Farewells and Good Wishes!

Farewell, My Colleagues,


This has been an incredible learning experience, and I will never forget how important communication and listening skills are to forming relationships. I realized that I have to work hard to become a great communicator, and it will be a lifelong journey. I have enjoyed all the reading material and the discussion posts. And this is one textbook that I will keep and use, along with some of the other resources.

I have the greatest respect for all of you and I hope and pray that you will all develop into great collaborators and communicators. Thank you for sharing your experiences, genuine comments, and encouragement with generosity.

The Journey towards Adjourning!

In my farewell of the group I mentioned in this week's discussion it was a happy/ sad adjourning, I was excited about my new job and sad to leave my colleagues and the patients I was fond of. The team and I set goals that were accomplished, and we grew close. However, one became my friend, and we stayed in contact and saw each other occasionally. The ironic part to my farewell is that my Doctor of Chiropractic was there, and I have been seeing him and the people who stayed for the past 10 years. But the unity of being in a team does form a symbiotic bond. While I remember all the times, we struggled, in remembrance, I only speak of the good times.

A group or team that was not mentioned is a classroom, where the children and teacher set goals. We went through the Tuckman’s Model of Group Development, when I first met the children we had to teach each other, we set goals, and began to work. Eventually, we were making progress, and our schedule set, the children knew what to do and how to do it.  When observations and assessments were done, the proof of our performance was evident. In the end, watching children leave to go to another classroom or school is the hardest closing I have experience. I never forget them, and I love and miss the children.

I am going to miss discussions, where we shared our hearts and minds. It will be bittersweet, knowing that this journey is over, and we will never have this opportunity again; learning together. I will miss the Professors who pushed me to excel, and especially the ones who encouraged me to perform at a new level. Hopefully, I will never stop learning, and perhaps encounter my college colleagues in that endeavor. And there is always the possibility of meeting face to face one day.

I know that setting a goal is the beginning and the completion the ending in whenever the setting of goals. We all came here to get our Masters, and as necessary as the journey is, our sights are on obtaining our degrees. Which is an ending we all strive for, the successful conclusion of reaching our goals. 

Haunting Conflicts of the Past

There was a parent who had a child in Early Head Start that transitioned to preschool, which made her a paying parent. Three months later I transferred out of the classroom to the front office, I noticed her account was in arrears. When I asked her what she planned to do about her balance she became angry. I was in an awkward position because this parent was getting loud and drawing attention to our conversation. I did not become angry or shout back at her, instead, I remained calm, and she had no one to argue with. I lowered my voice, speaking softly, I told her could we discuss this issue later if she would not mind.

Another incident was with a colleague, I approached her one evening when all our children had left for home. I said we were both teachers with equal pay, and I wanted her to start being a team player. She became upset and raised her voice, I raised mine and told her she never helps with the children and that she is not attentive with the children because she is out of the room or has her back to them. She had some things to say to my accusations, she denied them all. This had been ongoing for several months, and it had to change because I was at the end of my patience. I told her maybe we needed to take out disagreement outside so we could finish it without an audience. That when both quieted down, and the conversation ended. The next day she brought me a present and apologized. I also apologized for losing my temper, but I was adamant that she could not keep disappearing, only to come back and say she got sidetracked and still had to leave, again. I told her I needed her eyes because young toddlers must be cared for constantly. She was transferred to kitchen duty not long afterward.

In the first incident, I was in a position of authority, and the parent did indeed owe over $800.00, with the amount increasing each week. Her anger was surprising since she was aware that her child’s funded care had ended, and she was not paying. In hindsight I could have used a different introduction to the issue, perhaps the “Introduction to negotiation” by being “inventive about options” (Conflict Resolution Network. n.d.).  Although, the parent was aggressively provoked by the mention of money owed (O’Hair & Wiemann, p.218). There was no negotiation since she was angry from that day until her last day, but she did start to pay, and she never paid the arrears.

The argument with my colleague was provoked on my part because I was angry at the lack of professionalism. I can see how we did need to talk about our working relationship, perhaps with a mediator. We could have used an objective third party to ensure with stayed with the issues, and not veer into personal attacks (CRN, n.d.).  Most important I think I needed the skill of “Managing Emotions” found in the “Introduction-Conflict is the Stuff of Life” (CRN, n.d.).

From both incidents, I can see now that my communication with the parent was with respect because we already had a relationship. But her response was unexpected. And when I spoke to my colleague, there was no respect, and for that, I regretted it and later apologized.