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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Bring a Strength-Based Approach to the Way You Communicate
Recently, I was reading program descriptions and program plans which included goals. As always, I was impressed with and proud of what afterschool program staff are able to accomplish and what they strive to do. One thing gave me pause. Deficit language reared its ugly head in more than a few of the program descriptions and plans. I realized that as a field we often talk about using a strength-based approach in our program activities and in our relationships with youth and family. Yet, we have h...Read More
Understanding Our Impact: How The Smallest Things Can Ignite The Most Lasting Memories
I’ve been doing a lot of trainings around Social Emotional Leadership recently, which I love so much. Tapping in to the “softer” side of our leadership seems more important now than it ever was before. In my trainings I’m known to use this quote from Douglas Conant, formerly of Campbell Soup, who says: “Even a brief interaction can change the way people think about themselves, their leaders, and the future. Each of those many connections you make has the potential to become a high point or a low...Read More
Redefining Student Interaction and Connection in a COVID-19 Environment
Throughout my time educating young people of all ages, from preschool to college, whether as an employee or employer, teacher or mother, I have spent the last 20 plus years utilizing a secret formula that my staff and I have come to label “Kid Whispering.” What is “Kid Whispering” you ask? Well, it’s the ability to communicate with, relate to, teach, inspire, and empower kids, to do and be their best. This is done through many means, both emotionally and physically, and on both the micro and mac...Read More
Focus on the 4Cs
I’m addicted to podcasts. They are my friend on long commutes and I’ve learned so much about so many random topics from Mars exploration to discoveries deep in the ocean. Every one of them leaves me curious and eager to learn more. One of my favorites is How I Built This, with Guy Raz. Because I’m an educator, I lose myself for miles listening to stories about the masterminds who had an idea they took all the way to a successful business. How did they do it? Why did they persist when others gave...Read More
Apologies
When you ask a young person to apologize, they often scowl at you with an attitude. They may glare at you and roughly say,” Why should I apologize, I didn’t do anything wrong.” We all know that owning our mistakes is not only a challenge for children but for adults as well. Apprehension to apologizing relates to our fear of permanently ruining our public self-image. Surprisingly, avoiding owning our slip-ups can backfire on us. We all make mistakes, but it is crucial to teach children how to res...Read More
ARE YOU SAFE?
Editor’s Note: Welcome first-time BOOST Blogger @bradfrommissouri! Brad is the state lead for the Missouri AfterSchool Network. Brad’s passion is to use his background and experience to develop and manage programs that enhance the lives of individuals and organizations. We are thrilled to have him join our esteemed blogger tribe! —– Are you safe? It seems like an odd question, doesn’t it? After all, our afterschool programs provide a safe place for students to go when sc...Read More
Tailwinds vs. Headwinds
Runners and cyclists are especially familiar with this phenomenon. When running or cycling into the wind, we are aware of the hardship every second. When we get the wind at our back, we are grateful … for about a minute. Then we forget about our good fortune until the going gets tough again. Why is it so easy for people to feel put upon? Why are we hyper-aware when we feel the deck is stacked against us? Studies have shown that this phenomenon happens in many aspects of our lives. With siblings,...Read More
The Terrifying Click of Heels in the Hall
When I was site coordinator at an elementary school in San Francisco, we were not afraid of the mice in the office, or the cold air that whipped through the poorly insulated windows on a foggy SF morning, or the cafeteria full of wildly enthusiastic pre-teens. No, but we were afraid of the click, click, click of the principal’s heels on the linoleum hallway. We could hear it about 2 minutes before she turned the corner into our closet-like office. We’d look at each other across our desks, each ...Read More
People Aren’t Flies: How Youth Can Listen Without Needing to Be Heard
We have all experienced a time when we believed we had a genuine connection with a person, only to find out that they had a specific agenda in mind. We have all experienced someone that has tried to proselytize or preach at us, to use us to get ahead, or to gain access to our friends or family members. For many people, what starts out as a genuine connection dissolves almost instantly as soon as the sirens of topics such as politics or religion are sounded. We know how difficult it can be to hav...Read More
“Teacher, I’m A 6!” – Thoughts on Children & The Enneagram
Use of The Enneagram – a personality profiling system – has risen in popularity in the past few years. Some scholars trace its use to ancient cultures and religions, but its use in post-modern self-awareness growth can be more attributed to psychological, sociological, and mystical studies beginning in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Serious Enneagram practitioners and scholars would caution people about using it as a parlour trick to amuse ourselves. It was, after all, designed to help us un...Read More