The AKPIRC Language and Cultural Liaison Training Workshop

The AKPIRC Language and Cultural Liaison Training Workshop

Part I: An Overview of the LCL Program

Agenda

• Introductions: Family Heritage

• Overview of the LCL program

• Sharing Our Stories About School

• Confidentiality

Introductions- Family Heritage

• Take 10 minutes to complete the worksheet titled, “My Cultural Identity”.

• Taking turns with a partner, you will each have 3 minutes to introduce yourself and discuss your cultural identity, using the worksheet as a guide.

• Introduce your partner to the group, using the information that you just learned.

What is the purpose of the Language and Cultural Liaison program?

• To develop and strengthen the relationship between parents and their children’s school.

• To provide a comprehensive approach to improving early childhood development and student learning in grades K – 12.

• To provide families with information about ESEA and how opportunities afforded them through this law can support children’s success in school.

The LCL encourages communication,

understanding, and partnerships between…

– the family and the school,

– the family and community services,

– the school and the cultural community.

LCLs offer families:

• Information about school expectations, services, and programs available to support school success.

• Strategies for supporting their child’s learning at home.

• Transition support to families and schools.

How is the Language and Cultural Liaison Program structured?

• Personal Visits

• Parent Workshops

• Working with school administrators, teachers, and staff

Personal Visits: These are monthly visits with families enrolled in the personal visit program

• Provide families with timely school and program information.

• Communicate a family’s information or concerns to the school.

• Help connect families to services available in the community.

Parent Workshops: Offered monthly at a school or community center.

• Provide families with opportunities to learn more

about what is happening at school.

• Create opportunities for parents to learn from one another and address important school issues in their community.

Working with administrators, teachers and staff

• Help school staff better understand the cultural expectations and values of a particular parent community.

• Interpret or translate information for school staff and ESL families.

Sharing our stories about school

Understanding the

perspectives of

others

Confidentiality and FERPA

• FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a federal law that protects the privacy interests of students.

• As employees of a school district, you may have access in individual student education records, but you are legally and ethically obliged to safeguard their confidentiality.

Education Records• All records, files, documents, and other materials

containing information directly related to a student.

• All records pertaining to services provided under IDEA

(special education law) are subject to confidentiality provisions.

• Health records are included.

Confidentiality of information that is private, but not covered by FERPA

• All information discussed during a home visit is confidential, unless you have signed permission (using the Personal Visit Form) to share this information with the school or another entity.

• Exception: Child abuse and neglect. As a State employee, you are required to report suspected child abuse and neglect to the Office of Children’s Services.

To whom can you talk when you need to debrief, find more information, or get advise on your work with an AKPIRC family?

• Building administrator

• School nurse

• LCL program supervisor

• Other?

End of Part I

• Questions or comments?

• Evaluation

Coming up next time: Personal Visits

ANCHORAGEAlaska Parent Information and Resource Center

Julie Jessal, Project Coordinator805 W. 3rd Avenue

Anchorage, Alaska 99501907-349-0651

JUNEAUAlaska Parent Information and Resource Center

Julie Staley, Project Director210 Ferry Way

Juneau, Alaska 99801907-586-6806

Personal Visits

Part II

AgendaPersonal Visits

• Activity: Dinner Partners

• Building Relationships with Families

• Scheduling your Initial Personal Visits

• Goals for the First Visit

• Reviewing the Parent Handbook

• Completing the Paperwork

Activity: Dinner Partners• With a partner, spend 2 ½ minutes each

talking about the following: If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why? What would you hope to learn?

• Each person shares information about the desired “dinner partner” of their partner.

Personal Visits: Monthly visits with families enrolled in the personal visit program

• Provide families with timely school and program information.

• Communicate a family’s information or concerns to the school.

• Help connect families to services available in the community.

Building Relationships with Families

• Communicating with skill and heart

• Empathy

• Understanding non-verbal communication

• Listening well

Communicating with skill and heart

• What are some of the skills involved in effective communication?

• What is meant by communicating with heart?

Empathy

Walk a mile in another man’s (or woman’s) shoes.

Understanding non-verbal communication

• Facial expressions

• Body posture

• Awareness of personal space

• Intuition

Listening Well• Door openers

• Encouragers

• Open-ended questions

Review

Please complete the 3 * 2 * 1 activity

Goals for the initial visit …

• Develop a positive rapport with the family

• Share the AKPIRC Parent Handbook

• Complete appropriate paperwork

Scheduling your Initial Personal Visits

• List of families.

• Call each family to schedule a personal visit– See the suggestions included in the script for the

“Initial Phone Contact.”

How to respectfully enter a home • Be prepared for the visit• Stand where you can be easily be seen.• Introduce yourself and remind the parent of the

purpose of your visit.• Where should you sit?• Say something positive about the family or the home.• Establish the focus of the visit.

Reviewing the Parent Handbook– Review pages 1 and 2 to share an overview of the purposes and

structure of the LCL program.

– Agreements page. Review all, but place special focus on confidentiality and child abuse and neglect sections.

– Inform parents of the duration of their enrollment in this program as outlined by your district.

Subsequent Personal Visits• Often goals for your personal visits will mirror or

follow-up workshop topics such as testing, parent-teacher conferences, etc.

• Another goals may be to address a child’s particular concern over time. If a child is having difficulty in math, for example, performance in this subject will be an ongoing focus of your personal visits with the parent.

Completing Paperwork Relating to Personal Visits

• Enrollment Form

• Personal Visit Record– Personal visit records and enrollment

forms are kept in a locked cabinet at all times.

• Weekly Personal Visit Log

End of Part II


• Evaluation

Coming up next time: Workshops






Juneau, Alaska 99801907-586-6806

Workshops

Part III

AgendaWorkshops

• Sharing the Stories of our Names

• Workshop Topics

• Training and Support

• Paperwork

Sharing the Stories of our Names

1. Invite all participants to briefly share the story of how they received their name.

2. After everyone has shared, ask:• How did you feel hearing these stories?• What have you learned about each other?• How can you use this storytelling exchange with

students and families?

Parent Workshops: Offered monthly at a school or community center.

• Provide families with opportunities to learn more

about what is happening at school.

• Create opportunities for parents to learn from one another and address important school issues in their community.

Who is the target audience?

• Enrolled families

• Other families who wish to participate

• School staff

How are workshop topics chosen?• Workshops offer opportunities to share

information that is required by ESEA Section 1118. (See handout, The Six “Shalls” of ESEA Requirements)

• Workshops can also offer parents the opportunity to learn about topics of special interest to their community.

What training or additional support will I have?

• AKPIRC PowerPoint presentations and support materials are available in “toolkits” in the “Schools” tab of the AKPIRC website.

• Monthly meetings with supervisor to review workshop materials, schedule workshops, etc.

Workshop Paperwork

• Sign-in sheets

• Workshop Evaluations

End of Part III


• Evaluation

Coming up next time: Working with administrators and teachers






Juneau, Alaska 99801907-586-6806

Working with Administrators, Teachers, and Staff

Part IV

AgendaWorking with Administrators, Teachers, and Staff

• Activity

• Providing support to families and schools

• Maintaining positive relationships at school

• Getting Started

Penny Activity

1. Pass out a penny to each person.

2. Instruct each person to look at the date on the penny. In large or small groups, ask participants to share something memorable that happened to them that year.

Working with Administrators, Teachers, and Staff

• Help school staff better understand the cultural expectations and values of a particular parent community.

• Interpret or translate information between school staff and ESL families

Providing support to both families and schools

• Support to families means working in the homes and the community

• Importance of confidentiality and professional ethics

• Know your job description; What LCLs do and what they don’t do.

Maintaining positive relationships at school

• Notify the school office of your whereabouts and how you can be contacted when not in the building.

• Have a schedule of school “office hours” available to staff and parents.

• Keep accurate records of your hours and activities on your weekly worklog.

Getting Started

1. Introduce yourself and your role as LCL to your school staff. Provide a copy of your “office hours” when teachers can expect to find you at school.

2. Schedule a time each week to meet with your supervisor (usually this is the building administrator).

Continued

3. Set up your parent resource room. You will need a phone, computer, and filing cabinet that locks. Create a comfortable, inviting space for parents and staff.

4. Obtain a list of parents to contact in regards to enrolling in the personal visit program.

5. Schedule visits and start enrolling families.

Continued6. Set up meetings with teachers of your enrolled

students to discuss classroom behavior, grades, attendance, etc. Be ready to share this information with parents at the next personal visit.

7. With your administrator, create a monthly workshop and training schedule.

You’re on your way!

8. Begin monthly workshops. Continue with personal visits. Provide support to school staff as needed to enhance parent communication.

9. Complete your Monthly Reports.

End of Part IV


• Evaluation






Juneau, Alaska 99801907-586-6806

Documents

The AKPIRC Language and Cultural Liaison Training Workshop