My Personal Thanks to my Classmates and Instructors

     I want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to all of my classmates and instructors for your encouraging words and responses to my blogs and discussion posts. I appreciate and respect your suggestions and knowledge and for always having a positive attitude about our topics even though some were quiet challenging. 

     I would take this time to say a very special thank you to Kate Turner because we have so much in common with regards to special needs children and it has been great reading and responding to you posts and gaining new insights and information I can take with me into my profession. 

     Last I would like to give a very special shout out to Adrienne Stephens and even though we have never met in person, we have had some great laughs via email and hangouts! Thanks for all your help and advice. I wish each of you the best of luck and success in you future endeavors and I hope to see you all in my next classes and at graduation.

     I would love to keep in touch with everyone so my personal email address is diannansykes@aol.com or diannasykes@gmail.com. I look forward to receiving some emails!

                     

Sincerely,

Dianna Sykes

               Team Development               

A group that I was a part of and was hardest to leave was the PTA at my children’s school where I served at president for 2 years. We also went thru the 5 stages of development and by the second half of the school year, were a cohesive group. The best aspect of that group was that each of us as parents, teachers and administrators genuinely cared about the well being of the children and were able to develop fundraisers and programs that were for the benefit of all the students. This school had some deficits with regards to its special needs children and the parents were particularly concerned with inclusion, accommodations, and services or lack thereof. When I came on board, and being a parent of a special needs child attending that school, I was empathetic to the concerns and together we were able to develop plans to raise money in order to address the students needs. For example, we were able to convert an unused portable on the campus to a Sensory room and purchase/acquire all of the items needed for the children to go and receive the stimulation/soothing they needed to function optimally throughout the day. 

We also had parents express they would like diversity with regards to Halloween because not everyone celebrated, felt it was safe, or convenient but didn’t want their children to miss out on the candy, costumes, and fun. We established Harvest Day at the school that was held on the same day as Halloween as an alternative and invited the entire community. We had games, food, candy, etc. and it was so successful it became an annual event. I also suggested we implement this idea to our church and it was started there as well.

There was an informal celebration after each event during my tenure as PTA president in the form of dinner but the hardest was when my children moved to other schools which meant I needed to shift my PTA focus to those schools. They had a big going away party for me with many parents and teachers alike filled with warm wishes and thank yous for my diligent service. I was sad to leave this group because we worked so well together and I was unsure how the successor would function. Adjourning, I feel is important because it provides closure and also provides the team the opportunity to say good-bye to each other and wish each other luck as they pursue their next endeavor.

With regards to my master’s degree program, I am not sure how we will adjourn outside of emails and posts since we are all in different parts of the country. I do hope to see some of you at graduation and although Maryland is a ways away, it is important for me to walk across the stage.

Reference

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html