Casey Fleming

TIGER P.R.I.D.E
IDI REFLECTIONS (PRE-TEST)

Intercultural communication is the form of interaction between individuals who

may posses different backgrounds, behaviors, gender, culture, ethnicity and much more
and understand the differences in the cultures. Intercultural communication can play a
large roll within the classroom setting due to the fact that students and children can be
raised completely differently. Being proficient in intercultural communications means
that you understand and can identify the underlying differences between cultures and
groups and how they can be applied to communication. With regards to teachers, being
able to understand and apply these concepts can help all students to succeed no matter the
background. Teachers who understand intercultural communication will be more likely to
create a positive learning environment for all students no natter their background.
Growing up, a large chuck of my life was spent swimming and competing for
sports. When it came to swimming, the team that I trained on was located in Cupertino
California, which is heavily populated by Asian Americans. On my team we had a wide
variety of athletes from different cultures, but the majority of our swim group was Asian.
I never really paid particularly close attention to the culture that I grew up in with
swimming and how it was different from my own. I can remember being at swim meets
and some of my friends parents would forget that I dont speak Chinese and they would
come ask me questions at meets in Chinese. A few of our teammates followed some of
their families old customs and would have to do random tasks that I didnt understand at
the time.

Casey Fleming
My perceived orientation scored at 119 which is in the acceptance category
meaning I can recognize the differences in my own and others culture, but my actual
developmental orientation is at 83 which places me at the upper end of polarization
defense/reversal. I when I saw such a big difference I was quite shocked and a little
confused why my gap was so large. The IDI report indicated that 7 point gap between
the PO and DO indicates a significant difference, which means I had 5 times that
significant difference in my gap. Sergio quickly explained that this I not always a bad
thing to possess, and the next step is to simply work on it and to continue to develop and
practice these skills. After Sergio explained it to me and I was able to read of the IDI
report, I started to realize that I can understand how I am on the border of polarization
and minimization. In many situations I can find the main and big patterns, but when it
comes to knowing people and understanding the deeper connections I tend to overlook
these or they go unnoticed.
The way Sergio framed it to me was to think of a student who I have taught in the
past and was disruptive all the time. Now think about how they act and behave when
they become disruptive. My response was first thinking about what had happened to that
student that day or if they were in a bad mood from something at school, but what I
missed and he told me was to think about how growing up in his home, street, with his
family all impacted the way that student acts and communicates. And part of developing
your Intercultural communication skills you must understand this and try to connect and
understand what barriers are being placed between them and how to correctly approach
the situation

Casey Fleming
When it comes to strengths and weakness, according the results I have a lot of areas that
are still left unresolved and need to be improved upon. My weakness is that I tend to shy
away from conversations that seem not relevant to me or that I do not like. I believe that
one of my strengths is that I have worked with a large diverse group of athletes on my
various sporting teams. This has allowed me to work with and understand a little bit
better other cultures and the similarities and differences between them.
Tiger pride will definitely have an impact on my development of my intercultural
communication, with regards to student management and communication. Many of the
students in tiger pride come from a Spanish decent and if I can better understand their
culture and the differences they have between the rest of the class, I will hopefully be
able to find a way to communicate and teach that can benefit all students. One area that I
would like to further improve upon is my ability to connect with the students of different
decent on a personal level. Another area I feel that I could improve upon is to actually
learn about the different cultures that are dominant in my area and understand their way
of life. The final way is to simply improve my communication techniques and how I talk
to the students. I feel that I tend talk fast or quickly when I am teaching or am nervous
and think that by improving this basic skill I can also improve my communication when
dealing with diverse cultures.