1)

I volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club of Newport Beach where I worked with
kids ranging from Kindergarten to sixth grade.

2)

Socio-economic and/or cultural factors that influence participation (Simpkins)

Simpkins examined macro factors such as socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity,
culture, and immigration that influence the settings in which adolescents engage in.
From an after-school perspective these factors are usually prominent in diverse
programs where there is an obvious participation differentiation. In my program in
particular, there are two elementary schools that about 90% of the children come from
in Newport Beach. These schools already lack diversity of minority and economic
groups, with many children coming from middle class, Caucasion families. Simkins
states, family socioeconomic status might be related to adolescents participation
through financial resources and I have witnessed this during what my program calls
Kids Choice where from 5pm-6pm the children in the program have free time to do
what they choose. Given our technology driven era, many kids choose to play on their
phones, tablets, or iPads. It is a privilege among wealthier families to be able to provide
this type of technology for their children at as young of an age as 5 & 6. These children
who all own devices tend to group together during free time often playing games which
discourages those who do not own devices to participate. This is an opportunity to build
social skills and make friends that not all groups represented in this program have the
opportunity to due given the financial status and cultural upbringing of their family.
Here in this picture, this group of boys are representative of similar cultures and
upbringings. The Boys and Girls Club could encourage
the interaction between children by leveling out the
playing field and discouraging the use of devices which
a number of students do not own.

Expectancy-Value Theory (Eccles)

In Eccles findings regarding identity, he classifies two basic sets of self perceptions: (a)
perceptions related to skills, characteristics, and competencies, and (b) perceptions
related to personal values and goals. These two categories of self perception influence
an individuals expectations for success and the value they attach to how they perform
and participate. I related this theory to Maslows Hierarchy of Need (below) in which
children have deficiency needs that require being tended to before they reach self-
actualization and develop an understanding of their identity. Basic needs associating
with safety and physiological factors are supported by families. Psychological needs are
also affected by family engagement but mainly by school, extra-curriculars, and after
school programs where children spend a majority of their day. A child feels
belongingness in an inclusive environment where they can begin to challenge or
contributes themselves to activities that eventually lead to a sense of accomplishment.
This program provides their children with multiple ways to apply themselves. They have
Torch Club, which is a club that cultivates leadership skills, goal setting, and project
based learning. It is voluntary for students to join and it is apparent that the students
who have the basis of their deficiency needs met can then strive to push themselves to
leadership opportunities. Observing this club, I noticed that the most outspoken
students participate, those who are beginning to realize they have the potential to
participate in something bigger. Developing self-efficacy stems from self perception in
the way that in order for a student to believe they can succeed in specific task, they first
have to introspectively uncover their perception of themselves. This club, which has
meeting three times a week for 45 minutes, is ran by the staff coordinator. He gives a
short powerpoint building on broad topics such as goal setting, entrepreneurship, or
service to others. These topics change about once every one or two months giving a
good amount of time for the children and staff member to build projects around the
topics. One club meeting I sat in on, they were focusing on goal setting and each child
had to write two goals for their day, two goals for their week, two goals for the month,
two goals for the year, and two goals for the rest of their life. It was a simple task, but it
is a good way for the kids to start building expectations for themselves. Not only that,
but when they shared them the next meeting, others had the opportunity to hold one
another accountable in reaching that goal. The only feedback I have for this aspect of
the program is that the club never reached out to the rest of the program. The students
were not always demonstrating their mastery toward a final product/presentation. I think
there are many opportunities to maybe display their goals as a checklist on a wall so
that others know what they are striving toward and maybe realize they have similar
goals or that they
want to be a part
of a club such as
this one. Another
way is to pick a
student to give a
presentation to a
small group of
others about
what they have
learned as a way
to extend their
learning and
apply it.

Structured-Voluntary Activities (Larson)

Larson explains that organized activities that encourage intrinsic motivation in
combination with deep attention promote positive youth development. He focused on
adolescents' development of initiative deriving from elements of internal drive and
autonomy. Some recognizable structured-voluntary activities I witnessed were a crafts
project making snowflakes and a dance class taught by five students from Concordia
University. These were completely optional activities students could do. The children
participating in the snowflake art project had a goal in mind that they would eventually
give this craft to their mom/dad to put on their christmas tree. They were given materials
and were able to creatively do as they pleased as I and a few other staff members
helped them actively pursue their craft goal. We coached them in conserving glue and
glitter for some children squirted glumps of glue and poured glitter on top creating a
disaster. They eventually realized a little glue goes a long way. They also practiced
patience waiting their turn to use certain materials. The second activity, dance class,
was taught by mainly one student and 4 other helpers. The group of mainly girls were
focused and driven to learn the steps and add their own twist to it. The leader gave
them time to freestyle in the beginning to get creative with movement. They also fed off
of eachothers energy. The leader was great at gaging the attention in the room and
moved on to something else when the children lost attention. The leader brought up
dances from past weeks as well to challenge the students to recall past choreography.
Overall, both activities fostered voluntary attention and motivation, yet were catered to
young girls. One or two boys participated in each activity and often lost motivation mid-
way through.

Amplifiers of Engagement (Larson and Hansen)

Larson and Hansens findings indicated that the amount of time, motivation, holding a
lead role, and the ratio of adults-to-youth were independently related to students' reports
of developmental experience in an organized activity. I had describes that this program
had many clubs that could be further developed such as Torch (leadership) Club and
Community Club. One aspect of the program that I witnessed older children holding a
lead role was having Little Buddies. Everyday the pairing of a big buddy and a little
buddy would engage at least once a day whether it was doing homework together,
eating snack together, or participating in an activity. This gave the older kids- 4th grade
and up- an opportunity to have an impact on someone younger and in the meanwhile
realize how much younger ones look up to them. There are about 30-40 kids who show
up to the after school program daily and about 5 staff members and usually 1-2
volunteers. This program gives the younger children another person to look up to and
the older kids a sense of responsibility and accountability. Unfortunately, the amount of
children who show up to the program is not consistent especially in older kids where
their parents give them more freedom after school. This inconsistency takes a toll on
programs such as the buddy system. The dosage of attendance affects the motivation
on programs and clubs that rely on consistent attendance to make progress.

Use of SAFE features (Granger)

SAFE (Sequenced, Active, Focused, and Explicit)
Granger states in his findings that, it is tempting to characterize a program as
being of high or of low quality it is more appropriate to consider quality as something
that varies within a program. This I noticed to be very true while observing my program.
The space allocated within my program is small, it is a common room, 3 small
classrooms, a gym, and an outside field/basketball court. On top of all that, the gym is
used for recreational basketball youth teams hours that the kids are in the program
and the outdoor field is open to the public. This proposes active restrictions on the
program, which is what prompted them to follow a daily routine/sequence. The program
has gym time/structured activities built around the schedule of practices in use of the
gym. For example Monday, Wednesday, Friday the kids can use the gym from 2-4:30 in
which homework time comes after. This particular schedule I have noticed to be very
useful because the kids are active and playing games and then after they have gotten
social energy out, they are able to study and focus better. Granger also reports that
practitioners who develop observational tools for programs also agree with the AFE
components less agreement exists on the S or importance of sequencing due to the
different theories about child development and learning pedagogy. I would say that this
program is pretty heavily structured whereas the children are broken up into grade
levels for majority of the day and are allocated different times to have Kids Choice,
Triple Play (active structured activities), Homework Time, and Enrichment (clubs, crafts,
guests). However certain activities and clubs
any age can participate in and are encouraged
to interact during Kids Choice.
Eccles, Jacquelynne. Personal and Collective Identities as Motivators of
Action.Educational Psychologist, vol. 49, ser. 4, 2012. 4,
doi:10.1080/00461520902832368.

Hansen, David M, and Reed W Larson. Amplifiers of Developmental and Negative

Experiences in Organized Activities: Dosage, Motivation, Lead Roles, and Adult-Youth
Ratios. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, May 2007

Larson, Reed W. Toward a Psychology of Positive Youth Development. American

Psychologist , Jan. 2000, doi:10.18411/a-2017-023.
McLeod, Saul. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Simply Psychology, 4 Feb. 2016,
www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.

Simpkins, Sandra D. Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, Culture, and Immigration:

Examining the Potential Mechanisms Underlying Mexican-Origin Adolescents
Organized Activity Participation. American Psychological Association, vol. 49, ser. 4,
2012. 4, doi: 10.1037/a0028399.