Brianna Aguilar, Boys and Girls club site coordinator, Goleta, CA, brianna.aguilar14@gmail.com

History/Background of B&G

Use of TRGC 2.1

- using with 6-8th graders at the B& G club

- been using a combination of online and offline delivery mode because of technology challenges (limited/no computers; internet access)

Changes/adaptations of curriculum

- for speakers: bringing some of them in through video conferencing technology (varying types depending on technology access)

Experiencing/ solutions

Need for translating of some of the products

Challenge in AS setting is inconsistency in attendance

School and Class Summary:

I currently have about 12 students. One of the challenges for implementing into and After School site is that students aren't always there. Our site has regular and drop-in students, so getting consistency in attendance for the beginning was difficult. Worked with the Boys & Girls Club staff to implement incentives for students to consistently attend the program (fieldtrips & end of the year pizza party). I currently have 11-12 students that we are working with. This program is one of two that are part of grant to use high speed internet to work with students. I am PhD student at UCSB and doing this program in part for my research. I am interested in college access for underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students.

TRGC 2.1 Implementation:

The program is run two days a week for 1 1/2 hours each day. Currently the challenge is lack of computers and access to internet. In the meantime I have one laptop with wireless access which I project onto a wall to show interactive portions (i.e. Spin game, presentations, etc.) to the entire group. We have done one video conference with a graduate student at USC.

Provide the following details for each session listed below:

- Is this session used in class?

- If not, why not?

- What changes did you make to the session?

- How long did it take to do this session?

- Challenges you experienced when doing this session?

- Attach any hard copy additional material you included for this session.

- Success stories using this session in class.

- Recommendations (technology or pedagogy) for this session.

Pre-Sessions:

I felt these were essential in setting the tone for the program. The Pre-Session lasted two sessions (partly because we were still getting our participants finalized and dealing with room and technology challenges). The first thing that we did was introductions. Although most of the students all knew each other, this was a new context. The exercise that I did is called "Conocimientos". You introduce yourself by sharing your name and it's history of how you got it. I introduced the activity by explaining that I think it's important to share who we are and where we each come from so that we can understand a little better all the things that we bring into an activity. I went first so that they could see how open I was choosing to be. If anyone wants more details please feel free to contact me. The second thing was come up with our "Community Agreements". These were the rules that we all agreed to hold ourselves to while in the program (in addition to the normal Boys & Girls Club rules). We all then signed these rules and are all responsible for holding each other accountable. After doing the World of Work Survey, we had a the discussion about Character Traits & Transferrable Skills. I added to this activity by having a video conference call with a graduate student at USC who has worked for the Governor, a bank, a college, and is now a research fellow at USC. They asked her questions about what she thought got her those jobs, how she got where she is, and how each different job has helped her build her skills.

Unit 1:

Session 1 The Spin Game

This session took an hour and half. The discussion around the High Principles was very successful. I have 3 undergraduates from UCSB who work with me in running the program and we were all able to share our own personal stories about how we saw the High Five Principles in our lives. This helped the students to think of examples of how they see the High Five principles coming into play and also suggested examples. I review the High Principles at the beginning and end of every class and am always referring back to them when relevant. We keep the notes that we made, so that when students want to add to the definitions that they came up with they can. One of the challenges was that the spin game froze a couple times during the game and we would have to restart the game.

Session 2 The Dream

This session took an hour and a half. I took the suggestion of the lesson prep to bring in local newspapers and magazines to find places to live, cars to buy, etc. They were also able to use the computer to look up things on the internet. After they filled out their dream sheets, I showed them a car payment calculating website where they were able to learn a little about how car payments are calculated, interest, etc.

Session 3 What's My Line?

This session took about an hour. In order to make the role choosing a little more exciting and obviously random, each student chose a number that was assigned to a role profile and then we went number by number to reveal the role that each student chose. In looking back on this session, one of the things that I wished was that we had role profiles that were more applicable to local industries and jobs. We broke up into small groups and worked on the role profile worksheets.

Session 4 Our Town

Session 5 Who Am I? Who Are You?

Unit 2:

Session 1 After Work

Session 2 Reality Check

Session 3 The Financial Picture

Session 4 Getting Away

Session 5 Spin It Again

Unit 3:

Session 1 Fair Play

Session 2 The Pink Slip

Session 3 Disaster Strikes

Session 4 Transitions

Unit 4:

Session 1 Think Again!

Session 2 Getting To Know Me

Session 3 Follow Your Heart

Session 4 The Big Picture

Session 5 Career Day

Session 6 The Final Spinb

Session 7 Wrap-Up