October 21, 2021

Did you know that recent research suggests the best teams are made up of both optimists and pessimists? Are you strategic in placing students together for team projects? Using tools in Y4Y’s STEAM and Project-Based Learning courses, and a strengths-based approach, consider how you can be intentional in your team building for the best creative outcomes, and how these lessons can also inform staffing.

Let’s start by identifying the strengths of both optimists and pessimists.

What can “optimists” bring to the table?

• Broader acceptance of information
• Flexible thinking
• Enthusiasm
• Relationship building
• Strategies for dealing with unnecessary negativity
• Energy
• A strength-based lens

What can “pessimists” bring to the table?

• Persistent pursuit of details
• Critical thinking
• Caution and planning
• Realism
• Strategies for dealing with disappointment
• Delight over small victories (even if it’s because they’re unexpected)
• Stress management

If you’re a frontline worker or site coordinator, you might be thinking about students in each of these categories. If you’re a program director (and again, site coordinator), you might be thinking about staff. To begin with, don’t worry that you might have labeled someone in your head as a pessimist. Instead, celebrate the strengths of that person, like the ones listed above, and keep those strengths in mind as you’re team building.

Building Those Teams

The research cited above says that when you group only optimists together, you might get amazing, big ideas, with very little thought as to how those ideas might carry challenges. Even if some of your optimists envision challenges, they may not voice them in an effort to always be positive and supportive of their team. By the same token, a team made of up of only pessimists can stifle each other. They may be less likely to have big, imaginative ideas to begin with, but even when or if they have them, they’ll be less confident about voicing them, for fear that their fellow pessimists will only poke holes in them. This is the basis for the theory that with some big-thinking optimists, balanced with some challenge-minded pessimists, the best outcomes can result.

Depending on how deep you are in recovery mode, ambitious design thinking STEAM projects or months-long civic problem-based undertakings might not be on your radar. But that doesn’t mean you’re not finding ways to group students for cooperative activities in your catch-up efforts. Today and going forward, you can think about how to group students (and staff) to allow for the most balanced groups (or teams) and the best outcomes. Grab tips from Y4Y’s

• Ice Breaker Activities list to better understand each student or staff member’s perspective on the world. A rousing game of “this or that” could do it!
• Selecting Student Roles for Group Work tool to reflect on how different personalities work best in different roles that need fulfilling. Brainstorm about what those roles might be for any given project or activity, and adapt this tool accordingly.
• Team-Building Activities list for ideas on how you can use a low-stakes environment to help a new grouping of students or staff find their collective rhythm.
• Group Discussion Guidelines to ensure that these conflicting approaches keep conversations respectful.
• Working With Groups Training Starter to train staff on navigating group dynamics.

Opposites attract. Yin and Yang. The good with the bad. Offense and defense. Language is rich with expressions that illustrate exactly what these researchers have discovered: We shouldn’t isolate ourselves from people who think differently from us if we’re to ensure balance and best outcomes. What a great message to send young people during an era of great division. After all, there is no “I” in TEAM.

October 5, 2021

Out-of-school time programs like yours are widely viewed as a key to post-pandemic learning recovery. Just like the players on a football team, each student needs slightly different equipment to get through some tough plays. By using the new Y4Y Structuring Successful Homework Help and Tutoring Sessions Click & Go, your program can avoid unnecessary roughness as you coach your students to the end zone!

Below are just some of the tools you’ll discover when you check out the new Click & Go on academic supports.  

Down…

• Be sure to huddle around the mini-lesson, which provides an overview of the important distinctions between successful homework and tutoring sessions with respect to their structures and functions. To start thinking about how these apply to your program, download the Homework Help Versus Tutoring Sessions tool.
• Podcast #1, Structuring Successful Homework Help and Tutoring Sessions From Beginning to End (full transcript), coaches listeners through one site’s own set of hard-learned do’s and don’ts around implementing their academic supports.

Set…

• What is academic support going to look like on the home field? Download Five Key Strategies for Establishing Effective Learning Environments for Homework and Tutoring and Homework and Tutoring Session Routines to guide you.
• To guarantee yardage, your playbook should include Resource-Based Techniques and Practices.
• Listen to podcast #2, Increasing Student Self-Regulation and Self-Monitoring Skills (full transcript), and download Goal Setting Activities, Games and Templates so students can pull a quarterback sneak, playing an active role in their own academic recovery.

HIKE!

• The right team and materials will get you to the goal post. At kickoff, check out podcast #3, Vetting and Selecting High-Quality Supplementary Homework Help and Tutoring Materials (full transcript). Then make a pass over to the Quality Online Education Resources tool.
• Your scrimmage partners may have a lot to offer to strengthen your game. Download the Accessing School-Day Staff and Resources tool for their play-by-play.

Now, more than ever, the role your 21^st CCLC program plays in the academic growth of your students is critical. Y4Y is here to respond to your greatest needs. The new Click & Go on structuring successful homework help and tutoring sessions was developed to help guide you to MVP status in the academic recovery of our nation. Looking for more? Let us know through the Y4Y Suggestion Box. Y4Y is committed to the team!

September 21, 2021

Heading into what’s traditionally flu season, your host organization is likely stepping up its safety practices to ensure a healthy winter. Throughout August, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) released resources and reminders to start the year out right. Be sure to review them along with Y4Y resources to help you “brave” the rest of the program year.

To start, check out the Department’s comprehensive list of COVID-19 resources and the Return to School Roadmap.

The Department responded to questions about enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) — which promises all a free appropriate public education (FAPE) — during these unpredictable times. The Department issued a letter to state education agencies (SEAs) noting that it reaffirms a commitment to the legislation. What does this mean in your 21^st CCLC program? As an entity receiving federal funds, you want to be sure your students with disabilities are not disproportionately impacted. Consult Y4Y’s resources in the course on including students with disabilities, such as the Federal State Law Fillable Document, to be sure you’re up to speed with any modifications your state might have made in response to COVID-19 measures. While you continue to make modifications to your program space with infection safety in mind, don’t forget to review the Environmental Checklist to be sure you’re still accommodating those students with disabilities.

While it does stand firm on IDEA, be sure to review the Department’s list of Waivers and Flexibility, and know that as you have pockets of students going in and out of quarantine, your state may offer generous flexibility around school-time 21^st CCLC programming. Y4Y hosted and archived many webinars and published contributions from practitioners around the country who managed to meet their students where they were throughout the last school year. Check out 21^st CCLC Programs in a Virtual World Part I and Part 2, and podcasts on engaging students virtually, successful virtual STEAM programming and one program’s student-driven “netiquette” policies.

In response to questions around school openings and civil rights, the Department prepared a civil rights Q&A document. Has the question of civil rights come up in your program space? Don’t be afraid of this conversation! Instead, use the opportunity to help students understand how our government works, both on the national and local levels. Y4Y’s Civic Learning and Engagement course and resources like the Investigating Issues in Your Community tool can help you turn a hot-button topic into a teaching moment.

Know that a focus on wellness — both physical and mental — is a priority for everyone this year. The Department published a list of resources, but catering to your 21^st CCLC program specifically, tools within the Y4Y’s Health and Wellness: Partnering With the School Day Click & Go can make it easy to work with the professionals who know your students as well as you do to fill in the wellness gaps you discover together. In some cases, your program may even be connecting families with health care or other related services. Now is a good time for staff to brush up on their understanding of how important all types of family engagement are in 21^st CCLC programs with Y4Y’s Training to Go on connecting families to supports.

“Wellness” means different things to different people, especially in 2021, but we know your concern for students’ wellness covers all definitions: physical, mental and academic. We’re here to help. Just take your dose of Y4Y and call us in the morning!

September 21, 2021

We all know the stories well. Johnny Suburb studied philosophy at a New England liberal arts college, has $250,000 in student debt, and works delivering pizza because he isn’t qualified for a “professional” level job. Sam Blue-Collar couldn’t afford college, so after high school he took an internship with his uncle, a certified electrician. Now at age 24, after taking three junior college courses in business, Sam runs his own one-man company, earns a six-figure salary and is thinking of training a new partner himself because he can’t keep up with demand for his work.

The country has realized that college is not the answer for everyone, and the future is nothing to be afraid of once your students understand this.

Y4Y is excited to roll out a totally revamped version of its College and Career Readiness course, with a new title to match: Career Pathways for Students. Cassie, a teen trail guide and Pathfinder High School senior, hikes the Y4Y trails with you: College, Military, Trades and Workforce. With engaging tips and tricks along the way, you’ll be dazzled by this fresh opportunity to help K-12 students find or create their own paths.

In the Introduction section, you’ll earn a Basic Level certificate while you explore:

• The past, future and benefits of college and career education
• Connecting your learning to 21^st CCLC programs
• Strategies for building a stakeholder team
• Student and family needs and the related goals you might develop
• Mapping your many community assets
• Relevant logistics of your career pathways guidance
• Intentionally designing activities
• Student recruitment
• Staff recruitment and training
• Family engagement
• Planning for continuous improvement of your career pathways programming

When you engage in the Implementation Strategies section to earn an Advanced Level certificate, you’ll dive deep into the three realms of the career pathways approach — awareness, exploration and preparation — and how your program can deliver activities in each of them. Your hike will also take you through tips and tricks for implementing the career pathway steps you explored at the beginning of your adventure, in the Introduction section.

A Leadership Level certificate is also available. Check out the Coaching My Staff section of the course for a trail map to

• Building a culture and climate to support the career pathways approach
• Planning age-appropriate career awareness, exploration and preparation activities
• Using career pathways self-assessment tools with students

Check out the full set of new tools to help students chart their course and strike out on a fearless path stretching far into their promising futures.

September 21, 2021

Many out-of-school time professionals confess that teaching or tutoring STEM subjects is their greatest fear. Well, the best weapon against fear is preparation! These resources from Y4Y around STEAM (STEM plus the arts) and citizen science will help alleviate those fears and make the most of STEM activities in your program.

Site coordinators can download and adapt Y4Y’s Training to Go PowerPoints for informal sessions in as little as 30 minutes. You can conduct them either in person, or virtually while staff are relaxing on their couch at home. With each title and link below are objectives of these trainings.

STEAM Trainings (also check out the Y4Y tool Everyday STEAM: Strategies for Staff).

Applying Design Thinking

Objectives: Describe the components, model design thinking and plan methods for the design thinking process.

Connecting to Real-World Challenges

Objectives: Use the design thinking process, identify real-world challenges facing your community, describe the relationship between STEAM projects and community partners, and prepare a specific ask for those partners.

Creating a Makerspace

Describe what a makerspace looks like and how it can support the STEAM approach to learning, plan key logistics (budget, schedule, materials and professional development), and describe ways to assess student learning in a makerspace.

Citizen Science Trainings (Also check out the many tools that accompany these trainings)

Assessing Citizen Science

Objectives: Understand the importance of assessment, explore the difference between informal and formal assessment, and learn how to build an observation rubric.

Facilitating Learning to Practice Inquiry and Science Process Skills

Objectives: Discuss how the science process skills are supported through citizen science, understand the importance of inquiry, and guide students in using science process skills.

Introduction to Citizen Science

Objectives: Understand the definition of citizen science, explain its benefits, and explore strategies to engage students in citizen science.

What’s that you say, site coordinators? You dread public speaking as much as anyone else? You have limited time to prepare? You’re looking for professional development for your frontline staff to learn about facilitating STEM activities when it’s convenient for them? Here’s a shortcut: Check out these archived webinars (and their objectives) to help you choose the right trainings. Y4Y certificates of participation are only available to those who participate in live events, but don’t let that stop you.

State Highlight: Minnesota Citizen Science Initiative

Y4Y highlights the great work out-of-school time programs can achieve through partnerships with state agencies and community partners. Minnesota’s out-of-school time programs have worked in tandem with the University of Minnesota’s Pollinator Initiative, whose mission is to develop a coordinated research, education, extension, and policy-driven effort to address issues related to pollinators and pollination in Minnesota. Youth across the state learned about local plants and insects, operating as citizen scientists. Hear from the Minnesota state coordinator, program directors, facilitators, and partners on how they organized, implemented, and assessed projects.

STEAM (Two-Part Series)

When did STEM become STEAM, and why? Incorporating the arts into traditional STEM learning means exploring the design thinking process that’s central to engineering and other innovating careers. How can you expand STEAM in your 21^st CCLC programs with limited time, budget and content knowledge? Learn a concrete process for planning and implementing problem-based design thinking. Work through how you can prepare your mind and your environment to develop high-quality activities that will propel your students into careers of the future. No prior knowledge necessary! This session is for experts, newbies and those in between!

Learning Approaches to Science-Based Education

This session is focused on methods for facilitating hands-on science education. Explore best practices in the scientific method, design thinking and the engineering design process to get students thinking and doing. By developing your knowledge of these hands-on strategies, you’ll expand your instructional toolkit and be ready to implement STEAM in your out-of-school time program.

Bringing Students and STEM Professionals Together! 21^st CCLC STEM Collaboration With NASA and IMLS

Beginning in 2013, the U.S. Department of Education created an interagency initiative to integrate high-quality STEM programming into 21^st CCLC programs by partnering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), then the National Park Service (NPS), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). How can your program tap into national STEM-based initiatives and the rich curriculum and resources these agencies have to offer? Check out this archived webinar!

Wherever your STEM fears stem from (rimshot), Y4Y is here to support you! The greatest pioneers in science, technology, engineering and math took risks. Made mistakes. So, if you wobble a bit in facilitating the highest quality STEAM/STEM activities, guess what? That, in itself, is an important lesson to your students!