Groups

Throughout my experience of working in groups, they can be helpful in the concept of learning about people that you may not have interacted with on a daily and developing friendships from working together.

On the flip side of working in a group, it can be difficult and overwhelming due to the lack of effort or contributions of others. I personally do not think that it is hard to walk away from a group because the groups where you develop connections and friendships you can always leverage those people and their expertise when needed. Also, in my experience groups that have defined roles and responsibilities help to provide structure to the process of completing the goals of the project. These roles influence the process and outcomes of the group interactions (O’ Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, &Teven, 2018).

Being apart of the military I have experienced a number of adjourning. Each time is different from the last because you develop a certain type of bond that can not be mimicked. The last position I worked in we had a great work ethic and team cohesion. When it came time for each person to leave, we would have a farewell luncheon and present that person with a parting gift.

I think when the time comes to adjourn from my colleagues from this master’s degree program it will be a bittersweet experience. Over the last few months and years, we all have grown and developed into great educators that are ready to go out into the world to educate the young people of tomorrow. I believe that we can each find gratitude in knowing that we have all helped to better develop, educate, and mentored one another over the time spent within each course.

                                                   Reference:
O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real communication: An introduction (4th. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Week 5 Communication and conflict

     During this week I had a disagreement with my mother about my cousin that was adopted, and recently deciding to look for his biological parents. He wanted to find them due to medical issues he was experiencing as well as his grandchildren. A few months back he located both the mother and father and scheduled a meeting with them. They met and he brought along his adopted parents to share in the experience. Since that day he has continued to communicate with them and even traveled to met other family members. Overall, he has been receptive to the process and enjoying getting to know them.
      While talking with my mother this week she mentioned that my Aunt was upset that my him (my cousin/her son) was still communicating with his biological parents and building a relationship with them. I expressed to my mother that I thought my Aunt was being selfish in her thoughts that she should be happy and excited for him. When I said that it struck a chord with my mother because she did not think he should be still communicating with them after he learned their family medical history. At that point is when the conversation got intense. She and my Aunt thought he should have outlined that he wanted to work toward building a relationship. We disagreed on how both he and my Aunt should have handled themselves in the situation.
     One of the strategies I used was applying the three R’s (respectful, reciprocal and responsive) in this situation/conversation. I also strived to be supportive of their understanding and perspective of the situation. I found it hard to keep emotions from running high in this conversation due to my experience of growing up without knowing my father and his family. At the end of the conversation we were able to agree to disagree about how we viewed and felt about the situation.