Relationship Reflection

There are many people in my life with whom I have positive relationships. Below, I identify five people with the most positive relationships to me and describe the aspects of the relationship that characterize it as positive. I also detail the factors that help those relationships remain strong.

1. Rich- my fiance. I maintain a strong partnership with him because we have open communication and we live together so we see each other every day. We share a common vision for our future and have committed to this vision. We work together to achieve many things, including taking care of our animals and house. He and I maintain our relationship by doing new things, making sure we have humor, and spending quality time doing things together and enjoying the company of one another. We share a strong relationship because we communicate not only about our wants but also our emotions.

2. Rachel- my friend. Though we live far apart, we maintain a very strong relationship. We began our relationship in school where it was reciprocal; we worked together in a childcare classroom twice a week, and as we experimented doing things wih the children, we learned how to be in sync with the children. We recognized our personalities as complimentary, me being intrinsic, and her, extrinsic, and used this to our strength in the classroom. As we engaged the children together, we developed a closeness and appreciation for one another. We began helping each other with schoolwork, and the relationship blossomed from there. She is now my best friend and soon to be Maid of Honor. She and I have a well-developed sense of one another's personality and we just 'mesh well'. We maintain this relationship despite the long distance even when we do not see each other for long periods of time. It seems that we pick up where we left off no matter how long it has been.

3. Ali- my friend. We met because we have similar family circumstances and she and I understand one another's emotional experiences. We grew up together, which is something I cannot say of any of my other strong relationships and looking back at our teenage years together, I think of all the fun positive things that we experienced together. I think this is one of the strengths of our relationship- we have fond memories of growing up together.

4. Jess- my coworker and friend. We share a partnership because we work in a 'pod' together caring for young children. Her toddler room is next to mine and they are separated by a walk-through kitchen. We partner with and support one another in practical ways (covering bathroom breaks, sharing materials, passing children when we hit ratio) and other ways, like offering emotional support, sharing advice, and sharing our home lives with one another. We have spent time at one another's house. This relationship thrives because I see her every day and we can talk during our breaks and, briefly, on the playground. This is a positive partnership because we support each other emotionally inside and outside of work.

5. Kelsey- my coworker and friend. This is a very strong partnership because we too are friends and coworkers. Moreover, we went through the same bachelor's program, completing our degrees just one year apart. Kelsey and I were friends at school and I developed a type of partnership with her then because we helped each other with homework, especially with classes I had already been through as she was completing them. In turn, Kelsey was a listening ear for me during my transition from knowing nothing about children to becoming a confident teacher. Kelsey and I strengthened our partnership when I invited her to my workplace to complete her final practicum, and later helped her get a job at my childcare center. Even now we are strong partners because we discuss, in a safe relationship, work related issues and support one another and be reflective through ethical challenges.

Being reflective through ethical challenges is an incredible strength that I developed through relationships which are essential in work with families (especially in developing partnerships with families). I strongly believe that the most important lessons I learned from my undergraduate program did not consist of knowledge or skills but rather dispositions- the dispositions I developed early in my work with children are my strongest assets as a teacher and they stem from relationships with my peers. With Ali, my relationship encouraged reflection as we were able to share experiences of growing up together. We continue to reflect on these experiences and learn from our errors even now. Reflection is one way I work toward becoming a better teacher- I think about the things that happen with the children and families in my care and I work toward providing best-practice interactions with them. Reflection is an asset of mine, and I began to develop this skill through strong early relationships and partnerships.