ED 401 Post #1

Three phrases most likely to be spoken (at least in UCSB JDP classes with cohort 5) by Dr. Patrick Faverty: "We are all emotional beings in a social setting"; "Trust the process"; and "So what?" Oh yeah, and one more, "Figure it out." The first two -- emotional beings in a social setting and advice about trusting the process are, from my perspective thus far into ED 401, the most relevant not only to this class but probably to the JDP and maybe life in general. I found the readings confirmed those statements. As someone with a background in counseling, I loved the foundational readings for the course -- especially those Kurt Lewin, Donald Schon, and Edward Schein.

Tuckman's article and the U of Oregon model on group work and the ideas of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning discuss a common or applicable framework -- but I think that group preocesses may go through each of those stages over and over again, and jump back and forth between stages -- especially if the group is together for an extended period of time working on varying/changes tasks. I think we've seen within our coursework and group work through the JDP the importance of recognizing that we are all emotional beings in a social setting and thus require validation if the process is to work.