6357 Week 3 blog assignment

I have not experienced any situations regarding homophobia and heterosexism in the centers. I think the reasons could be that I work in China and Chinese people are afraid of letting others know if they are gay or lesbian. As a result, I have not encountered any unpleasant or aggressive situations about homophobia and heterosexism. If I get requests from parents to remove books depicting gay or lesbian individuals, I would ask parents why they feel this way, and show them I understand how they feel, but children should be given opportunities to explore different things. I can also provide a workshop for parents to attend, so that they can express their understandings and feelings, and I can also present useful information and knowledge about how children perceive and learn about the world. I would let parents know that exploring this kind of books would not make children become gay or lesbian, but giving children more flexible and broader ideas about gender (Derman-Sparks & Olsen, 2010).

As working in China, I have noticed lots of gender stereotypes in the books, stories, movies, and cultures in China. For example, a lot of Chinese children’s books create girl’s image as doing dishes, organizing the house, cooking, housewives, and create boy’s image as firefighters, policemen, officers, etc. When in the centers, I have heard boys saying, “only girls wear dresses.” I brought this up within a group of boys, and asked them what they thought about this. I had one boy showing disagreement by saying, “I like wearing dresses.” I then continued with this conversation by asking additional questions like presented in the video from this week, to give children more opportunities to think and explore gender issues.

Reference

Course Media, “Start Seeing Diversity: Gender & Sexual Orientation”

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for youngchildren and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Week 6 assignment

When thinking about adjourning stage of the team building, I remember the time that we had to say goodbye to the classmates as we took the early childhood diploma together. It was a very intensive program and all of us needed to study from 8am to 5pm on a daily basis. Through the year, we built strong relationship and we went through difficult situations, such as wanting to give up and making mistakes during practicum, but with the help and encouragement from each other, we kept working hard and passed all the hurdles. When it was the time to say goodbye, everyone was with tears and couldn't let go of each other's hands. The adjourning stage was hard because of the strong relationship we built. 

The adjourning stage is very important because we need to form new relationship with other people to learn new things, techniques, and tasks. We need the new relationship to make us stronger and more effective in different things. Through different teams, we learn new skills, so the adjourning stage is essential for us.

Week 5 blog post

When thinking about conflicts I have recently, I need to mention that I have disagreement with my boyfriend about education for our "future children". I was born in China and moved to Canada. I have experienced both education system and prefer the western education, but my boyfriend didn't think so, so we had a conflict. I remember what I learned from the course, so I remained a very positive attitude when discussing this issue with him. I first acknowledged him and agreed with him that he was right about wanting to have the whole family together. Then I went on expressing my thoughts about the differences in both education systems and explaining him any goods and bads about them. Then I offered a solution that he agreed upon it. The whole conversation was under a supportive communication climate and both of us kept calm and positive attitude to find out a win-win solution. That was a successful conflict resolution.

Week 4 blog assignment

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.


As thinking of this assignment, I have different thoughts about being an effective communicator. I evaluated myself as a "okay" communicator, being able to listen and comment on the conversation. When I asked my colleagues about my communication styles and abilities, they all thought I had good communication skills when talking to parents. They liked the way I restated their points and then added my new thoughts to it. When I asked my boyfriend about my communication skills, he mentioned that I didn't know how to start and stop a conversation, so my conversation with others were always longer than it should be. After listening to this comment, I reflected on myself and did find out this issue, probably because I'm a listener and seldom stop people's talking. I will keep in mind of this point and try to improve on it.

Week 3 blog post

When I think of communicating with people from different groups and cultures, I do find myself communicating differently, for example, when talking to western parents and Asian parents at my workplace. I have some stereotypical thoughts about these two groups, like most western parents want their children to be happy in the classroom while most Asian parents would want their children to learn something in the classroom. After learning communication skills, I think I should always to listen carefully before making any assumptions, because everyone has the right to express themselves and they want to be respected, like we want to be respected by others, so the Platinum Rule would help significantly during communication. Moreover, showing appropriate body language such as gestures and eye contact would be helpful during communication.

week 2 blog assignment

When I watched the TV show with the sound turned off, it seemed that the characters discussed hilarious and relaxing topics. They seemed to have good relationships because their body languages seemed relax and natural, and it seemed that they discussed an interesting topic that everyone was eager to participate in.

When I turned on the sound, I was correct that they were discussing a relaxing topic and everyone was comfortable about the topic. The topic itself was not hilarious. It made me feel hilarious because of the ways the characters laughed after sharing some of their thoughts. I believe my assumptions would have been more correct if I had been watching a show I know well because I would be more familiar with the characters, the ways they talk and the topics they concentrate on.

week 1 blog assignment

I have a colleague who demonstrates competent communication skills in the work place. She is an early childhood teacher and works with 4 years old class. When she speaks to parents, she always demonstrates good listening skills and make sure she listens to all the comments that person wants to make before speaking. She waits patiently and listens carefully for all the points people make and never jumps to conclusion without support or evidences. She also makes frequent eye contacts with people to make sure other people know that she listens. She communicates with parents in a positive way, even if she needs to comment on negative behavioural issues, she tries to make positive comments before delivering negative message. I think all of these are very effective communication skills and I would want to keep in mind some of these communication skills when I talk to my parents.