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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Remembering Our Past, Sharing Our Stories
Today was once known as Armistice Day – now known as Veteran’s Day. This is a day to reflect on and “be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service” since 1919. Today is a day for us to remember our past. Sometimes remembering our past can be hard to do. It can be filled with painful memories and as time goes by, memories – both good and bad – can begin to fade. Sometimes we need to step back from the focus on the f...Read More
Time Well Spent in Expanded Learning
Put your hand in. Right now, as you’re reading this blog post, take one of your hands and hold it out, palm down, in front of you. It’ll only take a second. No, seriously. We’re going to make a virtual circle of hands here. Let’s do this. Is it in? Good. Keep reading. Now on three, let’s all imagine a really loud “Go team!” and you can lift your hand up. Ready? One, two, three, GO TEAM! That felt good, right? This is when I’d love to ask you to sta...Read More
ASES Programs Caught in a Fiscal Squeeze
In November, 2002, California citizens passed Proposition 49, which requires the Legislature to annually appropriate not less than $550 million to the California Department of Education for the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program. The Proposition passed with a financial trigger that delayed the release of the appropriation until the 2006/07 fiscal year. The funding has been level since that time, unlike many other programs that were decimated during the recession, but despite its pr...Read More
10 Tips for Making Feedback Part of Your DNA
I was in a meeting recently and was offered a suggestion: To invite my staff to play back what they heard during discussions in order to reduce the chance for misunderstandings. I appreciated this feedback because it was practical and addressed an area of growth for me. It was especially meaningful since the feedback was from someone whom I supervise. I know that it’s not always easy to offer up constructive feedback to a supervisor. Feedback within an organization: Practice makes better I...Read More
Ecuador to Philadelphia: A Snapshot of a Global Artology Program
Asia Society and BOOST Collaborative are partnering to create a series of blogs on global learning in out-of-school time. This month features Jamaine Smith from BuildaBridge International. In Argelia, Ecuador, the eyes of eight children lit up as children from Philadelphia appeared on the screen of the small tablet they were going to use to complete their video call. They were elated as a symphony of “Hola!” and “¿Como Estas?” erupted from the mouths of the Philadelphian ...Read More
3 Ideas to Develop Healthy and Active Role Models this Fall
Our last blog featured 6 Ideas to Make Your Next Staff Meeting Fun and Healthy this Summer. Did you try one of them? Maybe you made “Silly Water” for a retreat or added some physical activity to your regular staff meeting. Building on those tips, here are a few ideas to help you continue to develop healthy and active role models this fall. Let us know how it goes by tweeting to @HealthierGen. Developing Healthy and Active Role Models this Fall 1. Do you have a fall festival or family...Read More
Expanding Horizons: Global Learning in Out-of-School Time
Asia Society and BOOST Collaborative are partnering to create a series of blogs on global learning in out-of-school time. This month features Heather Loewecke from Asia Society. The impact of globalization is clear. The diversification of our neighborhoods and workplaces, technological advancements, transnational issues, and political conflicts are transforming the ways we must work and interact with individuals from vastly different backgrounds, countries, and cultures. However, research re...Read More
Youth Programming: Filling a Critical Void
Just recently, I started working for the juvenile justice system in the city government. Juvenile justice is a field of youth work that has always intrigued me with having done much academic research on it. At the same time, I knew that I would be opening myself up to experiences and situations that I would never have opened myself up to in any other field of youth work and not all of them were positive. I have seen youth exhibit behaviors and characteristics that I have never seen in any other ...Read More
Music and Arts Programs are NOT Frills
Music is a language that kindles the human spirit, sharpens the mind, fuels the body, and fills the heart. – Erik Jensen The arts are far closer to the core of education than are the more exalted subjects. – Abraham Maslow In this era of standards and accountability, arts are increasingly viewed as a frill and removed from school curriculum. Brain research suggests that arts can lay a foundation for academic and career success. Science, mathematics, and language require complex cognitive a...Read More
New paper: What are the impacts of afterschool STEM?
Today, many afterschool and summer programs include science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) as a standard part of their comprehensive programming. Afterschool providers recognize the importance of improved STEM education for their students and that hands-on, inquiry-driven STEM is in line with afterschool’s overall approach to education. Practitioners are able to directly see the impact afterschool STEM programs have on students—they see youth engaged in and excited about STEM activiti...Read More
STEM Doesn’t Have to be Pink
I was contemplating what to blog about today. My birthday is coming up so maybe I would write about traditions and celebrations. I knew for sure I would not be writing about the World Cup because besides the Google Doodles and posts from friends on Facebook, I really haven’t been keeping up. But then I was part of a conversation that got my goat. It was about attracting elementary school girls to STEM by offering pink lab coats and hard hats. Let me go ahead and say it. I am a fan of pink. I...Read More
Global Competency, Wha?
My daughter asked me if the 2014 Olympics were being held in Southern China. She spent most her childhood summers in Southern California, or SoCal, so I should not have been shocked when she thought Sochi was in southern China instead of Russia. Except that she is a 20 year old college student. What a small world we have…and how little of it our students seem to know. As a school teacher and mother to reasonably intelligent children, I like to believe I have instilled in them some understa...Read More