Building Research Competencies (EDUC - 6163 - 1) Your Personal Research Journey

                Communication is the topic that I choose to work with for this class.  It is a great topic because everyone uses communication in every field that they work in.  Although, good communication skills is relevant in every occupation, I feel it is most relevant in the early childhood field.  Communication can be used differently in early childhood: teacher-teacher, child-teacher, parent-teacher, child-child, parent-child and so on.  Recently, I found a credible source that deals with communication.  The website is http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=145.  The title of the of the source is "Do you communicate clearly? Consider This..."  It is a great source that breaks down the information to allow your mind a chance to wonder do you do any of these things.  It has been my personal experience that many people in the school system are not the best communicators.  Have you ever really sat and listened to two individuals talk?  Did they over talk each other?  Did their tone of voice change to the point where they were yelling?  Did the conversation  have anything to do with the individuals or was it out of their control and none of their business?  A conversation involves a speaker and a listener.  While one person is speaking the other person should be listening so they have a response when the speaker is done.  Then they will switch places.  When both people are talking at the same time it tends to bring about greater frustration.  When you consider young children, many of them bite the other person when they can not seem to get there point across and they don't know exactly what to do.  Also, this appears again in teens.  Many of them resort to fighting their peers when they feel like they're peer has wronged them.  Many children have learned to result to violence when they feel as though they can not communicate.  It is the teachers job to educate the children on better ways to redirect themselves or their feelings when times get a little tough.  If you have any thoughts on communication and how it has effected you please share your thoughts.  Do you feel like you are a good communicator?  What area could you work on better?  What is done within the classroom to ensure that they children are developing their communication skills?  Share your thoughts.