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!
Interested in becoming a blogger? Email breakfastclub@boostcollaborative.org
Click here to Register for a free account or click here to Login to your existing account.
After School Attractions
I woke up early this morning in Washington DC where I am attending a conference on School Counseling programs. We are working on a new program to incorporate school counseling into our after school programs in order to provide students the emotional support they need to succeed. Despite my desire to linger in bed, I know I must get up in order to have time to stand in line for 45 minutes at Market Lunch at the Eastern Market to enjoy Blue Bucks (blueberry pancakes), eggs and biscuits….yum!...Read More
Celebrating Learning Opportunities in the Out-of-School Time Field
I woke up today, and while I was eating my English muffin, having coffee, and waiting for my own kids to finish getting ready for pre-school, I saw a Facebook post by an old friend from high school who is now a sixth-grade teacher. The post displayed a note on a white board, written by a student, and it read, “Mr. G is the best teacher ever!” In a time when there is so much discussion about holding teachers accountable and using test scores to distinguish “good” from R...Read More
A Time to Reflect
Although it is cliché, as the end of the year approaches, it is a time to think about closing out the old year and bringing in the new year. As your programs and schools wind down for the holiday season, this allows us an opportune time to reflect on the accomplishments of our students, our staff, and ourselves. It’s also a time to think about what we did not accomplish in 2011 but what we hope to do in 2012. These may be seemingly minor things like not cleaning out the supply closet, or i...Read More
You Are Changing Lives!
Every day I’m reminded of how fortunate I am to work with such amazing people who are doing such incredible work! Whether I’m consulting with program directors, meeting with leadership members, talking with colleagues or visiting sites, my passion is continually re-ignited, my sense of purpose is re-confirmed and my commitment to doing my best to make a difference in the world is strengthened. I’m blessed to be a messenger but it is you who are creating the messages. So, I̵...Read More
Listen! There is Music in that Breakfast You are Focusing On!
I am a music lover. I have found that in life, there is always music if you listen for it. There is music in the rain and in the wind, music in my old Volvo that had no radio but the windshield wipers that kept the tempo and the old, squeaking chassis that played a melody, and around here, even the crickets play Reggae. As far back as I can remember, I have been drumming on things. Drumming on pots and pans, on books and on desks, on lampposts and flagpoles, or setting up sleeping bags and sleep...Read More
Ode to Site Supervisors
I began to reflect on my career and realized that my days as a site coordinator have been the most defining and empowering. I dare say that this experience, as a site coordinator, prepared me for the biggest challenges of not only my career… but my life. So, I have written this ode, in honor of the site coordinator… The one who is a part time employee with a full time attitude. The one who has survived the bullets of lock downs and who also rose to the occasion to help supervise 1400...Read More
Creation Nation: Youth Work
Tenth time starting a program for a new school year, sixth time creating systems and building relationships with the same team, fifth year pursuing life with the same partner and first year enjoying it all alongside my daughter. When Harper Rose was born I thought it may be the end of my life as a youth worker. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend six glorious months with my baby and help her adjust to this ‘brave new world’. To my surprise on the fifth month, I began checking ...Read More
Arriving in Holland
There is a very special story written by Emily Perl Kingsley in1987. She tells about planning a fabulous trip to Italy, learning the language and buying the guidebooks, but then landing in Holland instead. At first she’s disappointed because everyone else she knows is going to Italy. Because she’s arrived in Holland, she has to learn a different language and buy different guidebooks and meet different people. Soon she discovers that Holland has windmills, and tulips, and Rembrandts. ...Read More
Who You Are Speaks Louder than Anything You Can Say
A troubled mother took her daughter to see Mohandas Gandhi, who was world-renowned for his great spiritual discipline. It seems the young girl had become addicted to eating sweets, and her mother wanted Gandhi to speak to her about this harmful habit and convince her to drop it. Upon hearing this request, Gandhi paused in silence and then told the mother, “Bring the girl back to me in three weeks and I will speak to her then.” Just as she was instructed, the mother returned with her ...Read More
4 Quick Thoughts on Leadership
“Whatever you are, be a good one.” –Abraham Lincoln I love people who push themselves to perform at the highest level possible. Because I’m a child of the 80’s, where we proudly rocked mullets and tight rolled our jeans, I think about Michael Jordan. The game was over and you’d find him in the gym shooting 500 free throws. He had an internal drive to do better. He wanted to be the best he could be. Because I can actually hear your staff and students banging on your ...Read More
Breakthroughs @ BOOST
It wasn’t until the ride back from Palm Springs that I began to absorb my most recent BOOST experience. BOOST, for me, has been the metaphor for the movement of afterschool. BOOST has become a type of gauge of the movement. Whether it’s the number of participants, the quality of workshops, the keynote, I have always been able to use BOOST as a diagnostic for the movement. This was the first year that I went alone with no team, no training to prepare for, or no real “role”...Read More
We ARE the hope we’ve been waiting for!
A career? After School? What?! Yes folks, believe it or not, the career pathways in youth work are out there! It is not an esoteric profession that only a few elite have access to. It is much attainable for anyone that is willing to work, network and advocate for youth. However, there is a sub-culture among the youth work movement that has been lost in the bureaucratic educational methods of the past and is unable to create a new definition of the craft. This discernment of the ‘work’...Read More