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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Remember to THINK

This post originally appeared on the Breakfast Club Blog on November 22, 2013. This year, I had an opportunity to help my sister set up her sixth grade classroom. Outside the door, she had the following poster: T: Is it True? H: Is it Helpful? I: Is it Inspiring? N: Is it Necessary? K: Is it Kind? Although educators, whether they work during in or out-of-school time hours, have many of these mantras in their classrooms, this one struck me as special. It not only encourages students to THINK, but...Read More

Are We Modeling Social Emotional Skills?

Social-emotional learning requires the same kind of intentionality as academic learning and as adults, we have to model the social-emotional skills we hope to build in our students. Here is a painfully ironic example: Joshua Trump is an 11-year-old who was one of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s guests at the State of the Union. He is not related to the President but has been bullied over the last few years because of his name. “He said he hates himself, and he hates his last name,...Read More

Failing and How to Handle Imperfection

Sometimes you fail at work. Sometimes, it’s a loud and epic fail—like losing your company millions of dollars or insulting your biggest client or spearheading a product that flops. Those definitely suck, and sometimes cost you your job or your reputation. But sometimes… and I think more often, the failure is much quieter. Sometimes, you fail to understand the importance of an issue with a co-worker. Sometimes, you fail to communicate a need properly. Sometimes, you fail to listen. I ...Read More

The Adult Amendment

“Amend”: to correct, to make right, to reconcile just with unjust, to come before one or more person(s) and ask for tangible, recognizable peace henceforth — “to make amends” “Amendment”: the action of putting into practice amends made between parties _________________________________________________________ Amanda Todd’s suicide is a tragedy that will haunt our collective, cultural psyche for years to come. Discussing youth bullying is paramount, ...Read More

IF IT’S TO BE, IT STARTS WITH ME

I heard a story recently that I’d like to share it with you. One day a mother came to Gandhi with her little boy for help. She asked Gandhi, “Please, Bapu, will you tell my little boy to stop eating sugar. He simply eats too much sugar and will not stop.” Gandhi told the mother to leave and come back with the boy in three days. The mother returned with her son and said to Gandhi, “We have come back as you asked.” Gandhi turned to the boy and said, “Young boy, ...Read More

From Changing Lives To Saving Lives

For the past fifteen years I’ve had the privilege of working in the afterschool field as a program director, consultant, policymaker and advocate. I’ve met countless people who are making a huge difference. Students are doing better in school, becoming more enthusiastic about learning, developing positive social relationships, experiencing new things and mastering new skills. There’s no question that afterschool programs change lives. Now it’s time to save lives. Just a f...Read More