- This Reflection assignment requires you to work with another person (not a classmate). Ask a friend or family member (or more than one person) to give you feedback about your nonverbal behaviors. Does this person notice things about you that they think you should know about? Does this person like or dislike certain nonverbal behaviors that you engage in during conversations? Etc. You might need to explain the many different types or examples of nonverbal behaviors so that they know what to think about.
- Ask your chosen partner(s) to be totally honest, and to think about it before giving you the observations. If he/she feels compelled to answer right away, the comments are more likely to be just positive observations, which would result in a less valuable class experience for you. For full credit, you need to find a partner(s) who can give you some constructive criticism about your nonverbal behaviors so that you can think about how to improve. Haptics (touch), vocalics (timbre, tempo, intensity, paralanguage, pauses, silence, disfluencies, vocal fillers), kinesics (facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, emotional displays, conversation regulators), proxemics (use of space), artifacts (stuff), chronemics (time), olfactics (smell).
- Don’t let this exercise turn into a conflict. Don’t defend yourself. Don’t argue with your partner. Promise them that you will not argue or get defensive. Ask sincerely for your partner to give some constructive feedback about what nonverbal behaviors you exhibit that they think you either are not aware of, or that they think might be annoying or distracting to others, or that just need some improvement.
- The only thing that matters here is what the other person perceives and thinks about your nonverbal behaviors, even if you feel that person is wrong. Thank them for helping in this assignment. If they don’t give you useful feedback, ask someone else to help. For this exercise to be a good use of your time, you need to get some constructive feedback.
- Your Reflection should have four distinct sections. [1] First, write about whom you chose and why. Good work usually is at least 4 sentences in this section. [2] Second, write about what the other person said about your nonverbal behaviors. Good work usually is at least 4 sentences in this section. [3] Third, write about what you think about the comments and what you learned. What is your personal reaction to their comments? Good work usually is at least 3 sentences in this section. [4] And fourth, write one CIP (Communication Improvement Plan) for how you think you can improve one of the behaviors that was brought up by your partner. For this CIP, the Problem section can be just a couple of sentences rather than the usual 5 or more.
- Thorough work on this assignment tends to be at least 700 words including the CIP.
- This Reflection assignment requires you to work with another person (not a classmate). Ask a friend or family member (or more than one person if you want) to give you feedback about your nonverbal behaviors. Does this person notice things about you that they think you should know about? Does this person like or dislike certain nonverbal behaviors that you engage in during conversations? Etc.
- Ask your chosen partner(s) to be totally honest, and to think about it before giving you the observations. If they feels compelled to answer right away, the comments are more likely to be just positive observations, which would result in a less valuable class experience for you. For full credit, you need to find a partner(s) who can give you some constructive criticism about your nonverbal behaviors so that you can think about how to improve.
- Don’t let this exercise turn into a conflict. Don’t defend yourself. Don’t argue with your partner. Promise them that you will not argue or get defensive. Ask sincerely for your partner to give some constructive feedback about what nonverbal behaviors you exhibit that are annoying or that just need some improvement. You may want to show Ch. 5 to your partner so that they know the full range of what nonverbal behaviors are.
- The only thing that matters here is what the other person perceives and thinks about your nonverbal behaviors, even if you feel that person is wrong. When your partner is done, thank them for helping in this assignment.
- Your Reflection should have four distinct sections. [1] First, write about whom you chose and why. Good work is usually at least 4 sentences in this section. [2] Second write about what the other person said about your nonverbal behaviors. Good work is usually at least 4 sentences in this section. [3] Third, write about what you think about the comments and what you learned. Good work is usually at least 3 sentences in this section. [4] And fourth, write a CIP (Communication Improvement Plan, just like you did for Ch. 1) for how you can improve on one the behaviors that was brought up by your partner.
- Use the vocabulary from the chapter, and put those words in bold font in your CIP.
- If the first person you choose doesn’t have anything to say about what they observe or dislike about your nonverbal behaviors, then find another partner, or use more than one person to help you complete a good assignment. For this exercise to be a good use of your time, you need to get some constructive feedback. Thorough work on this assignment tends to be at least 700 words including the CIP.
