me as a teacher hoping to learn the benefits of placing a focus on social-emotional development.     If this question were to be carried out and became a proper research study, I believe it would benefit many other teachers who are curious to know the benefits of social-emotional literature in the lives of their students. In addition, it could be useful to parents and families as well. By understanding the effect of social-emotional literature, it could encourage families to read those type of stories to their children as well.     By ...

      For the past eight weeks, I focused on learning about various problems in our Issues and Trends of Early Childhood class. We discussed various areas of improvement for early childhood both nationally and internationally. For the sake of this post, I will be focusing on the international perspective of this assignment.     By learning about the international issues relating to early childhood, I became more aware of the work to be done in order to improve early childhood care and education on an international level. Being tasked with observing and keeping up with various organizations allowed me to learn more about the unique needs around the world. Some preschools need quality teachers, while other young children need clean water so that they are healthy enough to learn. In addition, I learned about the differences between early childcare centers around the world. In each preschool, there is a one-of-a-kind culture. These differences in culture are e...