Week 1: Poor Communication

"No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others."
 -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I found this quote and thought it was great for capturing how miscommunication is so prevalent in the workplace these days. I feel as though so many people spend so much time expressing their own ideas and opinions that they rarely listen to what others have to say or check to see if what they are saying is really being communicated in the way they intended for it to be.

Recently, I ran into a problem at work with one of the parents of the children in my class (I'm a preschool teacher) and I think the root of the problem was miscommunication on my part. For as long as I have been a lead teacher in my classroom, I have not allowed for toys to come in from home. I had chosen to implement this rule in the beginning because the toys were causing a distraction and were constantly getting lost or broken and really just causing unneeded trouble in the classroom. I worked with the same co-teacher in the classroom for two years and we worked together to enforce this rule. All of the families understood why the rule had been put into place and abided by it. This past fall, a new co-teacher started in my classroom at the same time many new students were starting in my classroom. I didn't clearly communicate to my new co-teacher that I wasn't okay with having the toys in the classroom. Since we never discussed this rule, she allowed the students to bring in their toys but I wasn't aware that she had told them it was okay. I couldn't figure out why the children kept bringing in their toys.

Last week, one of the parents came to me with concerns that her son had lost numerous toys or had let other children borrow them and now she wanted the toys back. I told her that in reality, the toys should not be in the classroom. She then let me know that my co-teacher has told her toys were fine. I then realized there had been poor communication between myself and my co-teacher.

Once my co-teacher got to work that day, I discussed with her why I really didn't want the toys in the classroom and she actually agreed with me completely. That day, we sent out an email and a letter home to the parents stating that the original classroom rule had been re-established and that toys from home would not be allowed in the classroom unless there was a specified request from the teachers for an item to be brought in from home.

Once the lines of communication were opened, my co-teacher and I were able to come to agreement. I guess I should have discussed my concerns with her sooner and we could have avoided this mess!