Communication Evaluation

When reflecting on the similarities and differences between how I evaluated myself and how others evaluated me, I was not very surprised. A close friend and my husband were the two people I chose to be the evaluators. The outcomes were very close to the ones where I evaluated myself. This was not surprising, as these people know me well. I was pleased to find that I scored in the moderate range on the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale. This ranges showed that I am able to maintain a good balance between respect and a consideration for others’ viewpoints. The Listening Styles Profile displayed that I am people-oriented. I do feel as though I possess an empathetic characteristic and I am very concerned with the emotions of others. I think having these qualities helps me both in my personal and professional life. In my profession, I feel it is very important to be a good listener and to be respectful of others.

Communication Strategies

I have already learned so much through this class. Communication is very important no matter who it is that we are communicating with. We may be in contact with our spouse, a neighbor, a child, a friend, a colleague, etc.

These are the strategies I plan to put into place in order to communicate more effectively.

1.I will be more aware of my tone, gestures, body movement, and eye contact.
2.I will listen actively to whomever I am in a conversation with.
3.I will put much thought into what I have heard before I respond.

The King of Queens-Communication Through Television

I chose to observe an episode of The King of Queens for this assignment. I have watched the movie a time or two before, so I was not totally unfamiliar with the characters. What I could not figure out was why Arthur and Doug were sleeping together and where was Carrie. While watching the episode with no sound, I could tell that Doug was being especially nice to Arthur and spending a lot of time with him. Doug would look at Arthur in a very nice way and was smiling a lot. Arthur seemed to be really enjoying the time he was with Doug. In the other shows that I had seen, I knew that Doug was not that fond of Arthur and this was strange to me. I thought Doug was acting strange, but I could not figure out what was going on. After watching with sound, I was able to see that Carrie was working at night and Doug was not able to sleep without someone else in the bed. So he was extremely nice to Arthur and in turn Arthur agreed to sleep with him. Arthur was not aware that Doug was using him until the end.
I found this exercise helpful as I was observing body language. If we pay close attention we can tell more about a person than we realize just by watching their actions and facial expressions.

Effective Communication

This week we are asked to think of someone who demonstrates competent communication within a particular context. As I pondered over this assignment, I was reminded of several people including my pastor, my husband, my principal, some past educators, certain colleagues, and my mother. All of these people possess effective communication skills however, my mother is a very competent communicator. She has excellent listening skills which is very vital when communicating. She is very clear when speaking and easy to understand. I hope to model some of my communication behaviors after my mother.