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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When the Staff Shortage Hits Home
Back in January I texted “Things just got real” to my supervisor. You see, I had been hearing about the current challenges with finding qualified staff from various people throughout the state of California but I personally hadn’t been impacted by it. Then things changed, we needed to put my youngest son in the fee-based after school program on his campus (not the program I work for). When I went in to sign him up they told me they would have to put him on the waiting list. Wha...Read More
Help Youth Share Their Time, Talent, and Treasure Through Philanthropy
I remember it like yesterday, sitting in a room that contained an elderly gentleman recovering from hip surgery as he talked about his passion for ballroom dancing. Photos of this pastime decorated his temporary recovery room. I was an awkward middle school student delivering a handmade snow globe (yes, the kind made from a baby food jar). This was part of a 4-H club’s service project, visit an assisted living community and sing songs to bring a little cheer to the residents. Almost thirty...Read More
Exploring the Utility of Quality Assessment
As funders, partners, and education departments require out-of-school time programs do some type of quality assessment, I thought it would be timely to discuss successful strategies for implementing a quality assessment process. The last thing we want is to do the work to conduct an assessment and then have the results just sit on a shelf until a report is due…but we all know that can happen if we don’t have a plan for how to use the information to inform practice. Below are some app...Read More
Just Love
I’m sitting here at my computer, with my four-year old son Dylan sitting at the table across from me. He’s on the other computer, playing Peppa Pig games. I’m supposed to be staring at my computer thinking about blog topics for the day, but instead I’m staring at him and thinking about how unbelievable he is. How smart (as he navigates the laptop like a professional, even with his tiny little fingers), how funny, how mischievous, how cunning, how playful, how joyful. I...Read More
Experience Inspires Love
When we were the age of our students, neither of us thought that we would be teachers. Even in 2011, when we first entered a classroom to foster relationships between learners across borders, we didn’t consider the possibility that we would end up working in education. But today neither of us could imagine doing anything else. While our path toward becoming educators has not been a traditional one, our mission as co-founders of the not-for-profit organization The OR Network has grown organ...Read More
The Elephant in the Room
If you’re reading this; that means you are involved with or care about the world of expanded learning time. I’m going to start this blog with a generalization. Ordinarily that’s not the best idea, but I’m pretty sure I’m right. Your mission is not to give extra help to the kids who are doing fine. You’re not involved with expanded learning because you want to provide more access and opportunity to those young people who are already clearly on track for success...Read More
My Why: Because, Me, We
I believe in the interconnectedness of everyone and everything. I believe we are all inextricably woven into the fabric of the humanity and of the universe and because of that, I feel a deep responsibility to do what I feel is right. Our children are humanity’s greatest resource and unfortunately it often seems that as a society, we have forgotten or choose to neglect that. I feel that ALL children deserve and should have a right and equal access to quality education suitable for each chil...Read More
My Why: It Takes a Village
I do what I do because I was given an opportunity 18 years ago to join the Center for the Collaborative Classroom (formally known as the Developmental Studies Center). I left the classroom to join a team at CCC to work on a National Science Foundation funded project to help kids talk to a significant adult in their life about mathematics. This project started with a school to home component that we developed with ease, something our team of teachers was comfortable with. The next part of the pro...Read More
My Why: It’s My Calling
You know how people say we each have a calling, something we were put on this earth to do? I started my career working with children with autism and special needs, not knowing that it would transform into something that literally ignites me to the core of my being. I owe where I am in my life to one little boy whom I met years ago named Austin. At the time I was a pre-school assistant in Boston. I always loved being around children so it was no surprise to others that I chose to study education....Read More
My Why: Understanding Education as a Pathway to Freedom
My belief for why I do what I do is quite simple. I firmly believe that every child should be afforded the right to a healthy childhood, a fair and equal education, and a strong network of support that navigates and guides that child’s future. Education is the sole key to our freedom and to our ability to advance humanity forward. Unfortunately, as a society we have failed to fully realize that education is a fundamental human right that should not be dependent on where we are born or rais...Read More
Social Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time
For the future, it’s vital to rethink the dynamic relationships between heart and mind within human consciousness and their essential place in the education of all our students. —Sir Ken Robinson, PH.D., author, speaker and leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation In conjunction with academic learning, social emotional learning (SEL) plays a critical role in educating the whole child and laying the foundation for lifelong learning, engagement, and well-being. While...Read More
From Ferguson to Our Classrooms: Why Social Justice Education Matters
The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions… But no society is really anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry, which will simply obey the rules of society. If a society succeeds in this, that society ...Read More