Maria's Reflection

Maria De Sousa

Prof. Sinkoff

SPC1017

           Many groups gave a presentation talking about specific things applied in their chapter. I enjoyed them all and can see the hard work people have put into their presentations. Group one’s presentation was very informative and introduced us to intercultural communication. I enjoyed the fact that they gave many examples of what makes people who they are, whether it’s someone's background, sex, religion, social status, generation, etc. Group one also included examples within the examples such as explaining collective cultures and individualistic cultures. Later on, they go on to give detailed information on how these things can change the way we think. Towards the end, I really enjoyed how they gave us ways to better understand others. They gave us tips such as being informed about other cultures, being open-minded, having the right attitude, and learning how to develop social and communication skills. For the aesthetics of the presentation, it was alright. It did what it was meant to do and did not go above and beyond. The group did a great job of talking about their topics and some even went and decided to add text to their presentation. Although it was a presentation I thoroughly enjoy it when there is a text I can read because it allows me to read at my own pace and fully understand the information that is given to me. I really like Alexandra Dolly’s part of the presentation. Not only was her presentation nice to look at, but it also had clear, understandable text with some images of examples of social media. To sum up, what I learned from this presentation in some short words is to be open-minded, and inform yourself about other cultures. By doing this we can have better communication with people who come from different backgrounds and help change the world in small steps. Moving on to Group two, which is the group I was in, I personally feel as if we had the best topic overall which was “Communicating in Groups.” Which is what we all ended up doing in order to get this presentation done. We all had to communicate and organize ourselves to get the job done and in the end, we all did. We start off by introducing a few of the many types of groups and giving a small description of these types of groups.  Such groups are family, service groups, social groups, support groups, teams, etc. This is to get a better understanding of how many different groups there are and how they each have their own unique characteristics. We then go on to talk about traits that healthy groups have. Healthy groups tend to get the work done faster and easier as they are not having difficulties working with others. We learn that healthy groups do certain things that not all groups do and end up showing positive results in the end. Then we go on to talk about how a group forms and thinks together as well as each person's own unique part within a group. Although our chapter makes groups seem like an amazing thing we do talk about the reality of it sometimes. We talk about the problems within groups and why they usually happen. Disagreements can vary by many different factors but some factors we go over are pseudo-conflict, issues like incompatible opinions, personality conflict, culture conflict, and a new one that recently became more popular due to a pandemic; virtual conflict. Within these subtopics, we give a small and easy-to-understand description which helps others understand easily and get the most out of the information we give out. As for the aesthetics for group two, I mostly did the basics and helped everyone start off and added a nice theme as well as some background music for our audience to be more engaged and entertained. The other group members customized their slides however they wanted and I personally think they did a fantastic job. I also really enjoyed 9.3a’s slide transformations as they were very cool and definitely caught my eye leading me to pay more attention. At the end of group two’s presentation, I learned that communicating effectively is very important and helpful as it gets the job done efficiently and easier without conflict. For group three, as I mentioned before I enjoy it when there is some text so that I am able to read and understand, which is something group three definitely added within their presentations. We are introduced to the roles of leaders and group leaders and what they must do in order to successfully manage a group. Some things they should do is share responsibilities, have effective meetings, be committed to the group's main goal, etc. We then learn about systematic problem solving where Natalie Bermudez, Shaeen Charles, and Michelle Penton explain it and how to solve them within six easy simple steps. Another thing about group three’s presentation is that the text they add is minimal and simple. It does not bombard you with a ton of information in hard-to-understand sentences. One can really see this come to play by looking at the six easy steps Natalie, Shaeen, and Michelle worked on. Next, we learn about communicating group solutions where Shelsia Aragon and Sebastian Hildoer give us a brief definition to give us a better understanding of what it is and they divide it into three sections: The written format, oral format, and virtual format. Within those sections, they give amazing examples and details on what they exactly are. Then Sebastian Hildoer explains that to be an effective group each one should recognize their strengths and weaknesses in order to give the best part of themselves to the group work. He also talks about how in group dynamics it is easier to have someone do something they are very good at than to have someone who isn't as knowledgeable and has a harder time comprehending the task at hand, therefore giving everyone something to work on but at the same time making sure that it includes their strengths for group effectiveness. As for the aesthetics of group three’s presentation, their theme was nice and minimalistic and they added images that correspond to the topic at hand. As mentioned twice before, the brief texts were definitely my favorite part of the presentation. I would say information-wise and the way it is presented, group three would be my number one choice, and aesthetic-wise, I would give it to group two. Everyone did an amazing job at their presentation and it was hard to find anything to not like. Having everyone in groups and presenting those topics are very nice to read about as it engages me in learning more about something I myself am doing. These chapters are very informational and my peers did a great job of presenting them in an easy-to-understand way without having to read pages and pages of a chapter.