The End of One Journey

The end of one journey brings one to the choice of a new path.  Now that we are concluding our program and moving on to our concentrations we are beginning to narrow the path that we will take.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my classmates, and our professors, for the wonderful discussions that we have had and all of the support that you all have offered.  As I proceed towards the completion of this program I am looking forward to working with each and every classmate in the future as professional in the Early Childhood field.  As we begin our new profession we are fortunate to have made friends with one another so that we have a support system to assist us if we should need it in the future.

I wish each of you the best of luck on your journeys, and I sincerely hope that you would feel free to contact me if I can ever be assistance to you.  I know that I will definately be in contact with you all from time to time to see how you all are doing.

Thank you again.
Jennifer Jones

So Hard to Say Good Bye

It has been my experience that groups in which are high-performing and have the clearest established norms are the ones that are the hardest to leave.  When I am ambitious and passionate about a goal I am enthusiastic to reach the goal.  The desire or enthusiasm pushes me to keep going and I enjoy working with people that are as passionate as I am about a subject.  These groups offer me a purpose, a sense of belonging and the feeling that I am making a difference.  In my past experiences, groups that are disorganized and lack passion for the purpose are easy to leave because they have nothing to offer me.  I do not build relationships in these settings, therefore I can leave easily.  The bonds formed in a well focused and organized group are those that will continue.

I really had not thought of the closing of a group as adjourning or considered the rituals of departing. But I suppose that the last meeting creates a need to ensure that we have future contact with those people we created bonds with. 

I believe that working within our cohorts has allowed us to form friendships and professional relationships that will endure into the future.  I am new to this group, so there is no bond to any particular persons as I had formed with my last group. But I am sure that in time I will find people that I have similar interests and experiences with and we will continue to be friends and conversate beyond this class.  I imagine that we will feel the sense of loss, or lack of direction immediately after completing our coursework and we will probably find ourselves talking regularly.  However, as we proceed with our professional lives, we will find other groups or interest to fill the time that we once spent discussing coursework.

Adjourning is important to teamwork because once we have invested time and energy into achieving a goal, we are invested emotionally.  With any aspect of our lives that we have emotion invested in, there has to be a way to conclude that portion of our experiences so that we can proceed on our journey in life.  When one door closes, another one opens and we must continue on our own path in life.

Conflict with Co-worker

In my work we are all under a lot of pressure to maintain classroom management and to get the students to perform at grade level.  Daily we are challenged emotionally and physically to maintain our professionalism and to motivate our children, although they are not interested in participating in their own learning.  This, of course, is only a small portion of our student population. But day after day of behavior problems and administration continually added more tasks to your day can wear on your patience and increase your stress level.

There is a co-worker that is constantly offended by me, regardless if I have intended to insult her or not I am told that I am “mean” to her.  Through this week’s lesson I have learned that I need to consider the mood that she is in when we engage in conversation.  I also need to be more aware of my body and facial movements and gestures so that I do not express any gestures that may be interpreted as negative.  I think that in the future I will refrain from reacting to her when she appears frustrated.  I now see that perhaps she just needs to vent and hear her complaints out loud, then later we can discuss what she is upset about when she is less emotional. 

I want to be the peacemaker and to help others, not be the reason that others are stressed out.  I really try to do unto others, but this particular co-worker seems especially more touchy than any person I have ever encountered.  I hope that what I have learned this week will help me to resolve our conflicts before they even arise.