Tips for Board Meetings

March Madness is no longer just reserved for sports – unless your sport is professional development. In the month of March, we had the pleasure of hosting two amazing Edu-Workshops: Tips for Board Meetings, presented by Mary Hernandez Castellanos, and Glossary Building for IEPs, presented by Gloria M. Rivera and Dr. Holly Silvestri.


Mary Hernandez Castellanos shared extremely relevant information about preparing for education or city board meetings, whether in person, remote, or hybrid. In this resource-packed Edu-Workshop, she spoke about the importance of being well-rested for interpreting at board meetings, which can be challenging due to specialized terminology and lengthy duration. Mary also shared tips on the types of questions to ask when accepting an assignment, working with partners, and using both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of knowing the contact person for the assignment, evaluating the room and determining the speakers, and searching for board meeting materials and agendas. Mary even included an example of her own steno mic for on-site interpreting assignments and equipment recommendations for remote interpreting assignments.


Furthermore, Mary spoke about the significance of creating a glossary based on the meeting’s agenda, reviewed an example agenda, and shared an English to Spanish Glossary for Educational Terminology. She also provided additional online resources for board meeting terminology. This Edu-Workshop was packed with useful information that will help interpreters feel more prepared for interpreting at board meetings.



The learning experience did not end there. Gloria Rivera and Dr. Holly Silvestri enhanced the first presentation by providing invaluable insights on creating glossaries, specifically for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The presentation commenced with an overview of key terminology, such as IDEA, IEP, and FERPA.


Dr. Holly Silvestri debunked common misconceptions related to interpreters, one of which is that they are not part of the educational team and, as such, cannot be provided with reference material. In reality, Dr. Silvestri noted that under FERPA, a school official is defined as a person employed by the school in various capacities, including health or medical personnel, law enforcement, administrators, supervisors, instructors, or support staff members. This also applies to in-house and freelance interpreters. This clarification underscores the importance of recognizing interpreters as integral members of the educational team and ensuring that they have access to the necessary resources to fulfill their responsibilities.

Moreover, the Edu-Workshop provided recommendations on creating professional email accounts, the significance of glossaries, different glossary types, and glossary samples. The workshop concluded by offering useful online resources to facilitate the process of creating glossaries for IEPs.



Overall, the March Edu-Workshops were a great success, and we would like to thank Mary Hernandez Castellanos, Gloria M. Rivera, and Dr. Holly Silvestri for sharing their knowledge and expertise with us. We look forward to hosting more Edu-Workshops in the future to continue supporting the professional development of interpreters and translators in education and hope to see you at our next event; Edu-Con 2023! To learn more, be sure to check out the Edu-Con Conference Page!

 
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