Week Two Journal Entry: 230 Communication in the Helping Process

       The activity we did at the beginning of the lesson for chapter one has been the most memorable moment in class for me.  Volunteers were asked to go to the front of the room and either draw or act out reasons for interpersonal communication.  I had read the textbook prior to entering class that day but had not yet memorized these reasons: to learn, relate, influence, play, and help.  Through this activity individuals were interacting with the whole class, we were focused on everything the volunteer was doing while competing, if you will, with others in the class to guess the correct word.  During this activity we were using at least three of the interpersonal communication purposes: learn, play, and help.  The volunteer was helping us learn the material through the drawing or charades (play).  Also, classmates were helping each other when guessing words on the right track, one could slowly eliminate possibilities, narrowing down the possible words.  This activity ingrained these five points of interpersonal communication into my head and I hope that we have other simple activities like this throughout the summer.  

       I was looking at the activity at the end of the lesson for chapter five; having everyone stand on one side of a blanket and then turn the blanket over, resulting in everyone standing on the other side without stepping off of the blanket; I really wish we would have had time to complete this in class.  I might try to get a group of my friends together to complete this. I feel like it would be extremely beneficial to act this out and analyze how it was successfully completed.  Did one person stand up and become group leader? If so how did that person talk with others? In a loud, commanding voice? Or in a calm manner?  I believe dissecting the process would result in an engrossing conversation.  Here is a link for further explanation about the blanket activity: http://www.trainingforchange.org/node/235

       I’m going to try to start participating more in class. It seems just when I get a comment or response in my mind someone else says basically the same thing. I’ll have to be quicker and not worry so much if my answer or comment is “correct.”  Thats one reason why I hold back on my comments, but when learning (and in life in general) we all make mistakes, which is fine.  

       My response in regards to the reading and the material itself has to be that most of this, nonverbal communication, distances when talking to others, high/low-power distances, perception, etc., is common knowledge.  We do these things almost everyday.  Now through this class though we can put a name to these reactions and rules within communication, look more in depth at these processes, then self analyze and improve our communication.  

       So far I am really enjoying the class. Its not too difficult.  I like the way Jimmy incorporates technology into the lesson since I’m a huge twitter and blog fan.  I think the classroom is a very relaxing, comfortable environment.  My favorite part of this class is keeping the journal/blog.  I find it useful to sit and actually think about what I did in class this past week; what stood out, what I would like to do more of, etc.  I hope a lot of the social work classes do this, it gives the students time to process what they are learning and how it applies to life outside the classroom. 

               

                I was trying to find a video to go along with a theory or principle we have learned about so far and found this video below; it connects with self-monitoring strategies.  A quick summary is that Sam is trying to get his co-worker to hang out with him and watch an upcoming sports game. 

During the video Sam is loud, overly excited, uses tactile communication far too much, and is over the top in general. Sam is a low self-monitor, he is all over the place, doesn’t listen to what his co-worker is saying and is ineffective in his communication.  He needs to adjust how he communicates and acts around certain groups of people.  How he was acting in the video might be acceptable interaction with a close friend of his but comes off more of as an annoyance to his co-worker.  Personally, I wouldn’t go and watch the game with him.