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Jessica Kim
Professor Lao
Education 160
December 7, 2016
Fieldwork Reflection on Research Based Practices
There are many great afterschool programs that invest their time to help the childrens
future. However, there are also lots of improvements that can be made, with anything, to make it
better. Although this particular program is good, one thing that will be talked about in this paper
(from the SWOT analysis) is a weakness that could, once addressed, help make the afterschool
program a higher-quality. First talking about how the structure and details of the program are, the
paper will then go into what, according to theories later mentioned, things should be integrated
into regular practice for the program. The observations that were made in this fieldwork were
from only Tuesdays and Thursday, early primary grade school students.
The program starts off with one of the students volunteering to pray for the whole class
while the rest of them repeat after what that one student says. After this, the students wash their
hands with sanitizer and have a healthy snack for about 15 minutes, in which during that time the
teacher reads to them a story. Next, the teacher transitions the time to have the students work on
their homework and receive help from the volunteers in the classroom. If the students have no
homework, they will either receive a paper handout from the teacher that has a particular activity
(i.e. coloring, drawing, paper for reading summary, puzzles, etc.) or choose to get a book from
the front of the class and read. This usually goes on for about 30-45 minutes, depending on if the
students are quiet or loud. If the students are loud, the teacher tells them to quiet down and after

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multiple times, she will add more time to their homework/reading time. The only alternative for
not having a lesson time is when this previous activity exceeds the allotted time.
Furthermore, after homework time, the last 30 minutes are generally reserved for the
lesson of the day, although sometimes that time can be added to the homework time, along with
cleaning and announcements. The lessons each day are prepared by the director and staffs of the
organization and are given to the teachers, via email, to relay the information to the students. The
organization has four foundational pillars which are Academics and Arts, Health and
Fitness, College and Career Readiness, and Leadership and Spiritual Development. The
lesson time generally starts off with an intro video of the topic for the children, then the teacher
asks them questions about the video. Through this she is able to transition the lessons from the
video to the lessons, via power point presentation. Some examples of the lessons the teacher has
gone over on the Tuesday and Thursday classes are racism, being different, holidays, being a
leader, etc.
The teacher wraps up the time by having the students clean up, put away everything, get
their backpacks, and sit at their table. One way she grabs their attention is by saying, class
class and they would reply, yes yes while raising one finger from one hand up in the air and
one finger from the other hand in front of their mouth (however, each teacher has their own
method to grab the students attention). At the end, she gives announcements and talks about
how the class was that particular day and selects students to give dollars or prizes to those who
were on their best behavior and followed instructions. One method she uses throughout the
classroom time is by acknowledging those students who are doing well (listening and doing what
is told) by thanking them. The group that gets ready the quickest and is the quietest gets picked
to line up at the door to go home.

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According to the article, Making afterschool programs better, by Huang D & Dietel R,
there are five key components to help the program be effective. From goals, leadership, staff,
program, and evaluation, some of the aspects of the program aspect could be improved. The
definition listed is that it aligns to the day school, provides time for students to study, learn and
practice; includes motivational activities, frequently uses technology, science and the arts to
support youth development, student learning, and engagement. (Huang & Dietel 2011). This
program does provide time for the students to study and learn but one thing that it lacks is to
include motivational activities and utilization of technology or science and the arts. Instead of
always focusing on academics, it would be good to range the activities to enrichment (e.g., arts
and crafts, cooking, gardening, health and nutrition, cultural activities, computers) and recreation
(e.g., sports, dance, drill team, outdoor games) (Huang & Dietel 2011). The students are in
school all day and although it is good that they are doing more academics to help improve in that
area, enrichment and recreational activities are also important to maintain a well-balance for the
childrens development and their future success, as talked about in the article Amplifiers of
developmental and negative experiences in organized activities: Dosage, motivation, lead roles,
and adult-youth ratios by Hansen D & Larson R.
Moreover, after using the LIAS observation tool (handouts) from the LIAS principles of
having the learning be Active, Collaborative, Meaningful, Mastery, and Expanding Horizons, the
learning does not reach the goal of being effective. The students, throughout the time they are
there, are not seen to have any learning that is meaningful or that helps build mastery. Rather
than learning that is focused on academic subjects, afterschool programs should help young
people apply their academic skills to their areas of interest and real world problems. Also, when
learning involves responsibility, leadership, and service to others, it is experienced as more

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meaningful. (LIAS 2015). Doing so will help the students achieve having the learning be
meaningful. Afterschool activities should not promote the gathering of random knowledge and
skills. Rather, activities should be explicitly sequenced and designed to promote the layering of
skills that allow participants to create a product or demonstrate mastery in a way they couldnt do
before. This way, the students will be able to build skills that will be beneficial for their future.
Furthermore, building upon these skills and areas will help change in childrens and
adolescents ability beliefs, expectancies for success, and subjective values, as well as the
relations of childrens and adolescents ability-expectancy beliefs and subjective task values to
their performance and choice of activities. (Allan & Eccles 2000). As discussed in the article,
ExpectancyValue Theory of Achievement Motivation by Allan Wigfield and Jacquelynne S.
Eccles, the way that students value and what they expect from themselves has a big effect in the
way they do in school and in their future. In order for them to have high values and motivation,
the staff needs to understand the families in their community to effectively support the
participation of Mexican-origin youth. These issues should be considered for both activity
programming and outreach (Simpkins 2013). Providing this outreach will increase the positive
development of a student, especially if they come from a unique situation. Expanded learning
opportunities have positive cumulative effects on student grades and academic work habits
(Vandell 2013). Therefore, any out-of-school time is always good and beneficial for the students
future; nevertheless, there are always improvements that could be made with everything in the
world and having a high-quality afterschool program is a valuable investment.

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References
Hansen, D., & Larson, R. (2007). Amplifiers of developmental and negative experiences in
organized activities: Dosage, motivation, lead roles, and adult-youth ratios. Journal of
Applied Developmental Psychology, 28, 360-374. Retrieved from:
http://youthdev.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/hansen-and-larson-2007.pdf

Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool programs better. National Center for
Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST), UCLA. Retrieved
from: http://www.cse.ucla.edu/products/policy/huang_MAPB_v5.pdf

Learning in Afterschool & Summer. (2015). Retrieved from

http://www.temescalassoc.com/db/lias/files/2015/05/LIA-Principles-Handout.pdf.
http://www.temescalassoc.com/db/lias/files/2015/05/LIAS-Observation-Rubric.pdf

Simpkins, S. D., Delgado, M. Y., Price, C. D., Quach, A., & Starbuck, E. (2013). Retrieved
from: Socioeconomic status, ethnicity, culture, and immigration: Examining the potential
mechanisms underlying Mexican-origin adolescents' organized activity
participation. Developmental psychology, 49(4), 706.

Vandell, D. (2013). Afterschool Program Quality and Student Outcomes: Reflections on

Positive Key Findings on Learning and Development From Recent Research. Retrieved
from: http://www.expandinglearning.org/expandingminds/article/afterschool-programquality-and-student-outcomes-reflections-positive-key

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Wigfield, Allen, & Eccles, Jacquelynne S. (2000, January). ExpectancyValue Theory of
Achievement Motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 68-81.
doi:10.1006/ceps.1999.1015. Retrieved from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X99910159