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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More Than 5 Smart Ideas for Professional Development on a Shoestring Budget
Last week I received an email about an upcoming staff development opportunity for my team. It sounded so good. It met our goals, it spoke directly to our growth areas, it was what staff were asking for… and then I saw the price. $7,500! YIKES! That is pretty much all of the staff development budget for the year, and then some. I have always found it a fine line to walk, to be able to provide the quality and quantity of staff development opportunities for my team and still maintaining the b...Read More
Butterfly, Spread Your Wings and Self-Care
Editors Note: This blog was first published on The Leadership Program‘s website on January 29th. Breakfast Club blogger and author, Erika Petrelli, has generously repurposed this blog for the BOOST Breakfast Club out-of-school time readership. The field of out of school time can be so difficult—we give so much to the youth that we serve, and constantly worry that it’s not enough because we are only one person and how much can we possibly impact? We give to others at the detriment of our ...Read More
What is a Recovering Principal?
Car in park, deep breath, let the day begin… Greeted by my custodian with an update of the daily damage caused by outsiders accessing a vulnerable campus, graffiti on the walls, drug paraphernalia on the playground, no sub coverage due to the shortage, deep breath, IEP meeting starting at 7:45 a.m., check the security cameras, contact the police department to come and investigate, deep breath, parent urgently needing to meet, and a big smile wishing students a wonderful day during morning ...Read More
An Instant Activity Blueprint to Get All Kids Moving
It’s a fact. Kids need physical activity. Frequent physical activity has been linked to a variety of positive developmental outcomes for kids, including improved health, cognition, and even behavior. As “fitness mentors” it’s important we provide kids ample opportunities to be active throughout the day. While this sounds good in theory, the time, space, and equipment we have available to inspire kids to be active may be limited. Not to mention, we can quickly run out of ideas as little bodies an...Read More
My Why: Hope Dealers – A Mission for Change
I got hooked on after school programs in 1992 while working as an art teacher in Hartford, CT. The old, rundown brick-faced school sat in the middle of an urban jungle. The hallways were dingy, there was no grass, only a cement parking lot that was used for “recess,” and many of the bathroom stalls were missing doors. It lacked promise to say the least. My immediate thoughts when I started this job were of sadness. Where was the equity in all of this? Despite previously working with ...Read More
The Flawed Leader
For the past 15 years, I have developed and grown an afterschool program model from its infancy serving 20 kids in a church to serving over 600 kids across three cities, demonstrating incredible success rates. By all means I have been deemed as a visionary, strong, competent leader. Each year as we get larger and stronger, the pressure mounts as the praise continues, and the expectations build. However, what most people on the outside looking in don’t see is with all the ambition, the drive fo...Read More
Finding Some Extraordinary In Your Ordinary
What does it mean to find the extraordinary within the ordinary? One of my favorite quotes is by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (author of The Little Prince, among others), where he says: “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” Are you someone who sees rock piles, or do you see cathedrals? To find the extraordinary within the ordinary, you have to see it. And to see it, you have to look for it. And to look...Read More
Tending You
What does personal development have to do with professional development? I’ve had many people ask me some version of this question. In other words, why bother working on myself? I should spend my time working on my job skills, my staff, my responsibilities, my “stuff.” And, okay, I get that. Tending to others, as I’ve pointed out, gives me a purr for sure. But here’s the thing that I’ve come to realize (slowly and begrudgingly and after being repeatedly put in...Read More
2017: I Am Here (with love)
Starlings In Winter, by Mary Oliver Chunky and noisy, but with stars in their black feathers, they spring from the telephone wire and instantly they are acrobats in the freezing wind. And now, in the theater of air, they swing over buildings, dipping and rising; they float like one stippled star that opens, becomes for a moment fragmented, then closes again; and you watch and you try but you simply can’t imagine how they do it with no articulated instruction, no pause, only the silent conf...Read More
What is After-School?
What is after-school you ask? It’s an answer 14 years in the making, although the recipe was already baking long before I came on the scene! After-school is a THING! Not a time in the day where you play, Bring out some board games And close out the day. After-school is a thing to be seen. Something to look back on and say, “Remember when…,” With a tear in your soul. Not a timesheet to track, Or a paycheck to hold! After-school is a thing that happens to you, Transforming ...Read More
Cheers to You, Youth Workers
Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. Where Everybody Knows Your Name Lyrics by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo As someone who grew up in the ’80s, these lyrics had a special meaning for me – they meant it was time to go to bed. But this summer, that meaning...Read More