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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Speak on What We Do! Youth Development is for You!
I believe you cannot learn youth development without experiencing it. What I mean by “youth development” is distinct from “education.” Reflecting on nearly 19 years in our field of many names, I embrace Expanded Learning here in California as it embodies the heart of our work. When I hear Michael Funk, Director of the Expanded Learning Division at the California Department of Education, talk about the importance of love, I feel at home. It inspires me to reach out to those of you who can relat...Read More
Researcher and Practitioner Dialogue with Carol McElvain, J.D. and Michael Funk
The third issue of the Journal of Expanded Learning Opportunities (JELO) has arrived! This spring issue 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. You can visit last week’s installment about social emotional learn...Read More
What Expanded Learning Increasingly Looks Like – and Why It’s So Important!
Looking back over the two decades… that I’ve had the privilege of being part of the grand experiment of developing expanded learning opportunities for millions of America’s most vulnerable children, I believe we’re in the process of co-creating a future that can and will make a bigger difference than any of us could have imagined. The rate of change is accelerating. The breadth and depth of knowledge is greater than ever. And the willingness to move to the next level is i...Read More
My Brother’s Keeper Translator
“We have to do right by our boys.” -President Obama After a week long conference for expanded learning professionals in Palm Springs, I’m reminded of how important my role is in the lives of our youth. The BOOST Conference is more than just a place to convene and exchange ideas, for many of us, it’s a time to reflect and recharge with close friends from the field. This year was no different. But this year, more than others, I was able to see myself outside of the work and...Read More
Your Voice Matters
You are after school, you are expanded learning, and your voice is more important than you know. Youth voice is critical to the success of an after school expanded learning program. Seeking youth voice helps to develop caring relationships between staff and students, and increases the program’s relevance and meaning for youth participants. While practitioners consistently seek the voice of their youth and other stakeholders (parents, teachers and principals, partners) they often underestim...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: When I Grow Up, I Want to Be “Them”
When I was in middle school, I told my mom that when I grew up I wanted to be “them.” You know…when people say, “Well, they say that you should drink eight glasses of water a day.” “They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Who exactly are they? I didn’t know. But I wanted in! In my current role as a Senior Technical Assistance Consultant at American Institutes for Research, I present at conferences, conduct site visits in afterschool pr...Read More