If you want to make a difference for all the newcomers enrolling in your schools, I have a great show for you with lots of free resources. Our guest is Margaret Gisala Rutaquio, a Multilingual Programs Newcomer Facilitator from Garland ISD.
You can listen to the show in your favorite podcast app or you can play it right here:
Listen to “BAP105 Ambassadors and Newcomer Leadership ft Margaret Rutaquio” on Spreaker.
Margaret Rutaquio is a national speaker with classroom and district-level experience supporting newcomers and their teachers. Earlier this year, she presented at our Seidlitz Education What’s Working conference and was also an invited speaker at the Inlier learning SLIFE conference.
She shares some great insight about how she was supported by Deb Tietjen and the Multilingual Department in Garland ISD. She also talks about ideas from her classroom and also about how she was supported work with her district to improve programs for newcomers.
A powerful part of this interview was when Rutaquio shares her own journey as a newcomer to the United States and how she felt that she was a “cultural survivor.” Her reflections offer us so much to think about.
The second half of the show includes details about the Ambassador program Margaret and her colleagues implemented across the Garland ISD school district. It is such an impressive program! She explains how they name an individual at each campus to be the official ambassador for new students. She also shares ideas for programming and templates for implementation that support Newcomers to ensure that they feel a sense of belonging and have someone to support them in their first experiences.
Margaret mentions Dr. Michelle Yzquierdo who is an amazing educational consultant. I have learned so much from Dr. Yzquierdo. Margaret adapted some of her intake materials from Michelle’s book, Pathways to Greatness.
Rutaquio generously shares these two documents for districts to use in their own intake processes.
Newcomer Achievement Plan Interview Document
The Journey of the Box – EL Leadership Students of South Garland HS sent boxes of books to schools needing support in poor areas in the Philippines (This video was put together with Margaret by her student Mauricio Rosales, a former Newcomer student.
I appreciate Margaret so much. I also appreciate YOU. Thank you for checking out this show. Please reach out with feedback or if I can help you.
hugs,
Carol