For this assignment, again consider you have been learning about communication skills and styles. Then record an episode of a television show you do no normally watch. Watch the show with the sound turned off.
· What do you think the characters’ relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating?
The show that I choose to watch is big bang theory. I have heard others talk about the show but I have never watched it. I turned off the sound. There are 4 guys and 3 girls that were mainly on the show when I was watching it. It seemed as all of the characters were just friends. It looked like 4 of the guys lived in an apartment next door to one of the girls. They all hung out in the guy’s apartment.
· What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?
The girl that lived across the hall often rolled her eyes at one of the guys on the show. She seemed to be annoyed by him. All of the characters laughed together and one of the guys had a confused look on his face at times.
Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.
· What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication being observed?
Once the sound was on there were only 2 guys that lived in the apartment beside the girl. The girl was dating one of the guys that she lived by. The other two guys just hung out at the apartment frequently and the other two girls dated the other guys.
· Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a how you know well?
If the sound was on I would have understood that the girl was rolling her eyes at the guy she was dating because he was asking her if she was cheating on him. I assumed she was annoyed I just did not know why. The guy that I thought was confused did not speak English very well.
My “aha” moment was thinking about we often make assumptions about someone before we really talk to them and get to know them. We need to carry this lesson in life and really communicate with the families that we come into contact with.
I completely agree that it is important to get to know someone before making assumptions. This often happened to me to in the past where someone would assume that I was in a bad mood because I did not have a smile on my face at all times. After they would say something to me, it was often snarky and was not the case at all. I merely was walking and thinking about the things I needed to complete in the day. This caused me to start walking around with a fake smile on my face which just masked when I truly was in a bad mood. As educators, I think it is important to ask how each other feel without making assumptions. This can help us to truly gain perspective on what is going on with each other and to know when help is really needed.
ReplyDeleteKaren,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I agree that it is important to get to know someone before we make assumptions. I also think it is important to really listen in a conversation before we start making assumptions about what the meaning and intent are.
Karen,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right and it made me think of you can't judge a book by it's cover. I think that as Terri pointed out not only do we judge, but we are judged as well, which interferes with the communication process from the very beginning. Thank you for your post.