Week of December 3 - 9

1). Discuss your Group Observation Project.  Was it a useful exercise?  What did you learn?  What was good about the project?  What can be improved?

My group project observation project consisted of me observing my kids daycare. I chose this group because I am fond of people who have a daycare, teachers mainly anyone who is charge of watching kids in some sort. In my project I really had a great time doing this because I got to get hands on experience of what is what like to be in this profession. For those of us who have kids can attest to the fact that we would like to be around our kids 24/7 if we could. We all know that is unrealistic, we have jobs and responsibilities so when the time comes for us to go to work our kids must go to school. Nevertheless observing this group gave me chance to be a daycare provider. I know the assignment said to observe but I could not help myself. I felt the best way for me to observe was to engage and assist with the children and person in charge.
This exercise was useful because like I said I am fond of this type of work and if I do not find a job in the communication field I probably will go into this field of work. After all we all are going to need some type of daycare at some point in our lives, for those of us who have kids and for those who will have kids. I learned that this type of work is vastly under appreciated. It is a lot work watching someone else kids. There is so much that goes in the being prepared. You have to make sure you have enough food, supplies to keep them entertained as well as.
What I liked about this project was that we got to chose the group we wanted to observe. This gave us the chance to carefully chose what we felt was best for us. Some people chose to view volleyball teams while one group decided to step out of their normal position into a different position that they never had done.
What I would change about this project is I would probably make this a group effort. Maybe the assignment could be offered as group project that way it gives us a chance to interact with classmates as well the project itself.

Week of December 3 - 9

2). What have you learned throughout this class?  What was your favorite thing about the class?  What was your least favorite thing about the class?  How can this class be improved?

I have learned much from this class but what stands out for me is that I learned that to give some insightful feedback. This class was taught online and nearly everyone gave someone some type of feedback. Sometimes I wish there was more of exchange of what was said and the feedback itself but the fact that I got and received feedback for my posts put a smile on my face.
My favorite thing about the class was the length that we got to complete the assignment during the week. In another class of mine we got the the assignment on Monday and it was due on Wednesday. I thought one of the benefits of online classes was that you could take your time. This class as you know made it possible to start the homework or assignment as late as Friday and you still had the opportunity to get it done after Sunday night football. 
The least favorite thing about this class was that even though the teacher provided us with as much contact to get hold of her (email, blog's or phone call ) I wish this class would have been available to take during the semester. This is one class that I feel needs to be taken face to face rather than online.
My advice to improve this class would be to offer more of chance to meet up with a group. This is small group communication yet I feel that we did not do much with a group. Maybe one group project where we could meet up and do something as it relates to small group communication. That is all I can think of, this was truly and worthwhile class to take. 

Week of December 3 - 9

3). Pick a favorite concept that we have covered through this course and post about it.  Explain the concept to refresh our memories.  Tell the class why you have chosen this concept, and what it is you like about it.

A favorite concept of mine that I enjoyed learning about is the concept of leadership in small groups. I really like this because I feel that we are all leaders in some way in our lives. Whether it be at home, school, or work we all have leadership capabilities. Being that we are in college I think it would be safe to say that we all want to be a leader at some point in our life and I feel that chapter 13 serves as a guide as well as gives us some tips on how to be an effective leader. For example Lee Iacocca former CEO of of the Chrysler corporation gives us the nine C's on what it takes to be a true leader. They are clear and straight to the point.
As the chapter goes on it talks about the three characteristics of leaders. They are vision, credibility, communication concept. What I feel is straight forward characteristics on how to be leader I felt that credibility deserves the most attention. Being that I am a coach I can envision my baseball team doing great things but if I do not jack about baseball (fielding, catching, running, throwing) how can I expect my team to even think about buying into my vision. Just as we are in this class I do not know if the teacher is really a credible teacher, all I have is that she is working for SJSU and well that serves as enough for me.
Being that we are graduating from SJSU sometime I think it would be safe to say that we all want to be leaders one day. How are we going to become a leader? Is that leadership role going to fall into our lap, probably not. There are many ways that a leader is going to come about as the book suggests. So I encourage you to be mindful of the choices you make, the type of leader who will become depends on it.