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 BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!
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Foiled: Lesson Learned!
I went face-to-face this weekend with the single most evil thing in the face of parenting and humanity. The thing that makes you come face-to-face with your faults and imperfections, which reminds you that you are undeserving to even be taking up space in the room in which you are currently standing. The thing that tests you to your human limits. When I die, if I end up in hell, my particular level will have me wrangling this thing 24 hours a day. It answers to a few different names. Saran wrap....Read More
#SupportAfterschool! Written by An Out of School Time OG
In support of the Afterschool Alliance’s advocacy work to help raise awareness for out of school time programs across the nation, we are re-posting a note written by Thierry Gonzalez from a Facebook post. Proceeds from every purchase will go to the Afterschool Alliance to support the defense of after-school funding in the face of devastating proposed cuts. Your fashion statement will help millions of kids across America! “A brief explanation of why I have started the website www.supp...Read More
So, Maybe I Don’t Have It All Together…
So, maybe I don’t have it all together… Boom. Boom. Boom. The sound of little feet running through the room. “Walking feet,” I automatically shout. “Do we have more paper?” “Where are the scissors?” “Ms. Lexi, Ms. LEXI!” These sounds surround me. The Issue I don’t always answer every question correctly. I often forget to buy more paper. And, I can’t hold twenty conversations at the same time (despite my kids’ best efforts to help me with that). But today I am choosing to be thankful that I don’t...Read More
Keep The Channel Open
I’ve been sitting in contemplation of this quote by dancer/choreographer Martha Graham for a few weeks now: “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with...Read More
Three Shining Lights Against a Dark Cloud
Under normal circumstances, I’m not one to be political in a public and professional forum, but really, I’m in need of some writing therapy. Every day, I read the latest news story about another negative appointment to the President- elect’s cabinet. Who knew there were so many people who both seem to despise the role of government AND also want to lead it? While alarming, those aren’t even the most upsetting parts of my daily doldrums. What really brings me down are the ...Read More
The Rise of the Showman Empire: A Seussian Recap of the 2016 Election
A crazy thing happened November the eighth That boggled my senses and battered my faith In the goodness of people, the size of our brains, To vote for a con man who rants and complains That the reason your life isn’t all it should be Is because of some Syrian war refugee. Who knew that the best way to win an election Was wage a campaign filled with hate and rejection? His words were as racist as racism gets, There were times I could swear he contracted Tourette’s. When NASCAR decides...Read More
The Fragility of Freedom
It is the eve of November 8th, Election Day, a critical and contentious moment in our nation’s history. I am currently sitting on a bus sandwiched between three teenage boys, all three who are much bigger than me, and who after several hours of driving are starting to produce a scent I like to call “teen spirit”. We are enroute back to Cleveland from a two-day college tour, amongst which one of our stops was the University of Cincinnati, in the city known for its’ histori...Read More
A Challenge to Educators
2015! Wow! When I was a kid, in the 70’s and 80’s, we used to fantasize about what it would be like in the 2000’s. There were going to be flying cars and moon shuttles for public use, machines on which you could dial up any type of food and it would instantly appear. Even sports would be different, played in mid-air with jet packs and in stadiums filled with interactive technology. All of these notions seemed so possible then, dreamed up by city kids who watched too many episod...Read More
Common Core and the Competition
There’s a lot to be said about the current version of education reform and Common Core. I’m all in favor of getting rid of No Child Left Untested. I believe that all children should become fluent readers and writers and well-versed in math because these are skills that will help them succeed in school and, more importantly, in life. I’m convinced that what will separate kids who achieve their potential from those who don’t will be their communication, critical thinking, c...Read More
Allegiance
Last Friday, I took my son to school. There was a car accident on a major thoroughfare and traffic was diverted to side streets. As a result, our ten minute drive became twenty and we arrived just in time for the school’s weekly “flag ceremony.” (Actually, it would be more accurate to say that we delayed it for about sixty seconds while the principal waited patiently for me to deliver Oliver to his Kindergarten teacher, whose students were intentionally placed in the front row ...Read More
The Death of School
Harvard GSE professor Richard Elmore’s recent remarks at May’s Aspen Institute may leave educators feeling a bit disturbed. And that’s exactly what I love about it. In his 8 minute speech, Elmore begins the conversation with the assertion that he does “not believe in the institutional structure of public schooling… anymore.” Wait! What? This is coming from a man who has spent over 40 years in the upper echelons of government and academia, advocating for educat...Read More
If Not Now, Then When? If Not You, Then Who?
It’s six o’clock in the morning and I’m sitting in my office, drinking coffee, eating yogurt and blueberries and putting a schedule together for the next three hours before I have a meeting with the Governor’s Chief of Staff. With careful planning and any luck, I can give 20 folks the information they need to register to vote. I can encourage 15 people to make choices that I believe are in their own best interest when they go to the polls, and I can set up a schedule that...Read More