Goodbye-End of EDUC 6165

As this course comes to an end, it marks a new chapter in our studies.  We will all be moving on to our specialization courses for the remainder of our programs.  I will be focusing on Administration, Management and Leadership.  For those of you in this specialization, I look forward to seeing you there and continuing our collaboration.  For those of you going in another direction, I wish you the best of luck in your program and future goals.  Thank you all so much for every contribution, discussion and word of encouragement.  It was a pleasure working with you and learning from you.  See you at the finish line!

...for hanging out with me!

The 5 Stages of Team Development

This week we are learning about team development.  There are five specific stages in group development:  forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (O'Hair & Weimann, 2012).
For this week's blog I am going to focus on Adjourning, the final phase of group development that occurs after the project, goal or task has been accomplished.  In my experience with Adjourning, i have been very happy to get away from my group or very sad to leave my group.  When I left my job in Japan, I was not sad to go.  Everyone I had built relationships and trust with had gone and the new team leader did not develop the team effectively at all.  When I left my job in Maryland, I was very sad.  I had made great friends, learned so much and knew I would miss my work there. I still keep in touch with my coworkers there. When I have to leave my job here in Hawaii, I will again be very sad as everyone here is so nice and there is a real sense of camaraderie and team work.  I am sure I will have made friends and colleagues that I will keep in touch with after I leave.  Unfortunately, being a military spouse means I have to leave my job every 3-4 years, so I have a lot of experience with adjourning.
Whenever one of my courses in this program ends, I always feel a little anxious, because I have got to know some of my colleagues pretty well and do not want to have to deal with the process of learning new people (even though it always turns out great).  there are a few people who have been with me since the beginning and I always hope that they are still in my group because they are so much fun to discuss with and always have good things to impart.

Tuckman's 5 Stages of Group Development

Using Conflict Resolution With Children

This week we are learning about conflict management and resolution.  While I am not directly experiencing conflict right now, the fact that I work with children and have two of my own means that I am constantly managing conflict.  One of the things that I have learned about managing conflict with children (and adults) is that you need let the children know you hear what they are saying.  More than anything, they want to tell their side of the story.  But to speak, the other has to let them.  So it is also important to make sure the other child gives that respect and is also able to respond.  Modeling calmness and respect is very important in these moments.  The other thing that I have found to be important is to let the children find a solution to the problem.  Helping them to figure out a compromise or find an alternative works much better when they feel they have come up the ideas themselves.

I think the best thing to do is to teach children how to communicate without conflict when ever possible.  Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of The Center for Nonviolent Communication has said: "When our communication supports compassionate giving and receiving, happiness replaces violence and grieving!"  We should keep this in mind when teaching children positive communication skills.

A very simple form of conflict resolution for children

    

Look familiar?

How about this?  Praising children for positive behaviors helps to teach and reinforce those behaviors.