SPC 1017 Group 1 Blog Anthony M

 

Hello to whoever is reading this at the moment. My name is Anthony Martinez and I recently had the pleasure to be added into group one of my SPC1017 class. The project that the class was assigned consisted of three chapters: Chapter 3, 9, and 10. Group one was the first on the list and chronologically presented chapter 3 for the entire class. This was the first project assigned in a class that I started not so long ago so I did get a bit nervous in the beginning, but with the help of my group, all my fears and worries started to fade the more the time passed.

When I was assigned to group one and moved to the private room with my peers, I was quite nervous due to some past experiences I’ve had with group projects; However, as soon as everyone started communicating with each other, team chemistry started to flow in our group and my concerns quickly faded away and changing into feelings of confidence and reassurance. I chose to commence the chapter by picking to present section 3.1. The group didn’t necessarily have a specific leader since everyone was picking and doing their own part of the chapter, but the teamwork still felt excellent. All of my peers worked great with the small amount of time they had to complete the assignment, and also considering they had many occupations and other things to take care of during those two days. I studied 3.1 a few times. I even practiced some examples that correlated to my section and gave out speeches to Casper the ghost as I walked around in circles. After studying for a little while, I felt confident in the speech that I was soon to present.

My section of the chapter consisted of culture and communication. In my speech, I spoke about what cultures were and how they were inherited and passed down through generations upon generations. I spoke about many key terms in the section, such as values, intercultural communication, and even culture shock. Culture is basically a set of values or beliefs that are shared between a certain group of people and such values are deemed as acceptable or appropriate amongst themselves. These cultures are developed by people with similar life experiences and each have their own ideal and real values. Ideal values would be the expectation to set inside of a culture while real values are the reality and how the standards are actually being upheld. An example of this that I gave during the speech was the Constitution. I explained how in the Constitution, it is written how everyone should be treated equally (ideal value); However, many people living in the United States are still treated unfairly because of their differences (real value). Later on in my speech, I went on to speak about intercultural communication and the association that it could have with the other key term which was culture shock. I practically mentioned that since two cultures could be really different, it could lead to a culture shock or an uncomforting feeling due to their large differences. In the end of my section, I spoke about how cultures were transmitted and even modified through communication.

I personally felt like my speech was a pretty solid performance. It was clear to understand with simple examples to make the section more understandable for the listener. I do feel like I could’ve provided more but my content was also quite limited which made it a difficult task to extend my speech. After my presentation, group one moved on to the remaining sections of chapter 3. All of my classmates in group one had wonderful presentations full of energy and charisma whilst also carrying highly informative speeches and slides. Some memorable sections in my opinion are 3.2a, b, c, d, and h. 3.2a started off by talking about what race is how throughout time it has become a problematic topic. 3.2b spoke about ethnicity and how it connects many cultural characteristics such as languages and beliefs. 3.2c introduced the concept of native languages and what it was. In this section, a detail that caught my attention was that some people actually dominate their secondary language much better than their native one. The reason it hooked me in was because my native language is Spanish, but throughout time and practice, the English language grew on me to become a more fluent language in my head. I speak both languages perfectly, but since moving to the United States, I’ve had much more practice with English than I’ve had with Spanish. 3.2d spoke about sexual orientation and how in American culture, heterosexuality was often the norm. This section also mentions how in many different cultures, they maintain a very open outlook on sexuality and sexual orientations. Section 3.2 spoke out about disabilities. It explained what a disability was in great detail, while also speaking about important key terms in the section such as disability co-culture. This is whenever people with shared values or beliefs share a similar disability. These are not all, but just some of the parts in chapter 3 that personally stood out to me, whether it was due to personal experiences or simply because they were very interesting to read about and listen to.

Group 2 were the presenters of chapter 9, which in summary was about communicating in groups. Chapter 9 dove deeper into more specific groups while chapter 3 being the tip of the iceberg. Chapter 9 spoke on many things, such as what groups were, how they connected, and the different types of groups that could be commonly found. Chapter 10 was the final chapter of the project and was presented by group 3. It was the shortest presentation and it spoke about group leadership and problem solving. It presented the concept of leadership, what it was, and the many types of leaders around the world.

All in all, every group did a fantastic job researching and fearlessly delivering great presentations. I was very happy with my classmates and with myself for not disappointing them. It was a very informative and entertaining project to plan out with everyone.