Communication Skills

Using effective communication skills is crucial to relationships and to success at work.(Brinser, 2011) When leading change, it is important to build relationships in order for others to buy-in to your policy.  From my experience, the most important part of communication is truth and reasoning.  In order for others to want to listen and understand, you have to tell them why they need to know what you are presenting.  Once they know why it is important, then they need to know that the information being given is truthful.  Being in the position of Instructional Coach, you are able to determine what you want your teachers to know and present it to them in small and large groups.  I have found that being truthful to my teachers not only helps to build the relationship, but it also gives them the trust in myself to guide them in the right direction.  They do not have a fear of trying it a failing.   So in my opinion, it is important to communicate with truth and with a reason, this will build relationships as well as help others buy-in to what you are presenting. 


Resources
Brinser, L. (2011). Importance of Communication | Why is Communication Important | Interpersonal Ski. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.stressaffect.com/importance-of-communication.html

Education and Social Media

In the era of social media, our networks are much larger than they have ever been, and we have more ways to communicate with those in them. (Gordhamer, 2010)  I prefer to use Pinterest and Facebook as my platforms for social media. 

Facebook is one of the most powerful social platforms in the world.(Levy, 2013)  Facebook is a great way to circulate information.  This site allow for sharing of documents, videos, pictures, articles and more.  It also allows you to follow groups and to save and file items that you want to revisit.  Facebook is a powerful platform, however many people are still not on Facebook and this could be a downfall of using Facebook.

My other social media platform I would use would be Pinterest.  Pinterest allows you to post documents, videos, pictures, articles, websites and more.  This site also allows you to save what you like and to follow groups, people and ideas.  This platforms also have a filter that allows you to search topics that you want to see.  This is a great social media platform to get information out to others.  It however is very hard to determine what people think about the topic with commenting on Pinterest is allowed, but not used very often.

Social media is very nice to have and allows information to be circulated to a larger audience much faster.  However I feel that the best form of communication is human to human. 

Resources

Gordhamer, S. (2010, February 8). 5 Levels of Effective Communication in the Social Media Age. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://mashable.com/2010/02/08/communication-social-media/#saVX7Np8xmq4


Levy, S. (2013, December 02). How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230020