Body language Essay

I wasn’t too sure on what to wear when I performed my interaction. From previous research into communication I am aware that this can affect the quality of communication. For example dark and gloomy clothes sometimes can indicate you being in bad mood and could prevent clients approaching you. However if you were to wear bright and colourful clothes then it would give the impression that you are happy and friendly and easier to approach. I decided to go for clothes in the middle of bright and dark, however I am still unsure whether this had an effect on the communication shown. At the end of my interaction I gave a member of the group my questionnaire to fill in about the interaction (appendix 1). I wanted to make sure that I gained some feedback from interaction to see whether I was effective in achieving my purpose. I structured that questionnaire very simply, and clear so the child would have no problem in being able to fill it in. the child who I asked to complete my questionnaire filled it all in, and they ticked YES for every box. This would indicate to me that my interaction was a success on the basis of that it was fun, exciting, and there was nothing too bad that affected them in the interaction. This would show that I was successful in achieving my purpose, which to me is a great accomplishment. I got some feedback from this pupil on the questionnaire which was very interesting and useful, however I wanted to make sure that I had an assessment sheet filled in about me to look more specifically at my skills that I demonstrated, what was good about them, what was bad and also to see if I achieved my purpose. Therefore I gave Mrs Paterson, an observation sheet about me to fill in (appendix 2) you can see from the sheet that Mrs Paterson rated me highly on most of the skills. However there were a few points which she had to make. PERSONAL IMPROVEMENTS AND ACTION PLAN One of my main problems that occurred during this interaction was that I found it very hard to observe the type of communication, group layout which was going on as well as performing my own personal communication skills within the group. I think that if I was going to do the interaction again I would probably video record it therefore I could go back and see what I did wrong but also what type of communication skills and patterns occurred. This would be a very effective way in which I could evaluate myself critically in order to create a more efficient action plan. I expressed before about how I felt very nervous and intimidated by the interaction. I think that this could be improved by practice, and just making sure that I remain as calm as I possibly can. Being aware of my body language too is essential too. I also feel that to improve the quality of the interaction I would need to find out ways in which I could include other group members, which were lacking in joining in. I am not entirely sure on a method which I could choose to help me learn this other than teacher training, and obviously this is not possible. However what would be possible is to talk to some teachers, to find out information about how to make clients feel valued and belonged within the group more than what I know already. I gave the observation sheet to Mrs Paterson to write about my interaction. Mrs Paterson did rate me slightly lower on a couple of issues. These were really useful to me in aiding me to create a realistic action plan. For example she quoted: Tone of voice – at times she found it difficult to calm her voice down, due to nervousness. Â  Appropriate responsiveness and calmness – again Leanne found it hard at times to remain calm, however it did improve towards the end. I completely agree with the comments that Mrs Paterson made about my poor communication. I knew that I was finding it hard to calm down and make my voice and body language relaxed during the interaction. I did feel that I made an improvement towards the end whilst I got into the activity more. This is definitely something I need to work on and improve for further interactions such as this. I am going to make a conscious effort to improve on the poor things about my interaction, because it is vital that I can be effective whilst communicating. Im going to make sure that when I’m in an interaction such as this I am going to try and calm myself down before I enter the group interaction. There were so many things that I have become aware or further whilst doing this interaction. And again I feel that it is essential for me to be trained, or get more experience in interacting within a group. For me to improve my interaction I would need to study my assessment sheet to look at where I went wrong, and how I could improve it to make sure that a next interaction is I’m proved and that I have learnt from my poor communication. CONCLUSION This experience has been a very large learning experience for me. Before this I had learnt about all the different types of effective communication, however I never actually knew how incredibly difficult it is to put them into practice. There is so much for and health and care social worker to remember when interacting with their clients. I think that it takes a very talented person to be good at their job within this area. I enjoyed my interaction with the group so much, and I have already decided to go back in the future, to try my group interaction to perhaps try out my action plan. What made this experienced even more enjoyable is the fact that the children relished the activity as much as what I did. When I went to go after my interaction I was actually disappointed on how quickly the time had gone. The children who I was working with seemed to have formed a bond with me and were also upset to see me go too. I think that I was very successful in achieving my purpose of the interaction, and this was reflected through not only the effective communication skills I demonstrated but also that of the amount of enjoyment we all experienced. This has certainly given me a lot to contemplate on, I have learn a lot about myself, as well as how imperative effective communication is in this type of setting. Another thing, which I think has been a vital learning point, is the fact that health and social care workers give so much to their clients. Teachers need to make sure that they are demonstrating communication skills the whole time, but also to leave their own personal or emotional problems at home, because it can effective the relationships between them and the clients. This must be extremely hard to do. I would imagine that this job is very satisfying.