Running Head: LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT

Level of Engagement

Jill Schirmacher

Carthage College

May 14, 2019

Level of Engagement 1

Throughout the course of the semester, I have learned how important it is to know the

different types of communication throughout the world. Communication is not only limited to

verbal commands, but to what people watch, listen to, and read whether it be from a television,

radio, or magazine. There are many different approaches, theories, and methods to how

communication functions. The book, “Human Communication in Society” by Alberts,

Nakayama, and Martin has many theories, methods, and approaches in the communication area.

While these three topics were used throughout the course, there was also the methodology of

finding the information and how it related to class discussions or Schoology discussions. On

many occasions, many of the theories, approaches, and methods were led to how a student

performed in and out of the classroom setting.

There are many ways in which a student can interact with their peers through approaches,

theories, and methods. One student in particular had used the Critical Approach throughout the

classroom. This student thought that the with the Critical Approach, it really shows how human

behavior can also change society. During classes, students would talk about how communication

has changed throughout the years and how advanced it has become. According to the book,

“Human Communication in Society” it states that the Critical Approach is “an approach used not

only to understand human behavior but ultimately to change society also” (38). The student had

looked at this definition as changing society for the better by changing human behavior. While it

is impossible to make the whole world change their behaviors to make society better, the student

had realized that throughout some class discussions or activities that the other classmates’

behavior would change based on the attitude or body language of others. During one class

activity, students had to debate against one another with two quotes that they were given. The

students had argued with one another about why their side was correct or most logical and how
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the other side was in the wrong. The student’s behavior towards one another was shown as

aggressive in one way. Students were not patient enough to listen to what the other side had to

say and at one point had even brought the professor into the discussions and how unfair people

were being or how the rules were not explained well enough. The student’s human behavior was

very short and aggravated towards one another as time went on which resulted in how the

classroom atmosphere had begun to feel chaotic. By the students arguing on why their side was

the best, they made the social setting more unbearable to be able to freely speak without getting

interrupted by others. According to WordPress.com, “If you are capable of critically analyzing

the communication in your workplace you may be able to improve the overall effectiveness of

the organization’s communication”. This was true for the student when they realized that

throughout the activity there was an increase of work when everyone was contributing. Even

though there were some parts of the discussions that a few students were not speaking, majority

of the class would contribute which made the whole process move easier and quicker. The

student focused on how much of an impact human behavior made on society and how the results

went based on what people said or their actions.

When it comes to theories, the student based most of their actions and behaviors on the

Attachment Theory. The student believes that they have made relationships with other

classmates that have helped to benefit the overall experience of the class and has helped with any

questions that someone else may know the answer to. The student values friendships that they

make and believes that relationships with people are very important. People are able to find out

more information from others and see new point of views on topics rather than being like a

closed door all the time. The Attachment theory is also another way that the student describes

being able to have more opportunities. People may have better explanations of topics that the
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person themself does not understand. Understanding that the Attachment theory involves

relationships with other people comes from the PyschologistWorld states that “the claim that the

ability for an individual to form an emotional and physical ‘attachment’ to another person gives a

sense of stability and security necessary to take risks, branch out, and grow and develop as a

personality”. Attachment theory has been brought up during the Schoology discussions several

times. Having relationships in the classroom with students has helped greatly when commenting

on a student’s work. The student did admittedly want to reply to friends only so as to not be

embarrassed if the peers judged them, but found it soothing to realize that the classmates did not

mind who commented on who’s work. By gaining more personal relationships with classmates,

the student felt more confident in their responses to other classmates and their own work. The

Attachment theory described how the student would go about with some tasks throughout the

semester of the course.

The theory, Shared (Collaborative or Distributed) Leadership also impacted on how the

student succeed throughout the course. The Shared (Collaborative or Distributed) Leadership

theory states that is “a type of leadership style in which functional leadership is extended to an

organizational level; all members are equal partners and share responsibility for the work of the

group” (236). Although the student was not a leader themselves, they still made sure that they

had equal parts as his or her classmates. The student would do their work and not be lazy or not

contribute anything at all. The student would rather have been given a job rather than being the

leader and telling everyone what to do. During an activity that involved skits to put on for the

class, the student had contributed and stepped up to help be one of the acting students. The

student noticed that some people would not want to act or contribute very little, which the
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student decided that even though they themselves are shy, he or she will still step up to the plate

to distribute their equal part of the activity so as not to do nothing throughout the whole skit.

The Functional Theory is one that the student does not relate to as much but used a little

and noticed throughout the class. The Functional theory is said that leadership behaviors are able

to be learned. During the course of the semester, the student noticed how this was true for

students who were particularly shy at the start of the course. On an online website, it stated that

SAGE explained Functional theory as an “attempt to explain how and why communication is

related to the quality of the decisions groups make”. During the class discussions, many students

would not speak up and voice their own opinion which included the student who was too shy and

nervous to speak. Though the student did not speak much during class discussions, they did

notice that other peers would start speaking more throughout the class discussions when they

have not spoken much beforehand. One student in particular had never spoken during class and

would try to get out of every opportunity for talking. As time went on that student had started to

answer or ask more questions and speak up when other people did not. The student noticed how

that student slowly was becoming more of a leader just by speaking up and opening up the

conversation for people to add to whether they agree or not. The student was not someone who

wanted to tell others what to do but rather be the one getting ordered around. While some

students are natural born leaders, some learn to become leaders just by speaking up and

interacting with others during discussions or outside class activities and homework.

There were some methods that the student related to, but the one that stuck out was the

Rhetoric Method. The student realized that it was the most relatable with understanding how

they functioned in the classroom. Rhetoric is defined as “communication that is used to influence

the attitudes or behaviors of others; the art of persuasion” (377). The student realized that
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throughout the semester they have been influenced by other opinions. During the Schoology

discussions, the student had noticed how some of the other students would put down their own

thoughts and get a sense for how they felt towards the topic and get an idea for how they wanted

to write their own answer. The student would be persuaded by some of the other opinions that

the original answer was no longer going to be written down. The student had a new point of view

on a topic and ended up writing out some similarities like what everyone else had because of

how those answers changed the student’s mind. The student also influenced others on certain

topics based on small group discussions. The student had voiced their thoughts and had some

classmates agree with them and open up rather than just sticking to their own thoughts and theirs

alone.

For the methodology segment, I found all my research through websites and the

classroom textbook. Some websites I found were not as helpful as others. A few websites would

only show online chats for the word that I was looking for, but not show an official website. It

seemed as though they were just online group chats that people were able to comment and post

whatever they wanted to. I also found that the book was not the main resource that I relied on.

The book helped with definitions and explain them and giving examples, but at times did not

have the right information that I was looking for. When I wanted a deeper meaning or more

explained meaning, online websites would sometimes tend to be better than the book. I also

looked through Schoology discussions and looked at how I interacted on those along with how

other students interacted with one another. Along with the Schoology discussions, I looked back

on class discussions, group work, and skits. I found that the methods, theories, and approaches

listed above were the ones that described me the most for how I interacted in the classroom.

They were the ones that I saw myself using the most out of all the other ones.
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Throughout research for reviewing of literature, there were many different sides to the

research. Many of the findings I was able to notice how each one was different in its own way

where they all had the same similar main idea but still had smaller details that made them

original. The book helped a lot with understanding what each theory, method, and approach had

to say and what the general idea was of that theory, method, and approach. The online websites

helped me to determine how much of those literature vocabulary words I could define and how

much I used them throughout the course of the semester. The one that was the most related to

during the class was the Attachment Theory. There were people who I did not talk to very often

or have never talked to but getting to know the people better by being in a group with them or

commenting on one another’s Schoology discussion helped to better the relationship. Students

were able to get to know each other based off of activities and discussions and have those close

relationships where they were able to talk outside of class and even get together to work on

homework or projects.

During the whole course of the semester, the Level of Engagement has been decent work.

Although the student did not always talk in class, they still participated in all the activities, group

work, and online discussions. The student made sure to contribute and do their work on time

while being respectful to all students. The student also made sure to ask other students questions

when confused about an assignment or topic so as to not fall far behind when learning a new

chapter each week. Overall, the student made sure to have an open mind when hearing others

voice their opinions and made sure to help make the classroom setting a better place with not

interrupting others and making sure to have a good time and not making it miserable for other

students or the professor.

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References

Alberts, K. Jess., Nakayama, K. Thomas., Martin, N. Judith. (2016). Human Communication In

Society 4th Edition.

Bowlby, & Ainsworth. (2015, January 01). How Your Infant Attachments Can Affect You In

Later Life. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologistworld.com/developmental/attachment-theory

Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw.

(Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720.

https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720. (n.d.).

doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f

Orgcomm2015. (2015, November 30). Critical Approach to Organizational Communication.

Retrieved from

https://orgcommfall2015.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/critical-approach-to-

organizational-communication/