Breakfast Club Blog

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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Using Voice and Choice in Afterschool Programs

As afterschool professionals, we give a lot of lip service to the phrase “voice and choice.” Theoretically, we understand that students feel more ownership of their afterschool programs when they are able to voice their opinions and provide input into the program. Sounds easy, right? Like most good ideas, however, implementation is much more difficult than it sounds. Students are most likely not going to gather and discuss collaboratively what they want the program to be. There is al...Read More

How Improv Makes Me Better At My Job

If you are a child of the 90’s, like me, you may remember the British version and first iteration of “Whose Line Is It Anyway” with Clive Anderson. I had a huge crush on Ryan Stiles when I was in 5th and 6th grade. I used to rush home to watch episodes of the show. I loved it! The participants were so quick, they were so witty, and they always made each other look good! Three skills that I now try to use in my everyday life. I have also done research on Improv (even took classes) and one of my f...Read More

Learning Communities

To promote an environment of innovation and improvement, one strategy we employ is engaging our staff in developing and then sharing their expertise with their peers. It is in an effort to promote a learning community philosophy to encourage leadership, promote learning, and foster expertise. Through the learning community we are focusing on intentional personal and program improvement, fostering expertise and leadership, and creating internal capacity for staff development. Promoting Personal &...Read More

After School Programs Need to Keep Improving

I write this post on the heels of spending a day working on the outline of THINK Together’s i3 fund application. Ironically, the Governor is signing AB1130 today which is one of two bills that will make California eligible to compete for Race to the Top Funds (RTTT). The i3 Fund is the companion piece to RTTT in the U.S. Department of Education’s Innovation Fund that Local Educational Agencies’ (LEAs) and non-profit organizations can receive directly. In the i3 guidelines, the ...Read More