TEL400: Innovation in Education Endeavors

Lesson 7: Signature Assignment Presentation

Planning Tool
Name: Kirstin West

You may begin planning your script for your Innovation multimedia presentation as early
as you prefer. When considering the content of your script, be sure to refer to the
Signature Assignment Rubric. What elements do you need to cover in your Innovation
video? What is the message you want to portray and how are you going to deliver that
message?

Use this Innovation multimedia presentation document to review the outline of your
presentation, draft a script, and include materials you will need and resources you will
be referencing.

MultiMedia Presentation Outline

Your video will be 3-5 minutes in length. Your outline will include the
following topics, which are also listed in the rubric and instructions.
A. The community.
Summarize what you uncovered about the community you are focused on for this project.
This should include pertinent data from your community scan, meaningful portions of the
interview(s), and a description of how you uncovered this information and built empathy
for your user group.

B. Define the problem.

Clearly define the problem in the community your innovation will address. The description
must be compelling and help the audience build empathy for your end user. What policy/
policies supports, exacerbates or impedes the work? What community perceptions
support or impede the work? How are you connected to this community challenge?

C. Possibilities
Describe your possible solutions (innovation) and the tests you completed. What other
innovations are out there to address the problem? How is your solution unique? Consider
the feedback you received from your end users, mentors, and your colleagues in this
course that shaped revision. How did their feedback impact your final innovation?

D. Professional Identity
 Who are you in this problem and innovative solution? How has uncovering the problem
and creating an innovation become part of your professional identity? Share your
professional purpose statement. Why should we invest in the innovation you are
proposing?

E. The Proposal
What are you asking viewers to do? How can they contribute to and support your
innovation? What will they get in return? What will your end users get and how will they
be better off and how will the world be a different, better place when your innovation is
enacted? How will you be different when this innovative idea becomes reality?

Presentation Script
(use the outline/content guide above to draft a script)
A. The community.
For my Signature Assignment, I chose to research more about the community needs of
Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a place of diversity, innovation, culture and is often a community
where people from all over the world are drawn to belonging. Los Angeles City has almost 4
million residents with 18% of the city population living in poverty. Out of the 700,951 Los
Angelinos living in poverty, 140,190 of those citizens are children under the age of 12.
I was surprised to find out, through my community scan, that there is a lack of quality
Parent-based educational resources and programs available for low income families. This was
surprising for me because, working in the field of early childhood education in Los Angeles, I
assumed there were affordable, low cost or even free resources available for parents who were
interested in taking a parenting class but sadly, low cost, quality resources and programs for
parents were scarce and difficult to find.
As an Early childhood educator who is passionate about the healthy and happy
development of children and I believe it is vital for parents to understand the significance in
brain development in the first few years of their child’s life. Parents are their child’s first teacher
and need to have foundational knowledge of how their child’s early experiences have the power
to influence their academic success throughout their life. Realizing there was a lack of quality
resources for low income families with young children was heartbreaking to find out.

B. Define the problem.

With a lack of accessible resources for low income families, comes a significant risk for
children and their academic success. A statistic from Childfund.org shows that “30% of children
raised in poverty do not finish high school” (2013), and programs for parents having
foundational knowledge of child development and an understanding of the impact of early
learning on a child’s life can make a shift towards improving this statistic in Los Angeles.
After interviewing Debi Silverman from First Five CA, an organization “dedicated to
improving the lives California’s young children and their families through a comprehensive
system of education, health services, child care, and other crucial programs” (ccfc.ca.gov), I
learned more about First Five CA’s work towards policy writing, advocacy and research for state
and federal policy “with an emphasis on children prenatal through age 5 and their families, to
optimize early childhood development and reduce childhood poverty” (ccfc.ca.gov). First Five
CA advocates for policies such as “SB 1383: Unlawful Employment Practice; Family Leave”
which is a “bill [that] would provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected family leave to all workers
employed at businesses with 5 or more employees. It would also guarantee that leave would be
granted for new parents to bond with a child or to care for sick children, parents, grandparents,
and other direct family members” (State and Federal Advocacy Agenda, 2020).
Having parent-based, educational classes available for all families with young children
can help to normalize the idea of parenting classes and can help to “remove some of the
stigma attached to parenting education, which has historically been associated with
court orders for parents who’ve run afoul of child-protective laws ” (Lundeberg, 2016).

C. Possibilities
My solution to this problem is Wholesome Parenting. At Wholesome Parenting, we offer
free Parent-based classes across LA County to promote the importance of parent’s having a
space to feel supported in their parenting, ask questions and find community amongst other
parents. Head Start Programs across the U.S are similar to this idea of parent education.
Except Head Start Programs in LA only offer parenting classes to women who are pregnant.
Wholesome Parenting is unique because we offer parenting classes to prepare families
for moments beyond pregnancy. Wholesome Parenting classes will guide parents with child
development knowledge and positive parenting practices to help families feel confident in
addressing life’s challenges when raising children. We also offer free child care during the
parenting classes to support both parents in attending without child care preparations.
The feedback I’ve received throughout this course regarding my innovation idea has
been helpful in hearing the perspectives of people with and without children and also people
with varying levels of income. It was through peer feedback that I decided to offer free child care
during classes for parents.

D. Professional Identity
My role in this innovation would be a parent educator and director of the organization to
help delegate and organize class schedules and employees across the county. Through this
research, shining light on this issue for low income families has opened my eyes to a completely
new perspective and has transformed into a global citizen view. This innovation has shifted my
professional identity by researching how significant a parent’s role in their child’s academic
success is, especially in the first five years of life.
Every parent, no matter their income, has the most important role in their child’s life and
Wholesome Parenting is a resource for parents to be ready for that. Wholesome Parenting was
built for all families in mind and we believe in positive parenting practices to support their child to
thrive developmentally and for families to feel empowered to succeed together.
 E. The Proposal

Are you interested in learning more about what you can do to support your child’s
healthy development? Come visit us at various community centers across Los Angeles!

Looking to volunteer in our child care centers or parent education classes? Visit our website
at Wholesomeparenting.com

Wholesome Parenting is always looking for community support, passionate volunteers or

charitable donations of any kind. In return, you’ll be a supporting member of a strong,
compassionate community investing in the long term healthy development and academic
success of their children. Even if you don’t have children yourself, find comfort in the fact that
you are investing in the future!

Reference List
(all references that will included in your presentation & on your website)

2020 State and Federal ADVOCACY AGENDA. (2020, September 30). Retrieved
February, 2021, from https://www.first5la.org/2020-state-and-federal-advocacy-
agenda/

Early Head Start. (n.d.). Retrieved February, 2021, from https://prekkid.org/our-

programs/early-head-start/

First 5 California - State site. (n.d.). Retrieved February, 2021, from

http://www.ccfc.ca.gov/

Los Angeles California Economy data. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.towncharts.com/California/Economy/Los-Angeles-city-CA-Economy-
data.html
Lundeberg, S. (2016, December 5). Parenting Classes Benefit All, Especially Lower-
Income Families. Retrieved February, 2021, from
https://synergies.oregonstate.edu/2016/parenting-classes-benefit-all-especially-
lower-income-families/

Statistics on underprivileged children in the world. (2013, November 4). Retrieved

February, 2021, from
https://www.childfund.org/Content/NewsDetail/2147489206/

Materials/Resources needed for presentation

(e.g. iPhone for videotaping, pictures from previous tasks, notes, drawings,
Prezi, editing software, etc.)

Prezi platform, photos from previous work, community scan document, interview
summary document, feedback from Lesson 5 video, etc.

Additional documents/notes/etc (optional)