Field Work Experience

Program Site/Students
For this course, I conducted my fieldwork at UCI Extended Day. UCI Extended Day is
located in the Verano Place housing community, which is slightly off the UC Irvine campus. The
site serves forty-five students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Most of the students go to
Turtle Rock Elementary and live on campus in either Verano Place or University Hills. The
students have parents who are students, staff, and/or faculty at UC Irvine. The students are
mostly Caucasian-American with only several Asian-American, African-American, and IndianAmerican.
UCI Extended Day consists of one large building and an outdoor patio. Inside the
building, there is just one large room where most of the supplies and activities occur. The room
consists of a foosball table, craft area (supplied with items such as yarn, needles, scissors, hot
glue guns, etc.), science area, library, big kids area (only the sixth graders are allowed), game
area, music area, and a fully stocked kitchen. The area outside consists of a handball wall, Lego
corner, two basketball courts, garden area, tire swing, and a wide yard for the children to play
various other outdoor activities such as dodge ball, hula hoops, gymnastics, and more. Students
are initially required to stay inside the building to do homework or other activities. Once it is
snack time, students are allowed to go outside and play. From there, students are allowed to flow
back and forth between indoor and outdoor until it gets dark outside. Once it gets dark outside,
the students must come back inside until their parents and/or guardian picks them up.
Staff
There are only three core staff members at UCI Extended Day. Julie, the Director, Nika,
the Lead Teacher, and Yun, the Career Teacher. All three staff members have a Bachelors
degree and only two staff members have a Masters degree. The staff demographic is reflective
of the student demographic; two of the three staff members are Caucasian-American and the
third staff member is Asian-American. As I conducted my field work, I noticed each staff
members strengths and areas of improvements. Julies biggest strength is that she has a natural
ability to care for each student. Every time she walked into UCI Extended Day, the kids would
rush towards her with happiness and excitement. She has a genuine heart and her love for the
students shows by her actions and their reactions. Another one of Julies strengths is that she is
able to confront the students with care. Whenever there is a child that is in an argument or
distressed in any way, Julie is able to confront the children but in a comforting way so that the
children are able to realize their wrong doing. The only area that Julie can improve on is
increasing her presence at the site. For reasons unknown, Julie does not visit the site often. Julie
was present two out of the five days that I conducted my fieldwork. I would suggest that she
visits the site more often so that the students, staff, and parents are aware of her positive presence
with the children.
One of Nikas strengths is her firmness. Although Nika has the ability to be playful with
the children, she is the only staff member that has the capability to be firm and assertive when
needed. Her firmness never comes across as rude or aggressive. This quality is important because

the children know that when Nika is near, they need to behave. Another strength that she
possesses is bilingualism. Nika is fluent in French and embraces the opportunity to speak to the
students in that language. This is a strength because the children are being exposed to a language
other than English. This enhances the childrens cultural awareness and allows the opportunity
for the children to learn a new language at a young age. Despite her bilingualism as her strength,
her accent is one of her weaknesses. Her accent does make it difficult at times to understand
what shes saying. However, this limitation is nothing too daunting and is something that can be
easily overcome. The other staff member, Yun, also has strengths and limitations. Yuns
strengths are her energy and endurance. Yun is the youngest member on the staff team and
therefore, she is able to muster the energy to keep up with the kids. Yun also has the endurance
to withstand the energy and commotion for long periods of time. She is able to easily adapt to
situations and her flexibility is a strength since the children were constantly running around.
Yuns limitation is that her assertiveness can be misinterpreted as aggressiveness. I noticed that
at times, the comments she made towards the children were not friendly or encouraging. She did
not use positive language which is one of the rules at UCI Extended Day. In fact, some of the
other volunteers and I interpreted her comments and tone as rude. Therefore, Yun needs to work
on her diction, tone, and presentation. She needs to constantly remind herself that she is in a
position to build these childrens self-esteem and self-confidence.
Daily Schedule
I conducted my fieldwork on Friday afternoons. During this day and time, there were no
structured activities since students did not have homework and/or other school-related activities
to complete. Friday afternoons were dedicated to the childrens creativity and freedom because
the children were able to participate in any activity they desired. Therefore, the children were
able to do activities such as drawing, crafts, sports, reading, cooking, and more. Children were
able to move freely between the inside room and the outdoor playing area. Even though the
children were able to participate in any activity they desired, there still had to have been a
volunteer or staff member supervising the children. The fortunate aspect of UCI Extended Day is
that there were always enough volunteers and staff members to supervise the children; the adult
to student ratio was approximately 1:4. The only structured activities that occurred on Friday
afternoon were snack time and dodge ball. Snack time occurred at the same time every Friday.
Furthermore, most of the children enjoyed dodge ball and looked forward to this activity as soon
as they entered the site. Once it was dodge ball time, the students would go outside and form
teams. There were always at least two adults supervising the activity.
Student Needs
For the most part, the students seemed satisfied with their experience at UCI Extended
Day. Since it is a small group of children that live in the same area, all the children are familiar
and comfortable with one another. The children know everyones names and interact with
everyone. I enjoyed that the students have the freedom and creativity to pursue the activities that
they want to engage in. This allowed the students to express their interests and passions. For
example, I noticed the same group of children engaged in the same activity (i.e. children that
participated in baking lessons always engaged in the baking lessons, children that participated in

drawing always participated in drawing). However, I noticed that there were no opportunities, at
least on Fridays, of academic enrichment and intellectual development. Furthermore, there were
no activities that encouraged diversity, multiculturalism, and global competence-knowledge that
is necessary given the lack of ethnic diversity at the site. Therefore, UCI Extended Day needs to
create more opportunities for students to engage in complex, intellectual activities to enhance
students academic achievement. The afterschool program should also create opportunities for
diversity related courses. This way, students will be able to possess foundational knowledge of
multiculturalism and academic enrichment necessary to become contributing members of
society.
Journal Entries
Journal #1: STEM
One of the academic strengths of UCI Extended Day is the availability of activities that
relate to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics. There is a section in the
large, main room that is dedicated to science. The subtopics and toys of the corner change every
two weeks. However, the overall theme of the play area is science so all the activities, toys, and
resources are a part of that topic. For example, when I started my fieldwork, the topic of the
science corner was magnetics. The area had various books on magnetic and magnetic toys. The
following two weeks, the topic changed from magnetics to electricity. Therefore, there were
books about electricity as well as different toys that allowed the students to play (safely) with
electricity. What allows the area to thrive is the support and positive behavior of the staff at UCI
Extended Day. The staff members make the conscious effort to make the area educational for the
students and provide the necessary tools and resources to make the students more
knowledgeable.
Furthermore, there are various activities related to technology. There is a computer for
students to access and use if desired. There is also an electronic keyboard and stereo system in
the music area of the center. Furthermore, many of the students (as young as they are) have their
own IPhone. Therefore, the students at UCI Extended Day are constantly surrounded by
technology. However, there are not many opportunities for the students to be surrounded by
engineering and mathematics. The only engineering related activity is the Lego area outside.
Many of the male students enjoy this area and spend most of their time constructing different
buildings, aircrafts, and more. In regards to mathematics, there are very limited opportunities for
students to expand their knowledge. The only mathematics related activities available for the
students is baking and cooking. Many of the female students interact with the staff members at
the kitchen area of the site. Therefore, these students are able to enhance their mathematics skills
in a real-word setting of cooking and baking. However, the kitchen privileges are only reserved
for the older students (fourth grade and above) so the younger students unfortunately, do not
have access to these opportunities.
The few STEM related activities that are present at the center align with the suggested
ideas and behaviors that were mentioned in class. In the reading The Power of Discovery:
STEM 2013-2014 Report by Vandell et. al (2014), it mentioned that STEM related topics

should be integrated into afterschool programs in order to make students more conscious and
knowledgeable of STEM topics. In order for an afterschool program to successfully integrate and
implement STEM related topics, is if the staff members at the afterschool program possess
positive and encouraging attitudes about STEM towards the students (2014). The staff members
at UCI Extended Day possess positive behaviors and attitudes about STEM and relay this
positivity towards their students. This positivity is evident in the science area at the site. The staff
makes sure that there is a science area at the site but they also make sure that they change the
topic and activities of the area. Furthermore, the staff allows students to engage in technology at
the site. Although UCI Extended Day has a commitment to science and technology, there is a
lack of mathematics and engineering activities. Therefore, I would propose that UCI Extended
Day have more opportunities to explore mathematics and engineering. This will allow students
more opportunity to explore their interests and enhance their intellect. Overall, UCI Extended
Day is doing a fantastic job at allowing students the opportunity to explore science and other
interests. If they make the few suggested changes to their program, then they will be a certified
high-quality afterschool program.
Journal #2: Lack of Diversity
Something that I noticed right away at UCI Extended Day was the lack of ethnic
diversity. Most of the students and staff at UCI Extended Day are Caucasian-American. There
are few students that are Asian-American, only three African-American, and one IndianAmerican. Additionally, one out of the two staff members is Asian-American. This lack of
diversity I think is important because it reflects the lack of diversity at UC Irvine and the city of
Irvine. The city of Irvine contains predominately affluent, Caucasian folks. Furthermore, the
professors and staff at UC Irvine are mostly Caucasian-American. Thus, the students at this site
are a product and reflection of the dominant ethnic group within the school and city. This makes
sense since most of the students at UCI Extended Day have parents that possess faculty and staff
positions within UC Irvine. The small amount of ethnic diversity within the school site is pitiful
because it means that the students are not being exposed to different cultures and backgrounds.
The students are being deprived of opportunities to interact with students of various identities. In
order to compete in society, students need to be exposed to multiculturalism and diversity at a
young age.
Also there was an evident lack of cultural sensitivity prevalent in the toys that the
children interact with. During the beginning of November, there was a basket filled with Native
American and cowboy miniature dolls. I observed that students would play with the dolls and
have the cowboys shoot and beat up the Native American dolls. This made me upset and
uncomfortable for various reasons. First, it is culturally insensitive to have dolls of an
underrepresented ethnicity used as dolls for the dominant ethnic group to play with. Native
Americans are the most oppressed individuals in the United States of America because of their
heartbreaking history with colonialism and imperialism that the Europeans inflicted. To see the
Caucasian-American students play with the Native American dolls, unknowingly perpetuating
the cycle of oppression through their actions, was upsetting. The children are unaware of the
impacts that their innocent playing with the dolls can have on students of color-especially Native

Americans. It was upsetting to see that the students, but most importantly teachers, allow such
stereotypical dolls in the site. Native Americans are real people with real stories and they should
not be played with like they are toys for it is dehumanizing and culturally inappropriate. The
irony of the whole situation is that there is a section in the library specifically dedicated to
multicultural books. Therefore, does it make sense that there is literature in the site that promotes
diversity and differences yet the toys in the site directly perpetuate white privilege and minority
oppression?
Therefore, the culturally insensitive toys need to be taken out of the site. Furthermore,
there needs to be more opportunities for the students to actively engage in activities and lessons
that promote diversity. One of the applied skills that is crucial for students to develop in order to
be deemed competent and prepared for the workforce is understanding of the importance of
diversity (Conference Board, 2006). If students are given more opportunities then they will be
able to develop this applied skill that they will be able to use in their academic, career, and social
lives. Therefore, UCI Extended Day is currently not aligned with the reading of developing
applied skills of the importance of diversity for its students.
Furthermore, there can be cultural days in the afterschool program that promotes the
importance of different cultures. This can be easily weaved into the afterschool program through
cooking activities, science activities, sports activities, and more. I would also propose more
diversity within the staff. There should be staff members of different backgrounds so that the
staff can bring their personal experience and ideas to the afterschool program. UCI Extended
Day can also have toys that are more culturally sensitive and do not perpetuate the white
privilege and dominance that is prevalent within UC Irvine, the city of Irvine, and the world.
Journal #3: Would I Be Happy as a Student at UCI Extended Day?
If I was a student at UCI Extended Day, I would be mildly satisfied with my overall
experience. I would be satisfied with the fact that I know all the students in the program and am
therefore am comfortable with all the students in the program. Furthermore, I would be happy to
go to an afterschool program in which I am able to see all my friends from school and
neighborhood. I would also be somewhat content with the amount of freedom and creativity that
the afterschool program provides. There is so much freedom for a child to do what they want and
I am sure that it makes students happy to engage in the activities that pleases them.
However, if I were a student at UCI Extended Day, I would not be that satisfied with all
the freedom because I do believe that some structure is necessary. There should be at least one,
daily structured academic activity that all the students have to engage in in order to enhance their
intellect and allow students the opportunity to critically analyze and problem solve. The topic of
the academic activity can change on a weekly basis. For example, one week the topic can be
engineering and each activity will have to be related to the topic. This would help engage the
students to achieve academic success and enrichment.
Furthermore, by adding academic enriching activities to the afterschool program, students
are able to develop their identities. As mentioned in the article Who Am I and What Am I
Going to Do With My Life? by Jacqueline Eccles, she mentions the idea of the ME self and the

WE self (2009). Essentially, afterschool programs need to focus on the ME self by allowing
students the availability to develop their personal lives. Identity development is crucial for the
positive, healthy, and successful overall development of an individual. Thus, activities that are
academically enriching can also help develop aspects of the ME self that one did not know
existed. Within an afterschool program, there can also be some programs that focus on the WE
self so that students are able to learn how to best collaborate and connect with other students and
teachers. Furthermore, there needs to be no age segregation of students for certain activities. As
previously mentioned, only certain age groups of students are allowed to participate in certain
activities (i.e. baking). In order to create a more inclusive environment, the staff members should
change their policy to allow students of all age groups to participate. The younger children will
be able to participate in baking by doing simple tasks and having the staff members oversees
their actions. If I were a participant, this would make my experience at UCI Extended Day even
better because I would feel that my presence and contributions matter at this site no matter what.
Overall, I do think that UCI Extended Day is doing a great job with allowing students creativity
and freedom to soar. However, there does need to be more academically enriching activities,
identity developmental activities, and inclusiveness in activities in the afterschool program.