This week we had a fun and enlightening assignment, which
was to take a test on how we perceived ourselves as listeners and
communicators. Even more interesting was that we had to have two other people
that know us, take the same test answering as how they perceive us. What I
found surprising was that the scores were very similar. I had expected that
maybe the others would score me tougher than I had scored myself. As it turns
out our scores, as I mentioned were very similar with their scores seeing me as
a better communicator and listener than I had rated myself.
After
this weeks reading I have come to realize (thankfully) that I very rarely
engage in self-denigration. Most of the time I would have to say that my
assessment of myself is more around the level of self-adequacy. I have made a
conscious decision to be gentler and kinder to myself. This assignment has
given me some important feedback. I chose my husband and a peer from work that
has attended many meetings with me. The feedback I received tells me that even
though I may feel a little nervous when I speak at meetings or trainings (I
just taught a class last night on suicide prevention with a group of 24 in the
class) that I do not appear nervous. That in itself has boosted my self
confidence. I have not read the evaluations yet (fear of negative comments) but
I would like to think that I will be able to read them and accept the
criticism. I actually now believe that some of the evaluations may even be
positive. The other way this weeks lesson has helped me is of course the
reminder that as an EC professional my behavior and how I see myself can affect
the children. If I appear hesitant or unsure of myself how is that going to
inspire the children to speak their voices?
Jenn Pore`
Hello Jenn,
ReplyDeleteI commend you on being gentler on yourself. We are often our own biggest critics and not in a constructive way. It is often tough to be objective of ourselves but you seem to do a good job as all your feedback seemed to align with each other. I agree that our behavior can motivate our students or discourage them so we need to ensure that they perceive our communication in a positive way. I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing!
Karina
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI am nervous about speaking in front of groups as well. Toastmasters is a group that holds meetings where people have the opportunity to present to others. They have a manual and assignments that involve speaking to a person's Toastmaster group. My very shy friend said that Toastmasters really helped her. You, however, do not seem shy.