INTERDISCIPLINARY
Marriage and Family Relations
For this course I created several WORDLs... A creative use of words, to communicate the importance of active listening and conflict resolution.
My Wordl Can be found at the follow site. href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5485075/Active_Listerning"
title="Wordle: Active Listerning"><img
src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/5485075/Active_Listerning"
alt="Wordle: Active Listerning"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"></a>
If you have difficulty finding it please let me know.
To create the “Wordl” I needed to recognize what were the most important words to covey the importance of Active Listening and conflict resolution. The more important the word, the more the word needed to be repeated. I created a counting chart for each word, and the importance of that word. Wordl then created a poster in the order of the most repeated word being the largest. Just as in our relationships we need to realize what are the most important words we need to say and use when communicating with others. Then just as in the “wordl’ those important words need to be repeated again and again and again. The more we use these words and use theses skills the larger the impact they will have in our relationships.
Assignment July 5,2012 Homosexual Adoption
The text states that the research shows children of gay and lesbian parents show no significant differences in their gender-role behaviors, self concepts, moral judgment intelligence, success with peer relations, or behavioral problems. Ultimately it is the quality of parenting and the harmony within the family-not the sexuality of the parents-that matters most to children And it is about the children! Personally I have mixed feelings about this sensitive subject. But I do feel that if two people love each other and what to create a family they should be able to do so. Research also shows that most gays and lesbians have been in heterosexual relationships. And that they bring biological children to their relationship I also feel that it may be easier for a gay couple to create a family. Lesbian couple can become pregnant with the help of a “friend”. A gay couple can utilizes a friends as well to be a surrogate and there are no agencies involved.
Years ago when I was in my late twenties there was a gay couple at my work. They hd been together several years. The wanted a child so they actually started secretly soliciting and interviewing women. Everyone knew but no one officially knew. This was in 1984 and I was curious. So I participated in the selection process, which consisted of a dinner party and games and small “talk.” I wasn’t serious and I think they knew it but I thought they were a great couple. They actually went through a friend of a friend from out of town.
Homosexual parents do not bring the challenges to their home or family. They are living out their lives just like other families do, day in and day out. The challenges come from a society that can not accept people who are different. And the more different you are the more society questions your ability to interact in “their” society, and whether you have the right to. I try very hard not to be part of that fearful society. However it is in this within this society that adoptions are made or not made. We have made many changes but I believe this is a hard topic for people to understand.
Reflections
How does your performance on this assignment demonstrate achievement of, or progress toward the College's learning objectives, Acquire knowledge, communicating effectively, use quantitative literacies, thinking crictically, being civically engaged.
This Marriage and Family Relations class has been a perfect place for me to grow and mature in my academic progress. I have had many opportunities to communicate effectively both in essay assignments as well as in discussion groups. I have heard many different opinions. And have enjoyed the diverse voices.
As for the two assignments that I have chosen to submit as my signature assignments. First I have chose to use my creative assignment that I submitted on July 5, It is a creative poster with Wordl ( a website that generates “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source. Using this allowed me to experiment with different mediums, to use a fun and interest new media. It required some new and interesting elements. I needed to use and interpret information represented as data, to created the wordl. As you can read in Assignment description I needed to created a graph of the words used in communication. Than decide how the words were going to be presented. It was a very unique experience, I am not naturally computer literate, so I was definitely working on a Learning Curve.
As for my second assignment, I chose to share my assignment response to the question: “Should homosexual be able to adopt.” As I mentioned in the assignment I have mixed feeling regarding this sensitive subject. However; even with my own personal feelings regarding the issue I needed to learn to reason effectively, Engage in reflective thinking develop an awareness of others, understand and appreciate human differences. I need to align my personal opinion with the rights of other. This particular assignment allowed me to look a little deeper as to the issue at hand, to go beyond my own ideas, to examine the real questions. I am happy with my conclusions. I am still in the process of understanding and looking beyond my personal assumptions, to see the people that are involved in the every day struggle of being treated fairly. As my assignment states I try very hard not to be part of the fearful society.I believe that can be the real Learning Curve we are share.
