Babies!

One of the baby squirrels that are on their way to health, but will need a loving home soon

Well hello!

This is my first real blog! I was using this web page for a class, but now it is my craft blog! Here is my first project to share with you. I made this photo collage for my seven year anniversary with my love. Enjoy!

Favorite concept

My favorite concept in the course is creativity in the small group process. Creativity is defined in the textbook on page 162 as..." Creativity is going beyond the current boundaries of technology, knowledge, social norms or beliefs...". creativity is thought of as a new way of seeing and generating ideas that make things happen. Creativity also has barriers involved that include perceptual barriers like difficulty isolating and narrowing the problem. Creativity also has cultural barriers like the need to conform or an expectation of practicality and efficiency. There are also emotional barriers to creativity like approval seeking etc. The textbook describes techniques for encouraging creativity and they are idea needlers as opportunities to use a different perspective, manipulative verbs to change the way we view a particular process, association and metaphors as devices to describe abstract concepts and express emotions, and lastly using analogies to help open perceptions.
I have chosen this concept because there have been many instances where I would have loved to have options to enhance creativity and after learning techniques of doing so I have developed the ability to help my small group processes achieve excellence.

Lessons learned throughout the class

I honestly could write a fifty page paper about the things I have learned in this class. I have learned about the functions and roles of small groups which includes norms and group development phases. I have learned much about diversity and perspectives. In conjunction with another course I am taking I have learned a great deal about verbal and non verbal communication, but I also learned how important listening and feedback is to communication as well. My favorite thing about the class is the time we spent learning about decision making and problem solving and creativity within small groups which has helped me tremendously in regards to helping the children I work with make intelligent decisions about their conflicts. My least favorite thing about the class is having to wait twelve hours in between posts, but I do understand why we must wait, and why it is important to the learning environment. I don't have any tips for improvement for the course. I have taken many online courses at another institution, but this class so far has been a great pleasure, and I plan on keeping my blogspot after the course ends and continuing to post on it because I have found it to be a great outlet for my ideas without unnecessary criticism.

Group Observation Project

The group observation project is a very useful exercise. I think that the group observation project helped me to understand the underlying dynamics of small groups and how they function. The group observation project taught me that there are many levels of communication taking place, and that evaluation is by far the more complex position to undertake. I learned about different means of observing and giving feedback, and the different way to provide feedback to groups. I feel that the project as a whole is important and if I had to choose one good thing about the project it would be the ability to pick our own group to observe, and how wonderful it was to be able to choose a group to observe that could easily fit into my daily schedule. I was initially concerned that I would have trouble fitting the project into my schedule because I have two jobs, but once I learned we could find our own group to observe with approval I was and still am very pleased. I am greatly pleased with the project and the procedure so I don't have any suggestions of change or areas that could benefit from suggestion. I may however suggest an additional idea that if individuals from the class wanted to post their papers for peer review I feel we may benefit from each others ideas and writing from the assignment. Overall I was very pleased with the project and I think the length of time we had to prep and complete the project made completion easier for myself and I in no way felt rushed during my research. 

Reward-Punishment Power

One concept that I found interesting from the text is the concept of Reward-Punishment Power. The textbook describes this concept as the ability to praise or humiliate fellow group members, and that we all possess this power. The text continues by saying that we usually associate this power with materialistic affect like financial rewards or punishments. When participation in groups is based on regard for reward and punishment power an effective group process may be sacrificed.
In my personal life I find that this concept comes into play more than I may know. I think that my most recent experience with this concept was just a few days ago when my boss had left a note for my entire work team that reinstated the dress code expectations and when I said something to the extent of "the note doesn't really surprise me considering the way some people dress around here" to a close friend/co-worker and their reply was, " Oh well that's like the pot calling the kettle black"! Now for arguments sake I do not dress out of expectation ever, and I mean ever, so this comment was not only hurtful, but unnecessary and just aimed at causing emotional discomfort.

Collaborative vs Competative Conflict Resolution

The textbook describes collaborative conflict resolution as the participation of all members stating their point of view as clearly and concisely as possible while listening to all others as well. Each party remains open to being convinced to change their opinion. The solution must satisfy all participants. Collaboration is less likely to result in destructive conflict when it is done fairly and when the entire team feels empowered through the process.

However competitive conflict resolution has a win-lose orientation and it is marked by self interest rather than mutual interest. The key to constructive resolution of conflict is maintaining mutual respect among the group members themselves regardless of the immediate issues in conflict.

One example I have of a collaborative conflict resolution I was involved in was just a few weeks ago with the other ladies I work lunch with at the private school we all work at. This is the season for spring music programs at the school and our lunchroom and auditorium is one and the same, and for obvious reasons the auditorium needs to be quite and the lunch chairs need to be used in order to provide seating for the parents during the performances. In order for the spring programs to run correctly the kindergartners would need to eat elsewhere on campus to facilitate the programs. The principals had requested that the children eat outside on the playground, but having had experience with first graders last year having to eat outside for the same reason I knew that it was going to be an epic fail, so I sat back and listened to the other six girls give their opinions which ranged from support of eating outside to complete disapproval of the idea, and at the end I spoke up about my experiences not just in concept but in realistic terms that I had first person accounting for, and in the end we all collaborated to let the children eat half of their lunch in their classroom at their individual desks, and then they could take the remaining half outside and eat, or go and play (our school only requires the children to eat 1/2 of their lunch) and this group decision worked out fabulously and everyone felt that they were getting their voice heard, and that they have a part in the decisions that surround their performance.