This week, I took 3 evaluations on how I communicate. I
enjoyed this assignment and am more aware about my communication anxieties,
listening skills, and my verbal aggressiveness. Overall and for the most part, my
results came out as I anticipated.
The first one was about my
communication anxiety and basically how I feel about communicating with others.
I generally do not enjoy public speaking but I am fine in small speaking
experiences like in a meeting with my co-workers or family members. Basically I
understand more how I really need to work on my public speaking anxieties if I
ever want to be in a professional position where it is necessary (which is
likely). My husband and co-workers also did a good job of pointing out these
communication anxieties about me. Only Chris feels that I am more nervous about
speaking than what I or anyone else estimated. I appreciate my husband’s
honesty and my co-workers faith in me J
The second part was about my
listening skills. One of the questions asked if I check the clock often while
someone is speaking to me. This was an aspect of listening I had not thought
about before. I usually do not look at the clock and rush someone unless I have
somewhere important to go. I try to always listen to the people who come to me.
I am more aware though of how important it is to be in the moment when someone is
confiding or talking to me. Chris and my co-workers assessed me the exact same
way I assessed myself on this evaluation. That was interesting! Glad to know
they feel I am a good listener like how I imagine.
The last test was about verbal aggressiveness.
This was one that my husband and co-workers also guessed the same as me. I have
zero verbal aggressiveness. I very rarely try to attack someone’s character to
persuade them or anything of that nature. I can’t think of a time that I have. Overall,
it looks like I am pretty easy to pin down when it comes to my tendency to
attack verbally. Maybe in some cases this type of communicating is what people
need to do the right thing but I wouldn’t know because I don’t test it.
Since I enjoyed this assignment so much,
Chris did the evaluations on him as well and found out more about himself.
After this assignment, I am more conscientious about my communication and listening
skills and how they affect my overall, daily communication skills with the
children, families, and people in my life.
Jalice, I always enjoy taking tests like these. Feeling comfortable with speaking in front of a large group comes with time and practice. I feel that since we all are early childcare educators we all seem to listen better than the "average" person because families trust us in caring for their children. We are also a happy group of people who hates to be confrontational or verbally aggressive.
ReplyDeleteJill
Hi Jalice,
ReplyDeleteI found your evaluation findings very interesting. I also enjoyed doing this assignment. I have really learned so much about how I communicate since I completed this test. Our job really entails much listening and I believe it can be a vit overwhelming at times when we are confronted with many different situations especially in the classroom. It is so easy for us to be come judgemental and stereotypical when persons such as parents and children do not fit the norm.
Hello Janice, I enjoyed reading your post. My evaluation came out as I expected also. This exercised gave me an opportunity to re-evaluate myself. I have a fear of speaking to large groups; I am superb in small group settings. My goal is to take some public speaking classes to help ease my nerves in speaking to large groups.
ReplyDeleteJanice,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post, thank your for being honest in your findings. For the most part my findings came out as I would have expected except for my teacher and loved one having more confidence in myself than I did. In our jobs it is so important to have good communication skills and to be knowledgeable of what needs to be improved. These assignments have helped me personally become more aware of what I need to do to become an effective communicator. I am also the same as you when it comes to verbal aggressiveness. I am not one that enjoys confrontation and would never consider attacking someone's character.