Thursday, March 7, 2013

For Me; A book I Should Have Read a Long time Ago

    I've just read Nonviolent Communication a Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg. This is a book I should have read many years ago but I couldn't because it just came out in 2003. There are many excellent books on good communication. Many cover the same territory as Rosenberg covers but Rosenberg has made the message more concise and practical. After you read this book you will have some practical things you can use.

    Rosenberg covers four areas: Giving form the heart, Compassion, observing without evaluating and identifying and expressing feelings.

    I was a teacher and every day I saw how important good communication was. The more accurate and particular you were the more successful things were.. 

    You had to watch your students for cues from them as to how they were feeling and how they were reacting. Sometimes missing a clue could make a big difference. I asked all my classes to watch what I did when I first came in the classroom. They really didn't know so after some prompting they saw what I was doing. I made sure that I looked at every student to see if there were any clues I should pick up from them. This made sense to the kids. I also suggested that they do the same for me. Check me out. Am I in a bad mood? 

   Sometimes dealing with parents  required care or you could end up in a nasty conversation. Looking back at some difficult interviews usually showed that I missed something.

    So Rosenberg's book puts things in a format the is practical. If you follow his ideas you can avoid some nasty communications problems and solve problems once you're in them. He gives examples with students, couples, staffs and street groups. 

    So if you like books on communication, this is a good one.

13 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It makes you think about the message you give to others.

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  2. Working everyday with high school kids, you are right in everything you said about classroom. I will look for the book!

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  3. Thanks for the suggestion Red, I'm going to put this book on my list of must reads!

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    1. I'm sure you'll get something out of it.

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  4. Hi
    The "verbose" bloke. I loved that description of "moi".
    I looked the writer up and the comments on his book as shown.
    I'll stay well clear of this entry. I think, that at my age and experience,
    I can make my own judgements. Having been able to travel extensively
    in younger days, well up to 50 years of age, had rural and hospitality background
    (Hotels and farming life), lived in another country for 6 years and then God forbid,
    became a public servant "smart arse" who refused to "toe the line"!!! Please note.
    Nope, I don't think you are in a bad mood at all. But your entry today, is interesting.
    I shall watch the comments as always.

    Anyhow, nope no verbosity!!! It did rain here after my morning weather report from
    Whistler Blackcomb. Seems that our roving weather reporter was too engrossed in the
    splendour of the ski resort.
    My city trip today into the CBD was fraught with danger. I missed all the excitement by 30 minutes.
    A lunatic with a gun appeared, half naked - the major Mall and surrounding streets were hastily
    evacuated. After prolonged negotiations and failed, the police stunned gunned him. All ended well.
    Ah gee, why do I miss this excitement??? And I was in the DVD shop right where this happened.
    Tomorrow I go back to get a new DVD player, what fun is in store????
    Colin (Brisbane. Australia)

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    1. For what I was doing it was extremely important to communicate in the best possible way. It was very important to me to get the job done right.

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  5. Thanks for the link, Red. I'll go check it out.

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  6. Sounds like a good book worth reading!

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    Replies
    1. It's an area that is important to me.

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  7. As an educator, and now a blogger, I really don't think you have issues with open, (kind) communication. But because you are interested in helping people, THANK YOU for the book...we should be ready to change and learn, no matter how old we are. Although, as I get older I pretty much find I am liking who I am better than when I was in my 20's.

    Thanks, Red!

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

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