The 2019 AFS Volunteer Summit was themed “Back to Schools” in an effort to remind all participants that we must build and/or rebuild true relationships that go beyond the transaction of whether or not they will host our students. It is critical and it is what makes the AFS work even more rewarding. The schools are a necessary part of the AFS circle and they have to be treated with the same level of kindness and generosity that we share with our exchange students when they arrive. The Summit was a launch of new ideas, fresh perspectives and renewed enthusiasm to revisit our relationships with schools moving forward.
The Summit included a panel of educators sharing their realities, a panel of partner countries sharing their educational initiatives, explanations of Strategic Plan 2.0 and its relevance along with a plethora of breakout sessions about opportunities to find a new door to open in a school if one is ever closed (or has never been opened).
The “Connect with Schools” page on MyAFS Help and Learning has been completely updated with new and updated content. EVERY volunteer & staff member who will have any interaction with a school should familiarize themselves with the materials that have been posted. Here is a brief description of what can be found (so far) on that page:
Creating School Strategies: This section includes…
- …a presentation about how to research school board policy so volunteers are informed about what their school/district expects of them as a hosting/sending organization. (Please see Building Relationships with Schools and Starting a Dialogue with Schools before approaching a new school!)
- …a hosting/sending data report to get quick historical data about what schools in the area team have hosted and/or sent students abroad since 2000. It does not require using Global Link.
- …a presentation about school hierarchy so you know who is capable of what decisions. This same “ABCs” presentation includes information about The Global Educator, which is the new newsletter to interact and share quality information with educators.
- …information about how professional organizations work in the school world and how to use that knowledge to connect with teachers (and some very receptive student groups too!)
- …a quick guide to our Sponsored Programs and how AFS volunteers can use that information to get in the door with schools.
- …information about how to leverage social media to reach the community, positively highlight the schools that host and gather data to further the mission of AFS when meeting with school leaders.
- …a “how to” guide to accessing school information in Global Link.
- …unique situations that volunteers have encountered around the country and how to handle them AFS-style. (Jill is happy to help folks tackle these and help catalog these here when there are new ones to share.)
Building Relationships with High Schools: This section includes…
- …a revised step-by-step edition of how to approach school relationship-building
- …a cheat sheet with some conversation starters tailored to a variety of education-related staff members.
- …some information about overcoming objections that came from the 2019 Hosting Conference.
- …how AFS Support can be a tool to connect with some school counselors (please don’t call them “Guidance Counselors”.)
- …how to recognize volunteers for their dedication so they continue to be motivated in your team AND information about how to recognize schools who are working with AFS!
Sharing Resources with Educators: This section includes…
- …a quick walk through the afsusa.org/educators portion of the website and its many resources to put in the hands of educators.
- …information that you can print and give to schools as leave behind to help them get to know AFS (after you’ve worked your magic on them first)
- …a few handy links to connect you with getting educators connected to AFS-USA’s Educator Resources.
Giving School Presentations: This section currently only includes the updated school presentation, but will have more in the future that ties to the Seal of Biliteracy and the Sustainable Development Goals, so please keep coming back and remember to refresh your browser to see updated content!
Here is a link to the October edition of the The Global Educator newsletter, which ALL educators should receive. All grade levels and all content areas are welcome to join our community. You’ll notice that the newsletter has lesson plan ideas and resources for the teacher, scholarship information for all educators to share and a couple of mechanisms for the educators to interact and share with us. It is one of the many things that we can give to schools before we ask them for something. The next edition of the newsletter will be released in January, so now is the time for our volunteers to get their educators to click on “Join Our Community” from the www.afsusa.org/educators webpage.
To provide you with similar access to all materials for the Summit, you are invited to join us for a webinar to hear about building school relationships, the highlights of the educator panel and more. To sign up, click on one of the links below. There will be much more information posted on the educator website (for public consumption) and you will have access to a webinar version of all of the breakout sessions from the Summit throughout January and February. We encourage you to visit the Connect with Schools page on MyAFS Help and Learning to learn more about how to build/rebuild relationships with schools! Let’s get started! The school semester is almost over and ’tis the season to GIVE back to schools.
Please join us for one of the following two webinars to Connect with Schools in 2020:
Option 1: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 1:00pm EDT
https://afsusa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rwbZs02YQ0-LJ7nOrvhfSA
Option 2: Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 8:00pm EDT
https://afsusa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z_1_UWv9QeadjpPUWyoPag