I was happy with most of the peer evaluations I received. When in class I try to participate when I have something to say, or an opinion to give. A few people in the evaluations labeled me with an opinion seeker/giver role, and I agree. I make sure to not just talk because I feel like I should talk. I also care about how other people view me, because we are in a group and I want people to feel like they can be comfortable around me. I hope that when people work with me they know that they wont be judged by an opinion they give, and even if we do not agree on everything, we will still be able to meet our goals. Because I am concerned with how people view me in our group work, these peer evaluations are important to me. How I feel I contribute to our class may be very different to how other people think that I contribute. This was displayed in the Johari’s Window experiment. Even though we did not fill out each other’s, we saw what happened with Stephs. She saw herself one way, and our class saw her in many similar ways, but there were surprisingly many differences as well. I was wondering if the way I viewed myself was similar to the way our class viewed me.
I received one particularly bad evaluation saying that I gave off a vibe like I didn’t care, I was tired, uninterested in the work, and it was hindering to our classes progress. I’m happy I didn’t receive more of these types of comments, but nonetheless this evaluation is valid and should be considered. I am thinking back and trying to remember any days in class that I was particularly tired, and not showing any enthusiasm in the class work. This is definitely possible. I was sick a few times this semester, as well as extremely tired probably from staying up all night the night before doing work… All these things could have affected me in class. I could have been tired, and uninterested in class that day. I am okay with this though, because I know that for most of the classes, I come in ready to participate. A few people labeled me as an opinion seeker/giver, and I think that better matches up to how I would label myself.
The receiver’s fact is:
“The receiver is totally in control of feedback, but the control is not necessarily conscious.” I believe this because as a receiver I have control of how I behave in class, and my contributions. If I am aware of my behavior than it should be similar to how others view me. Being in this class and working as a group has taught me to always be aware of myself, and how I affect the people around me. As a member of a group it is important to say how you feel, and to state your opinion, but in doing so it is also equally important that you consider what you are actually saying, and how the rest of the group will interpret it. Being a group member is an incredibly self-less role, if the group wants to be effective. All of the feedback that I received has contributed to this conclusion. I feel that I have become much more aware of what I say and the repercussions that will follow. I believe that my work within a group can be effective.
4. Goal setting is a responsibility that I share because I am part of a group. The entire group needs to work together in order to accomplish many things. Yes each person within a group may have responsibilities of their own, but they always should relate back to the group. Our whole group needs to come up with a goal together. If I did that by myself, the group might not agree, and I would be acting selfishly.
5. I am just going to assume what marshalling means, because I am not sure I have a clear definition. But I think I have been instrumental in collecting, and researching resources for the benefit of the group. I have done my part as a group member, to read all the articles Steph has supplied, as well as research the wiki page. I make sure that I know what is going on in class so that I can help myself, as well as help the group that I am involved in.
7. I am technically taking this class to help me achieve my bachelors degree in Communications. This class is to my benefit, and has helped me academically and will hopefully be useful to me in the future, after I graduate. While being in the class, and working in a group, my needs have changed. I realize that by being selfish and doing the work that I need to do and want to do, I will not take from this class the things that Steph is trying to teach us. In order to do well in this class, I am assuming, I need to be conscious of the people I am working with in a group. I feel that if I take into account the articles and subjects we have been studying and apply them to our group work in class, and complete the work, I will get a passing grade.
10. Our group has all the roles necessary to achieve optimum group growth and productivity. We have analyzed group activity, by observing it, and by participating in it. I think at this point, we all know what it takes to make an effective group. I feel that if we were given a different problem to solve, or needed to make a group decision, we would have a much easier time doing that now than before when we first entered the class. I do not think it would be easy, and I think we would all still learn much more about our group and ourselves by doing so. Each decision made is a learning experience. We are definitely prepared to make decisions.
11. I believe that our group has generated effective work on the problem of role-requiredness. We have all fulfilled the need of roles whether we have blatantly noticed it or not. In each fishbowl we have had there is usually someone who leads the discussion, someone who encourages discussion, the observer, follower, etc. I think our bigger problem is being able to identify which role a person is playing. But I think that we all have been subconsciously playing a role.
14. I am unsure of how to diagnose role requirements needed by my sub-group team. I think that the Part A of our assignment has greatly helped me with the required roles in a group. I think it is helpful to look at a situation, or comments that are familiar to you, and then try and diagnose each role. With time, and usage of these roles, I think it will become easier to identify these roles.
15. I have role flexibility. Depending on the subject that we are talking about changes the role that I decide to play in a group. For example, when we are discussing the lay out of the main page of the Wiki, I have great interest in this subject. I chose to be more involved and I suspect I chose to be an opinion giver. I had a lot of ideas that I wanted to share with the group, so I did. Another example, in the class when we were discussing with John Robison I chose to be a group-observer and commentator. That day I was not feeling up to participating a great deal, verbally anyway. So I chose to observe the group discussion, and made some of my own conclusions in my head. The last example is in our study abroad group I sometimes chose to be an encourager. After Tony had completed his work and gave his opinion about our page, I was complimentary towards his contribution. It was a very positive experience, because we both had similar ideas, but I feel when working closely with one other person it is important to be accepting of their ideas and suggestions.
16. The three roles I flex among the most are opinion giver, procedural technician, and the group-observer and commentator. By decision to flex is based upon what the group needs, and how the group molds to fit those needs. If there is another person who shows the desire to be the opinion giver, I might chose to be an observer for that portion of the time. I feel that it is ineffective to have every person in one group share the same role. If everyone in the group was an opinion giver, I do not think we would progress very well. An example of flexibility is when in class we decide it is important for someone to record things on the board, and act as the procedural technician, if someone else volunteers for the job, I will not. Instead I will take on a different role within the group.
18. There is definitely tension in the class at times. I think this tension exists when there are too many people playing the same role. This tension can happen at the beginning of a group meeting when people are still trying to figure which role they want to fulfill. Sometimes this tension gets smoothed out when people calm down and figure out which role they choose. Other times this tension only grows stronger when people become stubborn and aren’t willing to be flexible in their role.
http://kevan.org/johari?name=freshkicks
Eye contact is a huge part of American communication. From my knowledge it is also important in many other cultures, besides American. But I also know of some cultures where eye contact is not allowed according to gender. The “right” kind of eye contact, (not creepy or scary eye contact) is necessary in our culture, to communicate well. People expect it, and when someone won’t look you in the eyes, you know there is something wrong. As one person said, “…unable to look others in the eye. He cannot connect with people the same way I can when I look someone in the eyes.” It is about connection. The author doesn’t have the same ability to connect, as someone without Asbergers. And an objective for communication is to connect with the person you are trying to communicate with.
Another person said, “I imagined someone telling an autistic person to look them in the eye…I was already aware that its difficult.” This is a main part in the book: the author doesn’t look people in the eye when they are communicating. This isn’t what the entire book is about, but it is an important anecdote that he uses in the first chapter, and uses to create the title of the book. Also on the cover it says something like, “a life with Asberger’s syndrome.” So anyone who knows anything about Asbergers might assume that the title is referring to the author, who has Asbergers. The quote, “I read Wikipedia…I figured it was someone telling the author to look them in the eye,” is also relating to prior knowledge of the book, and Asbergers.
In class when we commented on Steph writing sideways, she responded with, “Maybe I’m a sideways type of person.” In our culture it is expected (and we have all learned from a similar frame) that when you write, you try to write straight, horizontal, left to right. The fact that she didn’t do this, stood out and allowed us even to poke fun at her about it. Writing straight, left to right, is a cultural norm, just like looking someone in the eyes is when having a conversation. Often times, because someone does something out of ordinary, we like to comment on it and point it out. The author of “Look Me in the Eyes” talks about this often because people either make fun, or just don’t acknowledge his “sideways” behavior, so he never learns to act “normal.”
It is starting to look like we are all on a similar track. I understand that most people want to write about something that has to do with him or her. Lets face it, we don’t want to have to research something to write about, we would rather write what we already know, and that is ourselves!
There are a few people like, abcccc, that want to have the course wiki page about the actual course, “Group dynamics.” I couldn’t agree more. I do also like the idea of writing about something that interests us individually. Another concern that Apoulos brought up was the actual layout of the wiki page. I haven’t thought much about that until now, but I think it would be effective if we used many links on the page. We could have a list of students in the class with a link attached to each name going to that persons either personal wiki page, or their wordpress blog. There could be a few more sections, or links on the page going to our course description and things that we are learning about in class.
I can finally see it all coming together!
I would first like to address my opinion of our Wiki page idea. When I first heard that we were to design our class page, I immediately thought of it as a, “class page.” It was the page I would go to when I needed to look up the Com 352 homework, or class work that I missed, etc. This is the site where I could find other classmates blog sites and find any information regarding our class, Communications 352-Group Dynamics. So as I began to think of how to design the front page of our class wiki page, I imagined that it would fall under the same category as it does already. The main page would be information about our class, Group Dynamics, whether that be little bios on every person in the class, or just information on the course in general, information on material that we were studying, books/articles that we have been reading, discussions that we have been a part of. So when we decided to make a sort of “guide,” for all of the current and prospective Umass students, I felt a little confused. I understand we need to make a page that everyone in our class can participate in, and I do think that we are getting closer to creating such a thing. We are not going to call it a guide, and we have focused our target audience to current umass students. I was happy about that. Now it appears that our class wiki page wont have much to do with us as a class, but all of us as individuals as Umass students, and our personal interests. I suppose it’s a step in a good-agreeable group direction, not the initial direction I was going towards, but I guess we all need to listen to the other people in the class and make compromises.
There are two categories that I would be interested in writing about when contributing to our Wiki page. Firstly, I am very much involved in the Dance Program at Umass. There are many performances; as well as auditions that many people do not know about. I could post the link to the Dance Program website, as well as the Five college Dance department calendar. This calendar has all the dance concerts from all five colleges. There are also many dance classes that are offered for 2 credits each that any five college student can take. Seniors who are looking for some extra graduation credits could benefit from these classes.
Another interest of mine is my major, BDIC (Bachelors degree with Individual concentration). I am also a peer advisor for this program, so I know a lot of information on the program. I advise prospective students in helping them figure out their desired major: what classes they will be able to take, internship and study abroad opportunities, independent study, etc. I have also studied abroad, to Beijing, and therefore know a good amount about the International Programs office, and the procedures that must be taken in order to go abroad. As a peer advisor in BDIC we encourage students to study abroad, or do domestic exchange because it is an interdisciplinary major, so we applaud students who are able to take advantage or another universities curriculum, as well as Umass’. In this post I could also include the BDIC website, and most recent newsletter.
The word hippie was developed in the early 1960s to describe a new generation of people. These people were the “counterculture” of the time, during the Vietnam War, and strongly believed in peace, rock music, the sexual revolution, and drug use. These people were very liberal and known to have a free spirit. Not that I was around during the 60’s but I imagine, like any other label, that it had both a negative and positive connotation. It is all dependent on the context of who is using the word. In the 60’s a conservative person might use “hippie” in a negative way, using it to even insult someone else. Or another fellow “hippie” could use it to describe their friend in a positive light. This is similar even today, although the definition of a hippie might have changed a little bit, there is still the variation in connotation, which is based on context.
Just last night my friend was describing these two girls that she works with at a restaurant. She said, “Oh yea, I love Kate and Emily, they are so laid back. They are like the two hippie girls of the staff.” When she said that, I assumed that she thought highly of them, (she said she loved them) and that they were probably free spirited and fun to be around. I did not think that they were heavily into drugs, promiscuous, or anti-war, although they might be. In today’s society “hippie” to me, suggests a person is laid back, “chill,” and could possibly smoke weed. It is also key to note that all of the things I know about hippies today is reflected by what I have learned about hippies in the 60s. All social fads in the past have seemed to make another appearance in my generation. Especially when talking about style and clothing. Bell-bottoms from the 60s, tight straight jeans from the 80s, bright neon colors from the 90s. They have all come back around. Learning about fashions and social groups from the past affects the fashion and social groups of today. There is no question. I will reiterate the phrase, “affects our world today” because bell-bottoms today were inspired by fashion in the 60s, but they do not look the same as they did in the 60s. This is similar to the word hippie used today, compared to its meaning in the 60s. They are similar, but have definitely changed.
The word “hippie” is a label. It has a general meaning that most people in our nation and world can understand to some extent. In the Chinese language the word for hippie is, “xi pi.” (Phonetically pronounced: She pea). Xi means “to play.” And although each society can have a variation of the word hippie, it has a very broad meaning. When someone uses a label they are taking the easy way out to describing an individual. Instead of talking about their personality or way of dress, they can simply use this term and the person they are talking to will get a vague idea of what they mean. Although this label might be extremely far from what this person is actually like, using a label simplifies the whole communication experience in general. This is not saying it is either wrong or right to use labels. I am just stating that using a label is arbitrary and almost completely dependent on context.
I will not be attending the No Mas Farc protest. I have decided not to go for a number of reasons. First, it is the beginning of the semester and I am still trying to figure out my schedule. I have 2 classes on Monday that I just signed up for that I need to attend in order to reserve my spot in the class. Secondly, I do not have the time and energy to drive to Boston. I just spent the weekend traveling home, and now I do not have the energy to travel again on Monday. There is no doubt that I support the cause of the protest. I do have to admit that reading the press release was the first time I had really taken the time to learn about the situation in Columbia. I’m glad that I am now more knowledgable on this situation, however, I feel like I could and should learn more about it.
Another thought I am contimplating is what effect will my presence at the protest have? I can’t help but think that my presence will do very little to help solve this large problem. I also know that if everyone had this attitude, nothing would be accomplished, and then no one would show up to the protest. Every person counts. I realize that this protest is to bring attention to this situation, and hopefully enlighten people all over the world on its severity. I however have a hard time seeing a solution. What are the solutions? How will this protest help? Because I have a hard time answering these questions I feel that either there is little hope, or that I am not well-enough informed.
Besides my prior obligations to my monday classes that I already mentioned, there are other variables that may have affected my decision to not attend the protest. While making my decision to go or not, I read a couple of our classmates responses on why they chose not to attend. The fact that other people wrote about how they could not go, may have influenced my decision to not go as well. It is possible that if every person in the class wrote responses on why they all chose to go, the power of conformity could sway my decision to eventually attend the protest. As it stands though, my other obligations are of greater priority to me than going to this protest. Explaining my reasoning definitely makes me feel a bit selfish, and therefore guilty. I do hope that if the other classmates have the time and desire to go, that they will chose to attend. Let us know how it goes!
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