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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5 Ways To Prepare For Your Summer Program
If you are an educator responsible for providing a high quality summer program for children and youth in your community, you are probably busy right now with planning for summer. It is easy to fall into the routine of this busy time and you want to make sure you finish the school year strong. Take just a moment to consider some of the proactive things you can do to take your summer program to the next level. 1. Brainstorm ideas for your unique program culture High quality summer learning program...Read More
Design Thinking Develops Global Citizens
How might we encourage our students to become global leaders? How might we create agency, or a mindset of action, in 21st century kids? Our students are passive. They are used to “sitting and getting” information. Even as we talk about preparing students for the 21st century, the pressures of college acceptance and testing make it difficult to change students’ (and parents’) mindsets. How might we create a bias towards action in our students so that they understand their ...Read More
BOOST Master Class: Leading for Student Engagement
I will be teaching on Project-Based Learning (PBL) strategies, and more, at a Master Class offered during the upcoming BOOST Conference. I hope you’ll join me on Thursday, April 28, from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m., for an interactive session on “Leading for Student Engagement: How to Plan and Sustain Effective Project-Based Learning Initiatives.” What sorts of projects might students tackle during out-of-school time? I’ve seen students design low-cost prosthetic devices to improve...Read More
BOOST Master Class: Program Transformation: Rethinking Scannables
I’ve very excited to host a Master Class on Scannable Technology at the BOOST Conference this April. My new book Deeper Learning with QR Codes and Augmented Reality: A Scannable Solution for Your Classroom includes lots of ways teachers can use #ScannableTech with students. Many of the ideas and activities I share are perfect for educators working outside of the classroom or in nontraditional learning spaces. Here are three ways to use #ScannableTech in after school programs. Let Kids Desi...Read More
Learning With Documentary Films: Strategies to Engage Students
Asia Society and BOOST Collaborative are partnering to create a series of blogs on global learning in out-of-school time. This blog entry was orginally published on EdWeek’s Global Learning Blog. Documentaries and film can bring the world to students in very real ways. Cleary Vaughan-Lee, Education Director for Global Oneness Project, tells us how and shares resources and strategies. Why do we need stories? Stories are universal and create connections across time, place, and cultures. Now ...Read More
Summer Nutrition Programs: Ending Childhood Hunger
Ending childhood hunger, especially during the summer, has been the defining focus of my work for the past few years. At the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), I’ve worked with my team to chart participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs. These programs—the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)—are designed to replace the school breakfasts and lunches on which low-income children and their families rely during the school year, keeping hunge...Read More
Creating Mental Health Supports for Kids in Isolated Communities
I live in a small town. Our county has about 3600 residents in the town proper, with another 7000 scattered throughout the County (a County which includes two First Nations reserves and two Metis settlements). We have two grocery stores, a few gas stations, four schools, a post office, some shops, plenty of industry and farming operations, and a pretty nice community centre for our size. If you’re looking for small-town Canadiana, look no further. We’ve got it all. Only… we don...Read More
How Games Promote Global Learning
Asia Society and BOOST Collaborative are partnering to create a series of blogs on global learning in out-of-school time. This blog entry was originally published on EdWeek’s Global Learning Blog. This piece is written by guest bloggers Mitch Weisburgh and Marianne Malmstrom. Marianne Malmstrom, has been using video games in the classroom for over eight years. She recently completed a 3-month professional development tour of New Zealand focused on investigating successful learning strategi...Read More
Help Youth Share Their Time, Talent, and Treasure Through Philanthropy
I remember it like yesterday, sitting in a room that contained an elderly gentleman recovering from hip surgery as he talked about his passion for ballroom dancing. Photos of this pastime decorated his temporary recovery room. I was an awkward middle school student delivering a handmade snow globe (yes, the kind made from a baby food jar). This was part of a 4-H club’s service project, visit an assisted living community and sing songs to bring a little cheer to the residents. Almost thirty...Read More
Student Recruitment Tactics: Part Two
This is the second installment of our two-part blog series focused on practical student recruitment strategies. You can read the first part blog here. #6: Think socially Create opportunities for participants to bring their friends. It’s not always about your students coming to their class everyday. Create events or opportunities for registered students to go through a little bit of your program’s experience. It could be team building games at lunch, or a scavenger hunt after school,...Read More
Student Recruitment Tactics: Part One
This is a two-part blog series focused on practical student recruitment strategies. This first installment features five tips and five more tips will be shared on Friday. Here are some common strategies when dealing with recruiting students for your program. Remember, you HAVE to be comfortable with the idea of the numbers game if you are going to succeed in achieving your attendance goals. Great programs worry about quality AND quantity. The New Yorker wrote an article shortly after the 2008 p...Read More
BOOST Breakfast Club 2015 Recap
Thank you for sharing 2015 with us! We look forward to this coming year and creating opportunities for change in educational and social services agencies serving youth in the out-of-school time hours. Our blog has a wealth of resources you and your organization from professionals in out-school-time, youth development, and education from across the globe. Our topics include: 21st Century Learning, Advocacy & Policy, Building Relationships, Closing the Achievement Gap, Common Core, Community C...Read More