September 12

The simulation was beneficial. I am not a person who likes adversarial or confrontations- don't get me wrong I can stand my ground when necessary, but my preferred way is diplomacy, so I probably would not be a good negotiator. The simulation is good as that probably is how it really is, but as a group some of it made me a little uncomfortable. I feel the union in group 2 did a really nice job of putting together the proposal during class. You had the opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other face to face and you were pretty thorough. While I was participating in this and as Dr. Closen was telling us to look at body language, I started thinking about our meetings with parents during IEPs, conference, and other times. I have often purposely not looked at someone in the room during this time because I was afraid my facial expressions would give away how I was really feeling about things. Not only is that good to think about during negotiations, it is also good to think about in meetings in general. As far as the test goes Wade, just take it and don't worry about it. I figure that there are 125 questions and the score is 200- there must be some sort of weighted grading where maybe one answer gets more credit than another. It is not "hard" you just have to try and use common sense and go with your gut answers. Dr. Closen I am wondering if you are like a cat with nine lives....jumping out of an airplane, walking in a basement full of water...how many of those lives have you used??? Class was very beneficial - I may not be a great negotiator, but I certainly did learn some things about respecting what others in your learning community will fight for and how emotions can get out of hand over sometimes seemingly "silly" items. Oh and Dr. Closen I often go between being too hot and cold....I guess it's just my age - thanks for noticing! ;)