The AKPIRC Language and Cultural Liaison Training Workshop

1. The AKPIRC Language and Cultural Liaison Training Workshop Part I: An Overview of the LCL Program

2. Agenda • Introductions: Family Heritage • Overview of the LCL program • Sharing Our Stories About School • Confidentiality

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. The LCL encourages communication, understanding, and partnerships between… • the family and the school, • the family and community services, • the school and the cultural community.

6. 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.

7. How is the Language and Cultural Liaison Program structured? • Personal Visits • Parent Workshops • Working with school administrators, teachers, and staff

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Sharing our stories about school Understanding the perspectives of others

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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?

16. End of Part I • Questions or comments? • Evaluation Coming up next time: Personal Visits

17. ANCHORAGEAlaska Parent Information and Resource CenterJulie Jessal, Project Coordinator 805 W. 3rd Avenue Anchorage, Alaska 99501 907-349-0651 JUNEAUAlaska Parent Information and Resource CenterJulie Staley, Project Director 210 Ferry WayJuneau, Alaska 99801 907-586-6806

18. Personal Visits Part II

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. Building Relationships with Families • Communicating with skill and heart • Empathy • Understanding non-verbal communication • Listening well

23. Communicating with skill and heart • What are some of the skills involved in effective communication? • What is meant by communicating with heart?

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

25. Understanding non-verbal communication • Facial expressions • Body posture • Awareness of personal space • Intuition

26. Listening Well • Door openers • Encouragers • Open-ended questions

27. Review Please complete the 3 * 2 * 1 activity

28. Goals for the initial visit … • Develop a positive rapport with the family • Share the AKPIRC Parent Handbook • Complete appropriate paperwork

29. 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.”

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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

34. End of Part II • Questions or comments? • Evaluation Coming up next time: Workshops

35. ANCHORAGEAlaska Parent Information and Resource CenterJulie Jessal, Project Coordinator 805 W. 3rd Avenue Anchorage, Alaska 99501 907-349-0651 JUNEAUAlaska Parent Information and Resource CenterJulie Staley, Project Director 210 Ferry WayJuneau, Alaska 99801 907-586-6806

36. Workshops Part III

37. AgendaWorkshops • Sharing the Stories of our Names • Workshop Topics • Training and Support • Paperwork

38. Sharing the Stories of our Names • Invite all participants to briefly share the story of how they received their name. • 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?

39. 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.

40. Who is the target audience? • Enrolled families • Other families who wish to participate • School staff

41. 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.

42. 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.

43. Workshop Paperwork • Sign-in sheets • Workshop Evaluations

44. End of Part III • Questions or comments? • Evaluation Coming up next time: Working with administrators and teachers

45. ANCHORAGEAlaska Parent Information and Resource CenterJulie Jessal, Project Coordinator 805 W. 3rd Avenue Anchorage, Alaska 99501 907-349-0651 JUNEAUAlaska Parent Information and Resource CenterJulie Staley, Project Director 210 Ferry WayJuneau, Alaska 99801 907-586-6806

46. Working with Administrators, Teachers, and Staff Part IV

47. AgendaWorking with Administrators, Teachers, and Staff • Activity • Providing support to families and schools • Maintaining positive relationships at school • Getting Started

48. 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.

49. 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

50. 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.