The results of the communication assessment this week were
more reassuring than surprising to me. I was curious to see if how I perceived myself
was also how the world perceives me as a communicator. I was relieved to see
that on all the assessments the two people I chose to help with the assignment scores
were in the same range as my self-assessment. This assignment caused me to
reflect back to my first year of teaching and the feedback I got from my
directors about my communication style with parents in the very beginning of
the year, let’s just say it was not the impression I was trying to make. I took
that feedback very seriously and strive to continuously improve how I communicate
with parents.
The people I chose to help on the assignment were my husband
of 24 years and my assistant teacher who I began working with in September. I
have to effectively communicate with both of them in order to be successful on
either a personal or professional level. My husband has observed me communicating with
family, friends and others that affect our lives such as doctors or service
workers. My assistant teacher sees me interact with students, parents,
co-workers and administration.
My greatest concern was my score on the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.b). I can be very assertive in certain situations
when I have strong feeling about a topic. I was relieved that my scores by
everyone put me in the moderate range, my assistant scoring me the lowest and
my husband scoring me the highest. This tells me that I am more careful with my
choice of words at work than I am at home. This is something I need to work on
as my family deserves the same respect as people I work with. It also tells me
that I should also work on finding a gentler way of communicating some
information.
A second thing the scores revealed is that I am comfortable
communicating, but my assistant’s score was just two points away from placing
me in the mild level as opposed to the low level on the Communication Anxiety Inventory (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.a). This revealed to me that I must somehow be
showing a level of anxiety at work I do not show in other places. It maybe that
I am communicating this nonverbally or that I am just more cautious particularly
with parents that I find difficult to communicate with. Often these are the
parents that challenge policy or want exceptions made for their child on a continuous
basis.
Resources
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.a). Communication Anxiety Inventory [Video
inventory]. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_communication/index.html
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.b). Verbal Aggressiveness Scale [Video
inventory]. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_verbal/index.html
I was also reassured when it came to the surveys this week. I knew that I was a good listener and that I shy away from certain situations. I love doing surveys like taht and especially when the answers come out to be something I am expecting. This weeks assessments were quite fun.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you that I was somewhat relieved to know that both of the people who took the assessments for me also scored me similarly to my own perception. It made me feel confident about the way I present myself to others. I was especially concerned with the verbal aggressiveness, as I can also be strongly opinionated about certain topics. However, both my husband and one of my co-workers put me in the moderate range that shows I have a good balance of respect in this area of communication. Phew!
ReplyDeleteMichele,
ReplyDeleteThis was indeed an interesting assignment. I definitely lead a double life it seems like. My co-worker and friend gave me complete opposite scores.
I liked your post, and it was interesting to see how people perceive us, vs how we perceive yourselves. If feel that improvement can only come, if we are willing to step out of our comfort zone and take constructive critism. For it matters what we think we are doing, when it comes to reaching people, but rather the impact that we have on others through commuication with others.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to you when you say that you did not get to see that resolution growing up. I too was lack to that resolution, my parents are not divorced but I grew up where my Mom was always right no matter. and it hurt to see my dad emotionaly hurt when an argument come up. He is more of a keep the peace kind of guy and my Mom was not. It makes me feel a little better that I was not alone in that not being able to see that love and resolution growing up.
ReplyDelete