15 minutes presentation
 5 minutes break
 40 Minutes Space workshop with High
School mentors
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Do you want to spend more time in class interacting with the
little middle school kids during an activity?
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Do you want to know “what,” “why” and “how” you’re doing
stuff in class?
YELLStar Lesson Planners
? What are the outcomes?
? What are the indicators of success?
? How will you measure success?
Do you want to spend more time with each other on field trips
having your own “youth time?”
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Observations
› Cindy’s Activity
› OST Tool: “Personally Focused [can be defined as]:
The activity strengthens relationships among youth
and between youth and staff”
› High school students were not participating with
middle school students during a session as learning
leaders (Concept: Peer-to-Peer learning)
› Bullying and Harassment Focus Group
› Wiggins and McTighe: “What would we accept as
evidence that students have attained the desired
understanding and proficiencies –before proceeding to plan
teaching and learning experiences.”
› Middle school students were task oriented and on
track as
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Peer Evaluations
We suggest for YELL:
“Better communication amongst
staff”
“More mentors”
“More Field Trips”
What do you think PM and SC
groups suggested?
Leadership Group
YELL Mentors
Peer Mediation
Student Council
Favorite Thing
Being a role
model
Solving student’s
problems
Making a choice
for the school and
helping school
Most Important
Learning
Leadership,
Comfortable with
others
Respect, Listening
Leadership,
Teamwork
Suggestions for
Improvement
“Better
communication
amongst the
staff”, “more
mentors”, “more
field trips”
“More things to do
when not
mediating”, “Being
more prepared”, “I
want staff members
to actually be
there”
“To have
everybody listen to
all great ideas”,
“after school
meetings to make
posters”, “working
as a team, more
time for meetings”
“Identify program quality and training/staff development needs of
YD based programs at Kennedy Middle School “ (Internship
Objective)
“Develop 2 one hour training sessions for program staff (including
high school mentors), that address staff development needs.”
(Internship Objective) (ongoing)
› Reviewed YELL Handbook and other YD
brochures
› Observed Kennedy Middle School afterschool sessions as a participant observer
(once a week for 4 weeks)
› Facilitated a brainstorm with high-school
leaders
› Analyzed student evaluations
› Wrote weekly reflective logs
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omething like…”so what does the space
and how we use the space have
anything to do with any of this?”
Poster
Photos
Cushio
n
YELL
Classroom
Area
Sofa
Cushio
n
7th
Grade
Agree
ments
Bin
Sofa
Whiteboard
Poster
Photos
Board
Respect
Sofa
Table
YELL Entry
Area
Micro
wave
Schedu
le
Poster
Table
Round Table
File
Cabinets
Mirror
Washin
g Sink
Bin
Long Table
Neighbor
hood
Map
Poster
Skill YELL
Mentors want
to Learn
YELL Curriculum Session
Time Period
Introductory
Communicatio
n
Sessions 1 (Active Listening), 4 (Working as a
Team)
Month 1
Sessions 8 (Speaking and Presenting), 12
(Facilitation)
Month 2
LoIntermediate
Communicatio
n
Sessions 2 (Active Listening), 5 (Working as a
Team)
Month 3
Sessions 9 (Speaking and Presenting), 13
(Facilitation)
Month 4
Hi –
Intermediate
Communicatio
n
Sessions 3 (Active Listening), 6 (Working as a
Team)
Month 5
Sessions 10 (Speaking and Presenting) , 14
(Facilitation)
Month 6
Advanced
Communicatio
n
Sessions 7 (Working as Team), 11 (Speaking and
Presenting)
Month 7
Sessions 15 (Facilitation), 16 (Facilitation)
Month 8
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Research:
About 1) creating respectful and structured informal learning environments, and 2) methods for
facilitating deeper/more active group discussion. Also – if you can keep a mental note of which
materials are particular helpful or interesting – that would be great as well. Are there pieces that you
think are accessible for new program staff trying to ‘wrap their minds’ around youth development?
Background Research:
Youth Mapping Redwood City
Demographics: Population: Latinos- > 50%
Goals: Active – Decision Making
Rationale: Youth – insights into school and community development
Tasks Implemented: Techniques to research and collect data- Technique or decision making? Promote
critical thinking about the community in surveys- Pick a community issue of interest- Water wastage
important to a NGO. Create a question about it- Should there be water on the roads? E.g should we
spend $5 on a new table or on food? Why? What are the benefits and costs? Give them $5 and ask them
to spend it in the next one week.
Youth Mapping: Group of youth learn about needs, strengths, activities of peers in community. – learned
community assessment design, research skills (data collection and analysis) and advocacy skills.
Plan to work together with the adults to build on the school and community strengths they identified
(Adults may not understand the community- generation gap, Implementation)
Mappers and neighborhoods
Methods: Interviews, Survey, Community College Photos, Observations- photos, Video profile of 5
Neighborhoods
Findings:
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Popular Schools – Friendly Acres, Roosevelt School
Family, Friends, TV/Video Games are factors most important to Youth:
Youth Liked: Family Relationship, Good Friends, Watch TV/Play Video Games
Why youth liked school- to be with friends or make new friends
Youth are troubled when they have a weak tie with their family
Youth Disliked: Bad relationship, one parent, bored
Neighborhoods have no point-to-point recreational facilities for youth
30% youth found anything amusing in their neighborhood
Youth living near recreation centers reported more fun things
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Transportation: Not sure (cannot decide), Cheaper, Frequent buses (so don’t have to
wait)
Youth Integration – Involve youth in local governance and evaluation of new centers
Training Methods (from Youth Mapping Project Redwood City):
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Interactive (Less talking)
Smaller-manageable projects
Kids who don’t go to school – why do they hate school?
Structured fun? – Fun part of the work process
What ideas they want to do? (content), How? (create a leadership curriculum) – Long run?
Learning that involves: Friends, fun, interactive
Community Youth Development Network:
Center for Youth Development and Policy Research – cyd.aed.org
Standards for youth development. Work with organizations and programs for youth
development
CYD Framework: 40 assets, assessment tools to measure success
Developmental Activities: Tutor/mentor young kid, Leadership Development program for
rival group members that provides a territory where rival gang members can relate to
one another as individuals and build skills, Youth involved in City Government Councils,
Local Business Employ Youth
From Mission: “Skill building is best achieved when young people are confident of their
abilities, contacts and resources, and called upon by their communities to use their skills.”
Approaches to Youth Development: America’s Promise, 40 Developmental Assets,
Integrated Approach
40 Developmental Assets: Key assets:
External Assets: Empowerment: Young person perceives that adults in the communities
value youth; Constructive Use of Time: Creative activities, Sports,
Internal Assets: Commitment to Learning- Young person is motivated to do well in school,
Young person reads for pleasure, Social Competencies - Decision making, Interpersonal
competence, cultural competence, resistance skills, peaceful conflict resolution
Brainstorm
Question: What are your favorite experiences in being a leader in your life, at
Yell, sports, television, etc?
Audience: Five high school mentors, (3 experienced, 2 new youth leaders)
After the brainstorm, I distilled the entries to three main categories:
 Most fun experience - be ourselves
 Most appealing relationship- being a role model
 Most peer-to-peer interaction - meetings, retreat, facebook/text/myspace
I also did a mini-brainstorm later on What are your favorite skills you learned at
Yell, and what was the most killer way you learned that skill in order to get
a sense of what the high school mentors really liked from the program:
 Patience- group interactions
 Getting over shyness - picking up on the shy kid (when I was in yell), not
pushing
 Understanding other's behavior - motivating
 Communication - name game, talk to them on the way to the bathrooms
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“The Yell session I observed was led by Cindy, a high school
student who has been in Yell for one week. She had planned for
the session (she wrote the session agenda on the blackboard). I
learned from her session that planning a session was very
important to teaching. All the Yell session leaders always came
with a plan and wrote the day’s agenda on the blackboard.”
(Reflections 3) (Planning a Lesson)
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“R. seems to have good group facilitation skills- when W. divided
everyone into two groups for the economics activity, R. took a
paper and started writing down everyone’s thoughts on it. When
there was silence, she let the silence flow, but when W. called
out for everyone to move to the next part of the activity- she
restated the instructions to the group
Analysis: Maybe we could encourage more group discussion
and determine key characteristics of group facilitation skills.”
(Reflections 1) (Facilitation)