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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Mic Drop! Celebrating Creative Youth Development
One of my favorite parts of youth development and out-of-school time programs is when we provide spaces for students to CREATE. If anything, this past year and a half has unearthed the importance of providing healing spaces and room for self-expression. As youth development professionals, we can’t turn away from the fact that our students (and us!) have individually and collectively faced grief, turmoil, anger, confusion, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Take that in for a minute. It’s heavy...Read More
From a Learning Disability to a Ph.D.: A Life-Changing Journey
As I opened an email titled “Congratulations! Your dissertation is approved.” I felt tears of happiness slowly running down my cheeks. I smiled, closed my eyes, and took a long, deep breath. It had been a long and difficult journey, but somehow, I felt that it was only a beginning – of a new era, the one where I officially had no reason to doubt myself. “I am a doctor now,” I thought to myself. “I did it, I proved them all wrong.” For as long as I can remember I was told that I wasn’t good enoug...Read More
Our Kids Are Stressed Out – 5 Ways to Empower Youth To Find Their CALMM
Focus, Pay Attention, Sit Still, Listen, Follow Directions… Just a few phrases youth are bombarded with on a daily basis whether it’s coming from their parents, teachers or other adults in their lives. As adults it can seem as if our words go in one ear and out the other and that children lack attention, motivation and behavior is something they have immediate control over or is an intentional response. Our kids Are Stressed Out – Empowering Youth to find their CALMM In my years as an educationa...Read More
5 Move and Groove Breaks for the New Year
Are you ready to add some movement and joy to your trainings and meetings this year? If so, this short article is for you. As programming and conferences have shifted to virtual formats, many of us are spending a lot more time in front of our screens. In the digital world, it can be extra challenging to feel connected and engaged. So, how can we create impactful learning experiences while also working towards daily physical activity goals? Add a “move and groove” physical activity break to your ...Read More
Bringing at-home STEM success into focus
STEM has left the building For a long time, advocates of STEM education have worked to bring STEM learning closer to students’ lives outside of school. This year, though, COVID has made STEM learning a part of students’ lives outside of school in ways nobody ever imagined or wanted. The pandemic has forcibly ejected STEM from the traditional in-building school environment and strewn it about in a great blurry mess spread out variably and amorphously among the home, Zoom sessions, mask-, distance...Read More
Playing in the Leaves
I cried after watching a commercial last night. No, it wasn’t a commercial with babies in tires, or one about a service member who makes it home in time for the holidays, or even a Hallmark movie special. It was a Toys’R’Us commercial. A group of kids were going on a field trip to the forest. While on the bus the guide tells the rather disinterested group that instead they are going to Toys’R’Us- the bus goes wild! Granted if I was being driven to jury duty and the ...Read More
Hi Miss Tiaaaana
Recently, I posted a picture of myself on Instagram, and to my surprise, I received likes from folks I have not seen in quite a while. One of them, a young lady who attended the middle and high school after-school program I managed five years ago, commented on the picture by saying, “Hi Miss Tiaaaana.” She shared photos of her daughter with me, and in one of our messages, told me that some other girls who attended 20 West wanted to reunite to catch up. Hearing that my old students wa...Read More
Seeing Clearly in the Fog: Reflections on the Core Value of Connection
The other morning I went to the beach and was startled by the fog. From the boardwalk where I jogged, I could barely see the waves surface upon the sand. People emerged before me from the damp greyness only as I got close, and even the high-rise buildings off to the side disappeared as I gazed up. There was mystery in the distance, and what laid ahead remained hidden. And so, I focused on my breath, my pace, my thoughts, the people before me, and the here and now feeling of it all. While our wor...Read More
Using Mindfulness to Transform Self and Students
My love affair with mindfulness began innocently enough. I was working as a primary care provider in an internal medicine office at the time. I was a newly graduated PA and quickly became surprised by how many patients would come in to the office over and over again for the same problems. So many people were continuing to suffer despite getting all the best medical care that western medicine had to offer. What was missing? I was determined to find out. At the time, I had not even done yoga, much...Read More
Do You Believe In The Power Of Music?
“Do you believe in the power of music?” is a question continually asked on the band BER’s Facebook page. Who is BER? What…you aren’t familiar with the world of Teen Titans GO!? Well, a quick backstory for you. BER is a little-known studio band that charted atop the Billboard Hot Rock with “The Night Begins to Shine,” an 80’s-style song that was sitting in a music library until it will be plucked up, used in an episode of the cartoon, and then kept growing into its own 4-part cartoon special abou...Read More
What’s Driving Your Work?
I recently had the honor of participating in an executive transition for the California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC). It was my first executive transition, so admittedly I don’t have anything to compare it to, however, I was inspired by how we, both board and staff, continued to keep values at the center of the process. Every step of the way we asked ourselves, does this align with the values of the organization? In the end, that resulted in an authentic interview process and a new exec...Read More
Turning Crickets Into Stories: Objects and Metaphors For Effective Processing and Reflection
Ahhhh! It is springtime in New England, which means summer is just around the corner. I live in a city and even though my summer days and nights are filled with the sounds of the city, I often will tune out those noises and tune in to the sounds of nature in my backyard; the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees, birds chirping, the cicadas whirring, and the rhythmic sound of the crickets, who play reggae in my town neighborhood. While I love to get lost in the sounds of t...Read More
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