Edgenuity Community

When I taught I needed to find a way to reach out to all my student's parents- even those who didn't speak English. I lived in an area where Spanish was prevalent, yet I didn't speak it. I wanted to be able to connect and build a relationship with them despite the language barrier. This is when I reached out to the Spanish teacher on campus to have her translate a letter I wrote up. I left blanks where I could fill-in-the-blanks with the student's name and grade. After I did this I had a handful of students come in and tell me that their parents put the letter on the refrigerator. The elation on their face was priceless. What do you do to reach out to the parents of your students?

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Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
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I love this Amber! We did something similar to encourage Spanish speaking parents to attend parent-teacher conferences. Our English department drafted an email in Spanish for us to send out to those parents. It was an invitation to attend conferences with teachers and a translator. We had two staff volunteers who spoke Spanish join us. While we didn't get all the parents to come, the few who did were so grateful.

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Bianca Kress
Weld North Education
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-19-2020 18:13
From: Amber Woodward
Subject: Reaching out to parents

When I taught I needed to find a way to reach out to all my student's parents- even those who didn't speak English. I lived in an area where Spanish was prevalent, yet I didn't speak it. I wanted to be able to connect and build a relationship with them despite the language barrier. This is when I reached out to the Spanish teacher on campus to have her translate a letter I wrote up. I left blanks where I could fill-in-the-blanks with the student's name and grade. After I did this I had a handful of students come in and tell me that their parents put the letter on the refrigerator. The elation on their face was priceless. What do you do to reach out to the parents of your students?

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Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
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I love the idea of including a translator. Who knows, if you ask enough parents, maybe one is bilingual and can be the unofficial translator for meetings. 

Also, if anyone is looking for Edgenuity resources in Spanish, we have a few introductory flyers that can help your parents understand the platform. https://www.edgenuity.com/resources/edgenuity-help-for-families/#getstarted

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Emily Kirk
Customer Engagement Manager
Edgenuity Inc
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2020 07:59
From: Bianca Kress
Subject: Reaching out to parents

I love this Amber! We did something similar to encourage Spanish speaking parents to attend parent-teacher conferences. Our English department drafted an email in Spanish for us to send out to those parents. It was an invitation to attend conferences with teachers and a translator. We had two staff volunteers who spoke Spanish join us. While we didn't get all the parents to come, the few who did were so grateful.

------------------------------
Bianca Kress
Weld North Education

Original Message:
Sent: 10-19-2020 18:13
From: Amber Woodward
Subject: Reaching out to parents

When I taught I needed to find a way to reach out to all my student's parents- even those who didn't speak English. I lived in an area where Spanish was prevalent, yet I didn't speak it. I wanted to be able to connect and build a relationship with them despite the language barrier. This is when I reached out to the Spanish teacher on campus to have her translate a letter I wrote up. I left blanks where I could fill-in-the-blanks with the student's name and grade. After I did this I had a handful of students come in and tell me that their parents put the letter on the refrigerator. The elation on their face was priceless. What do you do to reach out to the parents of your students?

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Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
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All --

At Guymon Public School, we have implemented a tool called SchoolStatus which allows us teachers to have an open line of communication with parents/stakeholders, and it automatically translates into something like 40+ languages. Don't know if promotion of software other than Edgenuity is allowed, but wanted to share what we have done.

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Steven Coen
Guymon Public Schools
steven.coen@guymontigers.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-02-2020 09:50
From: Emily Kirk
Subject: Reaching out to parents

I love the idea of including a translator. Who knows, if you ask enough parents, maybe one is bilingual and can be the unofficial translator for meetings. 

Also, if anyone is looking for Edgenuity resources in Spanish, we have a few introductory flyers that can help your parents understand the platform. https://www.edgenuity.com/resources/edgenuity-help-for-families/#getstarted

------------------------------
Emily Kirk
Customer Engagement Manager
Edgenuity Inc

Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2020 07:59
From: Bianca Kress
Subject: Reaching out to parents

I love this Amber! We did something similar to encourage Spanish speaking parents to attend parent-teacher conferences. Our English department drafted an email in Spanish for us to send out to those parents. It was an invitation to attend conferences with teachers and a translator. We had two staff volunteers who spoke Spanish join us. While we didn't get all the parents to come, the few who did were so grateful.

------------------------------
Bianca Kress
Weld North Education

Original Message:
Sent: 10-19-2020 18:13
From: Amber Woodward
Subject: Reaching out to parents

When I taught I needed to find a way to reach out to all my student's parents- even those who didn't speak English. I lived in an area where Spanish was prevalent, yet I didn't speak it. I wanted to be able to connect and build a relationship with them despite the language barrier. This is when I reached out to the Spanish teacher on campus to have her translate a letter I wrote up. I left blanks where I could fill-in-the-blanks with the student's name and grade. After I did this I had a handful of students come in and tell me that their parents put the letter on the refrigerator. The elation on their face was priceless. What do you do to reach out to the parents of your students?

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Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
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We use REMIND app as one of the tools to reach parents and students.  It's free and it allows them to text me at any time during school hours.  Students contact me more often since we began using this app about 3 years ago. It's also easy for parents to send me a quick text such as "John needs help in Math, can you call him?" I also send out a bulk text with reminders such as my Virtual office Hours, How to access the teacher halls, etc..

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Marcelle McGhee
Berks County Intermediate Unit
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-19-2020 18:13
From: Amber Woodward
Subject: Reaching out to parents

When I taught I needed to find a way to reach out to all my student's parents- even those who didn't speak English. I lived in an area where Spanish was prevalent, yet I didn't speak it. I wanted to be able to connect and build a relationship with them despite the language barrier. This is when I reached out to the Spanish teacher on campus to have her translate a letter I wrote up. I left blanks where I could fill-in-the-blanks with the student's name and grade. After I did this I had a handful of students come in and tell me that their parents put the letter on the refrigerator. The elation on their face was priceless. What do you do to reach out to the parents of your students?

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Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
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