Program Name: La Clase Mágica Sur at Bayside

Principal Investigator(s): Professor Olga Vasquez, Department of Communication, UC San Diego

Program Website: http://lcm.ucsd.edu/LaClaseMagica/Home.html

Contact: Marisol Acosta, Program Director

Site Description:

• The La Clase Mágica Sur site located at BaysideElementary School in Southern San Diego County is modeled after the original La Clase Mágica site in Solana Beach. Program activities have been adapted to address the specific skills that each child needs to meet District mandated standards. The program serves a predominately low-income Latino community that has a high rate of transience within and across the academic year. The program offers two Mi Clase Mágica sessions and one La Clase Mágica session twice a week. In both programs, children, undergraduates, and participating adults collaborate both in informal learning activities using educational software and in project-based literacy building activities that involve digital-media and email.  The children also have access to homework help and a variety of technology-based and hands-on resources and activities. Undergraduates participate by enrolling in the Communication 115 and 116, and/or Human Development 115 and 135, a series of theory and practicum courses in the Department of Communication and the Human Development Program.

Courses:

• Communication 116 and Human Development 135: Practicum in Child Development

Participants (based on 2005-06 data): 

• Approximately 45 K-5th grade students per academic year
• 90% Latino
• 55% male, 45% female
• 15% ELLs
• Approximately 20 undergraduates per academic year

Collaborators:

• Bayside Elementary School in the South Bay Unified School District
• South Bay Unified School District
• Bayside Kinder School
• Center for Academic and Social Advancement (CASA)
• UC San Diego Department of Communication and Human Development Program
• UC San Diego Center for Research in Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE)

Goals:

• Increase participants’ basic English and Spanish language literacy and critical thinking
• Increase technology literacy through computer-based multi-media storytelling
• Increase participants’ knowledge and improve attitudes and aspirations toward higher learning for participating youth
• Increase participants' love for learning and ability to communicate in educational and professional settings
• Improve the quality of graduate and undergraduate education by connecting academic coursework to practicum field experience
• Encourage undergraduates to explore the possibility of a teaching career in urban, low-income communities

Activities:

• Collaborative learning activities using a wide array of educational software, hands-on materials, and board games which promote the development of literacy knowledge and skills
• Daily online (email) communication and letter-writing activities
• Homework assistance and mentoring from undergraduate participants

Evaluation:

• University of California Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP) Annual Performance Report
• UC Links Reading Assessment
• Survey of undergraduate interest in pursuing graduate or professional school studies
• Analysis of participants' activity records, and staff and undergraduate field notes to examine educational progress over time

Research Focus:

• Sociocultural approach to language issues and English language learning.
• Mediation of learning by material culture
• Impact of the social framing of program activities on literacy (specifically vocabulary) development