Week 16, Question 3

My favorite concept from the semester was nonverbal communications in expressions.  This concept was about how we communicate through our expression and actions. I really  love this concepts because, as I said in a previous post, it is something I do in cheerleading. We can be having the worst day ever but you would never guess it because we use facials to play it off as if we are the happiest people in the world. (even when our football team is losing and it’s raining!) Also in everyday life, we can read the people we come in contact with just by how they show their emotions on their face. When you see someone happy they have a smile on, their eyes are bright and their cheeks are glowing. On the other hand when some ones crying we can see sadness in their eyes. Communication is more than verbal exchange of words. It is learning to listen to what their facial expressions are saying.

Week 16, Question 2

This class has been by far, no joke, one of my most interesting communication classes. I loved really learning about small groups in depth. I loved being able to really go out and put to use the concepts and write about them in our final paper. My favorite part of this class was our movie paper. I did my paper on the movie Mean Girls and it was so much fun! I loved that we got to look into how movies created small groups and how those groups can really influence a movie. I was torn when I picked what movie to do because so many of the ones on the list really would have been fun to look at and report on. I also liked how we had notes from you every week. That really helped clear up questions. The only thing I would have changed was I would have liked to see what everyone else was doing for their small group paper. It would have been nice to get ideas from others as well as just see what it is others are doing!

Week 16, Question 1

My project was on a gymnastics team that is working on being a top gymnastics club. I have been a cheerleader forever and it was really interesting to be able to evaluate a group of amazingly talented girls from a similar sport. I really did like the projects because I was surprised by some of my findings and how well the girls were related to many of the topics we had read about this semester. I think if I could have done it a little different I would have done something that had to do with SJSU only. I think (of course as a cheerleader) it is important to get to know what we have on campus and what small groups make up who we are as a school. I think the project was drug out a lot over the semester but still it was nice to know all semester long that this project was always there to work on. I would have liked to see what everyone was doing their topic on first to really generate ideas as well as bounce ideas and revisions off each other.

Week 14, Question 3

One part I really liked and know a lot about is competition in small groups. I think in any small group or team friendly competition is a good thing. It is natural for us to want to be the best and get done first so in a group setting having a little fun with who can solve a conflict first would be beneficial. The book talks about how completion is good when trying to assign leadership role and I agree. When you put people up against each other they are going to do whatever they can to get it. An example is on my cheer team when we went to camp all 5 stunt groups had a challenge. We started with a basic stunt and tried to see who could come up with the craziest twist on the original stunt. With every group that went the one after tried to challenge themselves to be better than the last.  With competition group members can see how people deal with pressure and quick thinking decisions. By challenging one and other a group can improve on themselves as well as the whole.

Week 14, Question 2

An example of a time I have used/seen collaborative conflict come into action was when my cheerleading team had been asked to do a halftime show at an important baseketball game the night before. We were in Las Vegas and got a call after our team dinner that we had to do a half time routine. We didn’t even have a full squad with us so we had to mix and match pieces of different routines and take an old cheer mix CD and together we all put in our ideas. We all have our strengths, there isn’t one girl who is amazing at a whole routine. We each took a part that we can put together well and taught it to each other. By working together, all putting in efforts and focusing in on the problem and solution we were able to come up with a flawless half time show. By comparing this style to that of competitive conflict I prefer collaborative conflict way more. It offers a chance for everyone to be heard and have their opinion put in so you work as a team and solve problems as a team. I feel as if the other way makes it so one girl picks how it’s done and it makes team members argue with each other, resulting in more conflict.  

Week 14, Question 1

Forum is a public discussion where the audience participate and everyone has something to say.A panel is when a group of experts discus a problem in a non-formal setting that tries to keep the audiences attention. But this kind involves no interaction with the audience. A colloquium is when a group of people well connected with the topic speaks to an audience and solves a problem. This form ends in some kind of closure and the people talk in a structured kind of way. A symposium is when people talk on different subjects that they are experts on. they are medium length discussions that hopefully end in some sort of discussion that the speaker leads as well.

The kind I like the best is the panel. Sometimes I like to hear what someone has to say and it is best to just listen then to say how I feel or what my opinion is on the topic. I like informal settings because they seem to be more personal because they connect with you as the listener more. They make you feel more like a friend talking then being forced to listen to someone who knows it all.

Week 13, Question 3

I really enjoyed learning about emotional barriers this week. I really think emotional barriers are something I can relate to because I am an emotional person. I always seek advice from others when it comes to making decisions that could affect me emotionally. I don’t like to take risk with my emotions so I play it safe. I tend to push others away from me so I protect my emotions. I rather not ask then ask and be rejected. Our books says, “Creative answers require a willingness to take a chance, to think out loud and risk being wrong…Fear of making a mistake often causes us to limit our creativity. In a sense, we have lost our right to be wrong.” (pg.169) I find this interesting because it is something everyone does, they let their emotions get in the way of their creativity. We have to be willing to challenge what it is we think we are experts and “safe” with in order to make our creativity boundaries larger.