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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The Challenge of Creating a Culture
Almost every day, I am a teacher, a student, or a leader. Sometimes I play one role at a time. Sometimes I play all three at once. One could say I dance in between them. I’m sure that all of us who work with youth move between these roles and watch our peers and our students do the same. The question I keep coming back to, no matter what role I am in, is how do I create a culture that I can be proud of and inspired to be a part of? And what I mean by culture in this context is the feeling ...Read More
Love in Your Voice
It’s not always easy to be yourself. Maybe you can relate to this. I’m in a café with a cup of tea. It’s funny actually. There’s a trendy wooden table beside me. As I sit to write the first words of this blog project, in my head I hear the voices of writers I’m reading and speaker types famous for dumb one-liners. They are a crowded group in a room somewhere in my brain, an indecipherable rumble. “No Chad. Be you. Find your voice. Don’t write like them.&...Read More
What Does SEL Look Like In Afterschool Programs?
Although the first semester is almost over, it is not too late to make adjustments to your programming for Spring 2020. Recently, afterschool leaders have asked me: “How do I incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) into my program?” Before discussing the how, let’s look at the why. In the early 1990s, Hawkins & Catalano (1992, 1995)identified three factors to help move kids from risk to resilience: 1.) Relationships, 2.) High Expectations, and 3.) Meaningful Engagement. Given our cur...Read More
Wanna Join the Mistakes Club?
Mistakes have gotten a bad rap. Reactions to mistakes can range from mild embarrassment to communications of regret to utter outrage. If we always respond to mistakes negatively it has potential to give our kids the impression that mistakes are to be avoided at all costs. I am a card-carrying member of the mistakes club. Some days I think about running for president of the mistake club. While I’ve certainly made mistakes I would rather have not, I appreciate the power of mistakes. I knew I...Read More
Blood Moon, Red Planet – Spooky Stuff?
In this season where longer nights outlast the daytime hours, many celebrations and legends abound. Most notably in our culture, Halloween and the Day of the Dead both reference passings, remembrances, and other worldliness. We honor and give symbolism to things that are unknown and powerful, perhaps unexplainable and mysterious, and sometimes dangerous. This can make things feel spooky and scary. This September’s “super blood moon” – a total lunar eclipse during a time when ou...Read More
Food as a Foundation for Global Understanding
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. This entry is written by Heather Loewecke, Senior Program Manager, Afterschool and Youth Leadership Initiatives, Asia Society. In this entry she outlines some ideas for incorporating food and cooking into classrooms and afterschool programs. Visit Asia Society’s website for the full list o...Read More
Hip-Hop(e): Engaging Youth with Social & Emotional Learning
Some community leaders and I were in shock when teens in our after school hip-hop leadership program came in and told us that they felt like absolute failures at school. The disillusionment came about because these were the same youth who were presenting at regional conferences with Congress members, and opening up for international hip-hop acts. These young people, primarily young men of color, were telling us that they were treated like they were stupid at school, and constantly singled out an...Read More