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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10 Tips on How Parents Can Step Into Leadership
What does it mean, as a parent, to “step into your leadership”? Beyond the stereotypical “because I’m the parent and I said so” form of leadership, how am I most effectively leading my children? What does it even mean to lead our children? Is it teaching them right from wrong? Is it telling them what to do? Is it pushing them to get good grades and achieve great things? Of course that’s part of it. But the problem with limiting our definition of parent leaders...Read More
Focusing on Wildly Important Goals
If you’re a mid-career professional like me, you’ve participated in a lot of strategic planning processes. I’ve found that the good ones are inspiring, create a shared sense of purpose and momentum, and result in measurable outcomes. The bad ones, well, don’t. After leading a department-wide reorganization process in 2014, I knew two things: we needed to do some strategic planning and execution, but staff were tired from the grueling months of meetings. I had to find some...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
Can You Alter Unconscious Bias? Changing the Conversation.
On Saturday morning… the City of Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs anxiously awaited the verdict reading of the Michael Brelo case, a white American police officer who stood on the hood of a car and shot fifteen rounds into the bodies of two black Americans who sat in the front seat of the car. There is nothing right about this situation and there is nothing right about the verdict, which cleared him on all accounts. However, the most difficult lesson in this story, and many similar st...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
My Why: Different Is OK
I grew up in a small town in Ohio in the 1960s and 70s, at a time and place where everyone strove to be the same. Everyone (and I mean everyone) had 2 parents, owned a modest home and went to church. But I was different. My father died after I was born, my Mom had a different last name from remarriage, and my two aunts (one of whom wasn’t actually related) helped raise me. I experienced great love as a child but there was an underlying sense that being different was somehow “bad.R...Read More
Positive Youth Development & Continuous Quality Improvement
In adolescence I disengaged from my education. While I had no problem making grades, I did not perceive relevance in my education. My peers and I considered ourselves socially conscious but we did not have a positive outlet to put our energy into. Luckily… I continued on to higher education. This is when it all changed. I pursued my own interests and became enthusiastic about learning. I participated in extra curricular activities including my first youth work experiences. I found my calling. Th...Read More
3 Questions for Confused Students
Existentialism. I’m fascinated by that topic. I’m a big picture guy who talking about the details is like being attacked by a soul-stealing dragon. But get me on the big picture, and there’s light in my eyes and passion that keeps me going for hours. A lot of us are like that. I’d even argue that all of us are big picture at our core. The most detailed people have to resurface to get their bearings again. I am truly blessed to be able to speak to about 150,000 Middle and ...Read More
Where’s the Water? Hitch a Ride and Find Out!
In the middle of a severe drought here in California, water is very much on our minds. Kids probably know not to waste water, and maybe you have activities at your site to urge kids and their families to conserve. With 80% of California’s water used for agriculture, and more than half the U.S. fruit, nuts, and vegetables grown here, a drought in California is a nationwide concern. Where does water come from anyway? Kids are taught the water cycle in elementary school – the cycle of rain an...Read More
Remembering Our Past, Sharing Our Stories
Today was once known as Armistice Day – now known as Veteran’s Day. This is a day to reflect on and “be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service” since 1919. Today is a day for us to remember our past. Sometimes remembering our past can be hard to do. It can be filled with painful memories and as time goes by, memories – both good and bad – can begin to fade. Sometimes we need to step back from the focus on the f...Read More
Time Well Spent in Expanded Learning
Put your hand in. Right now, as you’re reading this blog post, take one of your hands and hold it out, palm down, in front of you. It’ll only take a second. No, seriously. We’re going to make a virtual circle of hands here. Let’s do this. Is it in? Good. Keep reading. Now on three, let’s all imagine a really loud “Go team!” and you can lift your hand up. Ready? One, two, three, GO TEAM! That felt good, right? This is when I’d love to ask you to sta...Read More
Improving as a Leader = Improving as a Person
To be a truly good LEADER, one must espouse the following sorts of traits and behaviors: Listen well Speak judiciously Approach others with humility Laugh often (especially at yourself) Treat others with empathy Remain calm and thoughtful in the midst of stress Be mindful of personal health so as to remain valuable to others To be a truly good PERSON, one must espouse the following sorts of traits and behaviors: Listen well Speak judiciously Approach others with humility Laugh often (especially...Read More