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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Is Your Program Instagram Worthy?
“If the young are not initiated into the village, they will burn it down just to feel its warmth.” – African Proverb In traditional societies, parents would send their children outside of their immediate family to an ‘elder’ in order for the child to begin a rites of passage. This rites of passage gave them the opportunity to learn the social norms and mores and join the larger community. Our programs, in many ways, have become this community of ‘elders’...Read More
Checking-In with Your Students: Using the Arts to Open the Door to Communication
Imagine with me, that 13-year-old Steven walks through the door of your out of school time program. His thick eyebrows are furrowed over low eyes. His lips twisted into a sullen scowl. You excitedly greet him at the door with an extended hand. “Good Afternoon, Steven!!” He mumbles an unenthusiastic “Hi”, limply shakes your extended hand, and walks away with hunched over shoulders. Clearly, something is up. Now, of course, you can check in with Steven by asking him if he i...Read More
Bullying and Suicide: What’s the Real Story?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several years, you are well aware of the issue of bullying in schools. It seems there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t catch a news story, receive a flyer for training, or get a call from a school about this growing problem. We all know media is not always the best at portraying the most accurate picture of a problem and can often times even lead to a false sense of urgency. However, recently there has been talk about bu...Read More
Young People in Afterschool Programs Leading Efforts to Improve School Attendance
We often teach our young people to listen to their elders because they are the voices of experience and wisdom. But many times, the best way to get through to a young person is through another young person. With this in mind, it is especially encouraging to be able to recognize two Baltimore-based youth organizations – Wide Angle Youth Media and the Baltimore Urban Debate League – that are engaging young people in citywide efforts to spread the message about the value of attending school regul...Read More
Valuing Children’s Artwork
“Mommy, my art is in the trash!” said 4-year-old Noah with shock and dismay. This is how Board Supervisor, Janice Rutherford, opened her keynote speech to a large group of educators. She held up her son’s paper plate painting and told us how distressed he was when he found it in the trashcan at home. How could this have happened? Surely it must be a mistake because who would throw away original artwork? I was completely amused by her poignant message as this Education Board Mem...Read More
In Serious Need of Fun
Life should be lived as play. Summarized from Plato’s Laws, should be the mantra of every adult providing out-of-school time care for children. Childhood passes swiftly, and even more so as our nation careens down the path of testing and accountability. With Americans living on average into their 70s and 80s, the time one can spend playing without guilt passes in a blink. The childhood experience is missing fun for fun’s sake. Free play has been replaced with purposeful skill buildin...Read More
Revising Beyond the Bell – A Few Takeaways
I began my career as a consultant and trainer for afterschool and expanded learning programs at PlusTime New Hampshire. While I was there, I had one resource I would turn to time and time again to support the programs I was working with: the Beyond the Bell Toolkit. As a consultant dealing with a variety of program needs and questions, the Toolkit was a great resource for me because there were so many tools available on topics ranging from management to evaluation to program design and delivery....Read More
Vive La Digital Revolution
One thing I have learned throughout my life is that we remember our defining moments. Well, two things happened in 1984 that changed my life forever (I know….I’m getting up there!). Anyway, the first was my family taking a trip to see Walt Disney World’s E.P.C.O.T. and the other was our first computer purchase, the Apple IIc. No longer were the visions of Star Wars, Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica mere fantasy. They were architectural maps for the future of mankind. These...Read More
Highlights of a Summer Road Show
Every year, the Summer Matters campaign tours summer programs across the state from Glenn County down to San Bernardino and over to Fresno. The programs, supported by local technical assistance providers, have been working intentionally to improve their quality for the past 4 years. What we’re seeing is a real testament to the ingenuity and determination of our field, and to the power of the cycle of quality improvement. Here are a few of the highlights: At the Whittier City School Distric...Read More
Research on Inclusion of Children with Special Needs in Out-of-School Time
“There is a critical need for afterschool programs that can receive and handle students with special needs. I believe that programs could be strengthened by providing training for caregivers in such areas as autism and ADHD, along with encouraging practices that would provide an appropriate adult-to-student ratio to enhance care options for students with disabilities.” Taking the Temperature of Afterschool, New Jersey School Age Care Coalition Although the Americans with Disabilities...Read More
College Access and Career Readiness through Afterschool Programming
College access and career readiness are important in the discourse regarding social mobility and at the center of discussions about the future of American competitiveness in a global economy that has significantly become knowledge and innovation-based. The Council of Economic Advisors stated in their report Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow (July 2009),”Well-trained and highly skilled workers will be in the best positions to secure high wage jobs, thereby fueling Amer...Read More
How Are You Planning to Spend Your Summer Vacation?
You might not be thinking about summer, but I think it’s the perfect time to ask yourself what the youth in your programs will be doing this summer. The summer experience that was most memorable for me was a sewing class I took in elementary school. My mom was an avid seamstress and made clothes for me and for my dolls. I thought I might design fashion-forward clothes for me and my Barbies if I learned to sew. So I signed up for an intro class at a fabric store with some friends. The instr...Read More