Helping Annie

Helping Annie:

There a many diversities seen within the group video of "Helping Annie." The group member diversity that can be seen immediately is the gender of the group, which is two females and one male, the age difference of the members, all members of the group can be assumed to be Caucasian, and their role of involvement. This diversity seemed to affect the purpose of the meeting, to conclude the best recourse for Annie. This diversity made the male appear that he was not listening empathetically or comprehensively. This solely concluded by his actions and rushed conversation. One member of the group, who Annie informed of her problem, seemed to have a direct attachment or connection with Annie, which led to her listening empathetically. She was not successful in completing most of her thoughts, as she was interrupted repeatedly by the older male. His role within the group seemed to be from a psychological or medical standpoint, as he was primarily concerned with factual, supporting evidence and didn't want to waste time discussing indirect information. The male's failure to listen to the others could have halted a deeper understanding of exactly how Annie is feeling, as he didn't have much time and wanted to get straight to the point, a direct communication approach. If the group would have had an organized communication method, every member would be able to address their opinion or recommendation without interruption. This would allow for the group to draw a sound and productive approach to understanding and solving Annie's problem. For the members to place themselves in Annie's position will give them a direct situational view of exactly how she [Annie] may be feelings and it will allow them to feel the emotions behind her actions and words.

Planning a Playground

In the video, verbal and nonverbal interaction played a major part in the discussing of planning a playground. From head nodding, slight smiles, lack of eye contact and defensive posture, nonverbal signals may have controlled or altered the progress of the meeting. One member, Ray, seemed to control the ideas and see the negative in most responses through his crossed-armed, defensive posture. Iesha put forth a proposed budget that she concluded through research was questioned or doubted by Ray, who also had claimed to do research. His quick response while she was speaking sparked facial expressions from some members of the group. This seemed to change the tone of the meeting, as Betty (who was sitting to Ray's left) was timid and hesitant to respond to any issues. When responding, Betty took the 'doubtful' response, by making her statements a question or passive response (If that's fine with everyone, It's no problem, I don't mind, etc...). Billy, who sat across from Betty, was