Week 07 Callaboration

Group Exercise

Acknowledging Differences – CROSSING THE LINE

I was away for this lesson, however I went over the group activity and wrote my thoughts and feelings.

• 10 mins: Instructions

INTRODUCTION: When facilitated right, "Crossing the Line" is a powerful, interactive, and effective activity that builds diversity awareness within a group. The goals of this activity include helping participants learn about themselves; give participants an opportunity to reflect upon their self- and cultural identity; allowing the community involved to appreciate its own diversity more and learn to treat each other like the diverse human beings we all are, instead of as homogenized, singular, cultureless beings.

• 15 mins: Participation

For this activity, the class had to split in half and stand in two lines facing each other. The teacher then called out categories, and if you fitted the category you then had to walk across the room.

• 10 mins: Blog

1. Write about your feelings

I first felt uncomfortable knowing we had to do this and felt it was a breach of privacy, until the I read that the teacher explained we don’t have to walk across the room if a question is too personal. This would have made me feel more comfortable in participating in the activity and even in opening up. Some of the categories were general such as are you male or female? Are you from a family of four or more children? Etc. However, some are more personal categories such as;

      You have low self-esteem

      You feel lonely

      You feel physically unattractive

      You feel estranged or unconnected

I believe this exercise would have been a confronting exercise, but would have made me feel closer to my peers and respect them more for their honesty and openness to share there personal lives and backgrounds.

2. Write about how you think other people felt

I believe other people would have felt uncomfortable as well. Not sure about opening up and exposing themselves. But I’m sure as the exercise went on and people started opening up and trust was built it would have become easier. I believe the exercise would have been easier as we all know each other and know a lot about our personal lives.

3. Write about how the exercise helps you understand and accept differences

It would have helped me to understand and accept other peoples differences because of there openness and honesty. Also it would have made me accept because of the appreciation of everyone’s uniqueness.

Blog Exercise

Professional discretion and judgement may relate to:

• Assessing when to keep quiet

• Being aware of and responding to different personality types

• Knowing when it is appropriate or inappropriate to share information

• Knowing with whom information should be shared

1. Add 2 items to the list above

- Being aware of others privacy and personal space

- Knowing the appropriate behavior standards

2. Give a REAL example from your own experience to illustrate all 6 points

When I worked at Captovate I had to be professional in these areas. I had to keep quiet, when others were speaking or when my co workers were getting work done. Being aware of the different personality types helped me to relate well to my co-workers and also knowing what’s appropriate to speak or joke about. Obviously there are certain things you don’t talk about when you are in a professional working environment. I also had to keep information within the business environment which was information about our clients and there finances.

3. What is the difference between “discretion” and “judgement” in your own words?

Discretion is a form of behavior or speaking in which to avoid being embarrassed in a social environment, where as Judgment is where you mentally asses your surroundings. Understanding the relationships, the expected social behavior, etc.

4. Why do you use these two things in a professional setting? (Explain by using examples)

In a professional setting discretion is used to avoid social embarrassment. For example if someone were to not use discretion and was to act in a less professional manner and was to act like they did around there friends, it could be seen as disrespectful and in considerate. Judgments are made in a professional environment to know the appropriate way to act. Judging others body language, way of behavior, etc helps in knowing how to act. For example, I had a boss who was quite laid back. I had to be aware of his body language and communicate well with him to know what he wanted me to do so that I wasn’t abusing the privileges he gave me. 

Reference: http://trainthetraineruk.blogspot.com/2010/08/dealing-with-challenging-behaviour.html

xoRachxo