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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#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
Moveable Game Jams
This Breakfast Club blog post is a follow-up to Afterschool Game Jams! which I wrote last August 2016. In it, I described what game jams are, including the “Moveable Game Jam” initiative. Much has happened since then, and I am excited to share it all with the BOOST community! What Are Game Jams, Anyway? Game jams typically take place over a weekend, and involve a theme, or specific content area. For example, this spring, NOAA is hosting an Arctic Climate Game Jam, in which participan...Read More
Service Learning, Global Activism, Leadership and Your Middle School Students
Asia Society and BOOST Collaborative have partnered 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 Linda Kantor Swerdlow. In her new book, Global Activism in an American School from Empathy to Action, Linda shares an example of how students can take action and use their own agency to make a difference in the world. I first met seventh grade English teacher Ron Adams a...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
How To Strengthen Student Listening Skills with Podcasts
Today’s post is written by guest author Monica Burns and was originally posted on ClassTechTips.com. Monica Burns is an Author, Speaker, Curriculum & EdTech Consultant and Apple Distinguished Educator. Visit her site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher. Podcasts are a great way to help strengthen student listening skills. Podcasts are audio (and sometimes video) recordings similar to a radio program or television episode. A wide range of organization...Read More
Being Right
My husband and his team put on amazing festivals, and one of them is called The Festival Of Machines. Sprawling over several acres of property, festival-goers can look at (and climb on) cement mixers, tractors, old time steam engines, old time fire engines, classic cars, race cars, army helicopters, and more. They can ride on a mars “rover” bike made by a competitive high school team, race each other on kid-sized motorized vehicles, take flight on a “hover chair,” go on a thrilling ride in an ac...Read More
Shifting From the Sage on the Stage
Learning doesn’t always have to be teacher led. There are other models that create authentic experiences for students and are closer to what they will experience once they are finished with school. Last spring, a group of high school juniors came to me, wanting to explore the intersection of art and technology using both paper and sewn circuitry. I had never worked with either before but was excited to learn these tools myself, so I eagerly agreed to the project. Tinkering alongside your student...Read More
Findings From an Afterschool STEM Learning Initiative: Links to Professional Development and Quality STEM Learning Experiences
The third issue of the Journal of Expanded Learning Opportunities (JELO) has arrived! This spring issue launched at the 2016 BOOST Conference and features a conversation about quality programming in afterschool, an article on the role that social-emotional learning can play to close the achievement and learning gaps, and an article focusing on the links between professional development and quality STEM learning experiences. You can visit the first week’s installment about social emotional ...Read More
What’s Trending Now with our Students?
This past month, our iTHINKBIG.ORG school assembly team completed 50, thirty-minute interviews, with High School and Middle School students across San Diego. Participants crossed economic and racial backgrounds. The question was, “What’s trending now?” This is what we found out. Hang on, the results are surprising: Favorite Music • R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, Rap – 40% • Country – 16% • Alternative Rock/Indie/Rock – 8% • Other – 36% (They are listening to: On...Read More
“Essence” of Leadership
If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to win. — Paul “Bear” Bryant People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou There is something in our organization we call the Essence of Leadership. To us Essence is the spirit of the quintessential leader. Our mission at Children’s Choice is to pro...Read More
The Soul of Out-of-School Time
In his article titled “The Neoliberal Arts: How college sold its soul to the market,” (Harper’s Magazine, September 2015) William Deresiewicz argues that “College is seldom about thinking or learning anymore… The purpose of education in a neoliberal age is to produce producers.” He goes on to state, “Everybody talks about the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering, and math — but no one’s really interested in science, and no one’s rea...Read More
Student Interest Leads to Engagement
Let’s talk about how getting to know the children we work with can help us build engagement and excitement about learning. Seems easy but can be forgotten and can make such a difference. It is the same way we think about who is coming for dinner…we wouldn’t make something they didn’t like! Explore Existing Interests Poll your children to learn what they are interested in, and consider ways to use academic enrichment to focus on these areas. For example, if children show a...Read More