The Gifts of Education: Communication

 Welcome to another post from my series called The Gifts of Education. In this series, I am reflecting on the skills and experiences I have been gifted over my past 12+ years in education. In this post, I wanted to share some of the ways education has made me a better communicator. I hope you enjoy this post, along with others in the series, as much as I enjoy writing them.

When selecting a major for college, I would be lying if I didn't say part of the appeal of majoring in math was the lack of writing classes. It's not that I was bad at writing, I just didn't like it. I felt clumsy and struggled to put my thoughts into words that were received how I intended. I frequently felt misunderstood and found myself preferring to say nothing at all.  This made it easy for my high school English teacher to persuade me to take the AP exam, despite never taking an AP course. I saw it as my ticket out of having to take any more writing classes. Luckily, I managed to pass with a 4, earning a waiver for my writing credits. I never took a single English or writing class ever again. 
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This is not to say that I didn't have other forms of education when it came to writing. There is nothing that pushes your communication skills quite like scripting out a lesson plan focused on explaining complex mathematical concepts in ways that are both accessible and mathematically accurate. To add another layer on top of it, imagine you are teaching those mathematical concepts to multilingual learners who will also need support with the English vocabulary and syntax that accompanies these lessons. Nothing pushed me more to improve my communication than being responsible for supporting both the math and language development of my students. I learned how to communicate concisely with incredible precision in a way that built a common understanding. In education, there is no debate - it is your responsibility as the teacher to communicate in ways that are well understood by your students with all of the accompanying complexities. Those who can create productive feedback loops (also known as checks for understanding in teacher talk) are able to perfect the strategies that prove most effective. Put another way - by taking responsibility for communicating effectively and repeatedly asking for feedback on that communication, I have refined this skill into a creative art that bring me great joy and makes me a great facilitator and communicator. Thank you to all of the students and colleagues who have given me feedback over the years to help me become the communicator I am today. While I will always have a lot to learn, I know how much I have grown.
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Reflecting over the years, below are some of my most proud and favorite moments that come to mind when it comes to communication and some side-note commentary:

• Explaining the disc method of integration to high-school students using paperclips and cut-out foam discs (and many other calculus concepts). If you want to see me at my nerdiest, ask me to explain what calculus is to you sometime.
• Creating a trailer-style video to launch a division-wide tech training series with a interactive game board to promote healthy competition and fun! 
• Pitching a hybrid bias and equity training model to executive leadership for sponsorship using only a one-page document. I learned that when pitching ideas to those with a lot of decisions to make, sticking to one page makes it more likely to be internalized. I make use of visuals, lists, tables, and text formatting to make the most of of the visual real estate. 
• Creating a comprehensive onboarding system for new employees with a presentation, user guide, and coordinated resource documents that can be customized per employee.
• Creating helpful training and user guides for different technology platforms, grounded in strong pedagogy and best-practices. I often use a clickable table of contents with specific sections to help folks find what they need quickly (AKA hyperdocs)
• Sending a quick screen cast to a colleague instead of writing a long and potentially confusing email (I find this is often faster, impressive, AND more effective).
• Using annotated screenshots to provide troubleshooting directions. I use the Chrome extension Awesome Screenshot and it saves time on trying to write out directions.
• Building out a comprehensive implementation guide for district-wide use of Learning Management Systems and distributing individual copies for each school. It was important not to include EVERYTHING, but only the most important strategies for schools while also providing all of the essential resources (video tutorials, family communication templates, etc.)
• Creating videos that explain technical processes in accessible language that is also precise. I created one for each of the major LMS integrations we had at the district level and it DRAMATICALLY decreased the number of incidents we had. I think sometimes we underestimate the importance of building capacity in users to self-troubleshoot and should be doing more of this when supporting tech application. Plus, it was super fun and I got to use cool music.
• Making the time to walk over to a colleague's desk to ask them a question or talk to them about something instead of sending another email. Unless an email is better for processing the information or getting a response in time, I prioritize this approach. It helps me build relationships and lets me use my facial expressions and tone of voice to convey ideas better. That way, if I have to send an email, they can read it with my specific tone.
• Providing human-centered framing to an initiative or problem-solving session. I've seen many great ideas launched without proper framing that fall flat and fail. There is often so much conversation going on in the planning behind the scenes that we forget to share the journey with those impacted. We assume that our time is better spent elsewhere, when it couldn't be farther from the truth. If something is really that important, make the time to provide context and framing, including the 'why' behind the work.
• Providing reassurance and human to someone needing technical support. During the height of emergency remote learning, I would sometimes get teachers on the phone crying about an issue they had with their Learning Management System course. If I detected any distress in their voice, I would start out the call with something like 'I can only imagine how stressful this must be for your right now. With everything going on, I know you are probably overloaded and this is the last thing you needed. I want you to know that I understand how hard this must be for you and I am committed to helping you solve this problem. You are in good hands. How can I help you today?" It was amazing how acknowledging the difficulty of the situation and connecting as a human first helped the troubleshooting process. Sometimes, it's easy to think we don't have time for these moments, but I find when we don't pause to take them it ends up taking longer and being less effective. It is worth the time, every time.

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Overall, I've learned that communication can take many forms and the most important thing is that you find what works for the idea you are trying to convey with your target audience. Don't be afraid to play with different formats - text, tables, visuals, videos, talking in person, etc. If you're unsure, build in checks for understanding to help yourself improve and let people know effective communication is important to you. As any educator will tell you, feedback is a great teacher, as long as we take the time to listen.