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 views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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On-Site Staff / Partnerships and Building Relationships / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management

The Cutting Edge of Youth Learning and Development: Six Things You Should Know and Three Things You Should Do

Jeff Davis No Comments

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post for the BOOST Café titled, Positive Youth Development, an Idea Whose Time Has Come…. Again and Again. The blog highlighted that new research on Grit, Growth Mindset and Social Emotional Learning supported what we in the out-of-school time field have known for a long time. Four years later, the most recent research, once again, supports the importance of a foundation of program quality grounded in Positive Youth Development. A groundbreaking new report recently... Read More

On-Site Staff / Opinion / Partnerships and Building Relationships / Program Design, Development, and Quality

2 Terrific Tips on Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) For Adults

Zach Wilson No Comments

  This blog is about SEL for adults, exploring why and how we must practice SEL in our collective work, both in and out of school. I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. I asked my close colleague, who sits just across from me in the office, what I should write about in this next blog.  Understanding my ongoing, organic theme about creating conditions for youth voice and choice, he suggested I write about the competencies within us that allow for this to happen. I was intrigued ... Read More

On-Site Staff / Opinion / Program Design, Development, and Quality

Three Lessons from Practitioners in the Field of Expanded Learning

Bruno Marchesi No Comments

This past month I had the opportunity to attend the Site Coordinator Symposium by the California AfterSchool Network hosted at the historic Queen Mary ship in Long Beach. This two-and-a-half-day event hosted 500 practitioners from the field of Expanded Learning programs in California, with the majority of them being Site Coordinators from across the state. I wanted to share the three takeaways that stood out the most for me that had heart & meaning and reinforced my two-decade experience in ... Read More

On-Site Staff / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management

Are We Modeling Social Emotional Skills?

Daren Howard No Comments

Social-emotional learning requires the same kind of intentionality as academic learning and as adults, we have to model the social-emotional skills we hope to build in our students. Here is a painfully ironic example: Joshua Trump is an 11-year-old who was one of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s guests at the State of the Union. He is not related to the President but has been bullied over the last few years because of his name. “He said he hates himself, and he hates his last name,... Read More

On-Site Staff / Opinion / Partnerships and Building Relationships / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management

#ButterflyEffectChallenge

Justin McGlamery No Comments

but·ter·fly ef·fect noun (with reference to chaos theory) the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere As an experiential educator and group facilitator working in the realm of social-emotional learning and leadership development, I am used to helping people “get out of their comfort zones.”  As educators, it is not only our duty to encourage people to go beyond where they are comfortable and into this place called “learning” but to model ... Read More

On-Site Staff / Program Design, Development, and Quality

Yoga & Mindfulness to Support Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Emotional Intelligence

Shawnee Thornton Hardy No Comments

What is SEL? Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as:  “The process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”1 SEL prepares students to Solve Problems, Manage Emotions, a... Read More

On-Site Staff / Opinion / Staff Leadership and Management

Social-Emotional Fitness: Neophobia vs. Neuroplasticity

Carlos Santini No Comments

“What were you thinking?!” “I can’t believe you did that!” These are just some of the favorite phrases of “disbelief” we like to use as adults when we come face to face with mistakes made by youth. I know this personally and professionally.  I have two daughters ages 7 and 11, and I will admit that these words have been a part of my “go-to” statements when trying to figure out what led to them messing up. When you understand the mental and emotional state of adolescence, the question referenced ... Read More

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Program Design, Development, and Quality

Filling in the Gaps: How Developmental Theory Supports Social Emotional Learning in Afterschool Programs

BOOST Collaborative 1 Comment

This spring issue  of the Journal of Expanded Learning Opportunities (JELO) 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. The JELO serves as an important resource for the expanded learning field as well as makes the connec... Read More

documentary blog documentary blog
On-Site Staff / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management

Learning With Documentary Films: Strategies to Engage Students

breakfastclubguest No Comments

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

heather quote youth assets heather quote youth assets
Storytellers

My Why: Youth Are Assets

breakfastclubguest No Comments

I started off as a high school English teacher in an East Harlem school with Title 1 funding. My plan was to become a principal and I knew classroom experience was imperative to being an effective school leader. Teacher training helped me understand how to write lessons plans, use different forms of assessment, and reflect on how my own education may influence the way I “showed up” as a teacher. It didn’t prepare me to deal with all the social and personal factors that influenc... Read More

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