“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”

~ Dr. Haim Ginott

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Cultural Diversity

My life is full of diversity. There is diversity in my family and friends. There is diversity at work, in my community, and at my childrens school. At work I have to approach diversity very careful. I have to try not offend anyone, but at the same time not lose who I am and what I stand for. There are a lot of my co-workers that have different views from me whether it be reliegon, sex, or politics. The most sensitive one is politics. We all have different views on how things should be done and why things are done a special way. Politics is one of the things we try not to discuss in my office because it usually ends in a heated argument. You can't be mindful unless you listen to what people say(O'Hair & Wieman 2012). Reliegon is also a very sensitive topic in our office. When working in a diversified environment one has to be very careful about the things that he or she speaks out about. Learning about other cultures is a great start to improving intercultural communication, but many scholars believe that we also need to spend time with members of other cultures and co-cultures, virtually and face to face(O'Hair & Weiman 2012). Most times I find myself not joining in on any of the conversations no matter how passionate I am about the topic.

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Competent Communication

When I think of someone who has demonstrated competent communication and done so effectively, I think of my elementary school principal Mrs. Lorene Bentlty Cannon. She is a wonderful communicator, and always speaks well in whatever the situation may be. Mrs. Cannon is very well educated and takes her job very serious. I have never seen her out of character nomatter how harsh the company is she has. She is always polite and speaks with a graceful tone. I want to be able to speak and communicate as well as her. When communication is done effectively, great things happen.