March 21, 2019

Designing activities that engage families and address their needs can improve your program’s performance. As you plan activities, be sure to look at your family needs assessment. If you haven’t checked needs recently, the Y4Y Family Engagement Survey can get you started. Find it and many other resources in the updated Family Engagement course.

Here are five activity types that can add horsepower to your program’s family engagement engine:

Skill-based activities: These activities help adult family members gain new knowledge and skills, serve as good role models, and support and nurture their children. Topics can include GED preparation, English as a second language, nutrition and healthy living, and understanding the school system. For some topics, you might want to partner with the school, the district or local agencies.

Enrichment activities: Engaging in enjoyable activities can help family members strengthen connections to program and school staff, build friendships with community members, and explore and expand their interests. Topics might include arts, crafts, exercise (such as Zumba or yoga) and attending cultural and sporting events.

Family and student shared activities: These activities pull family members into student learning while introducing ways they can support their children. Topics can include activities with a high fun factor, such as educational games, and future-focused activities like college and career planning.

Leadership activities: Family members can become “learning mechanics” for your program when you engage them in roles that involve making decisions, taking leadership or mentoring peers. When family members serve on your program planning team, lead special events or advocate for your program in the community, they take ownership and feel valued.

Resource-linking activities: You provide important support for families when you make them aware of community resources. Consider working with partners to design events that introduce employment services, food banks, literacy support and more. Your program might host a vision or dental health screening, or create a resource table where families can take discount coupons and information when they pick up their children. For more, see this Training to Go on Connecting Families to Resources.

Remember to communicate! The best family engagement events are the ones family members attend. So, make sure everyone knows what’s coming. You can send notices home with students, of course, but also use other ways to communicate. For tips on using social media, see our recent Y4Y post: Social Media: Where to Begin.

March 21, 2019

“I’ve yet to see a kid jump for joy when homework is mentioned,” says Zelda Spence, 21^st CCLC program director in Plainfield, NJ. “But providing the right help at the right time can make a positive difference.” Here are some tips on becoming a good “homework mechanic” so studying runs smoothly.

Design a comfortable, supportive homework space. Spence says, “Our student-designed homework help space provides Chromebooks, bean bags, study center tables, carpet centers, manipulatives and supplies so that students feel comfortable, supported and engaged. They enjoy the stress-free environment, and most work in study groups, talk out loud, and solve problems together while eating a snack or meal.” Christen Peterson, Indiana’s 21^st CCLC grant specialist, suggests, “You can create stations for specific subjects, like a math station with calculators and graph paper, or an English station with a dictionary and thesaurus. Make sure there’s a quiet work space available, especially for students who have sensory issues. We have one program that uses a pop-up tent and noise-canceling headphones.”

Consider grouping students during homework time. Possible groupings include assignment type, subject or grade level. Or you might use a “buddy system” so that students can use their strengths to help their peers.

Check students’ understanding of their homework assignments. If students misinterpret an assignment, or don’t understand what they’re supposed to do, they can waste time and effort — and become discouraged.

Check with individual students every few minutes. Some may need help staying on track. Others may want and need help but feel self-conscious about drawing attention to themselves. Consistent check-ins with all students make everyone feel more comfortable about seeking help. Peterson suggests designating staff as experts for certain topics if you don’t have certified teachers to help. “For example, if you have a college student who’s a biology major working or volunteering in your program, he or she could be the official science tutor during homework time.”

Teach and reinforce good study habits and organization skills. Teach students how to use outlining, note taking, memory tricks, and peer discussion to help them learn and remember new content. Teach them how to keep track of their progress on assignments. Raquel Gwynn, 21^st CCLC education specialist in Oregon, says, “Having students track what’s due when, and prompting them to look at their homework binder, gets them thinking about planning ahead. As they master basic organizational skills, you can scaffold toward higher-level skills.”

Communicate with students’ school-day teachers. Spence says, “In Plainfield, we use a homework log, which we call a homework sharing tool. It’s updated weekly and placed in grade-level binders in the main office so school-day teachers can follow up on students’ afterschool homework patterns. This practice has enhanced communications between the 21^st CCLC afterschool program and the school day.”

Looking for more homework tune-up tips? See the Homework section of the Afterschool Training Toolkit.

February 14, 2019

You might have heard that Earth’s magnetic north (where compass needles point) is shifting at a faster rate than usual. Unlike “true north,” which doesn’t change, magnetic north is affected by changing currents in Earth’s magnetic fields.

Similarly, your students’ academic needs can shift over time as new topics and circumstances arise. Maybe Jayden and Lisa were doing fine in math until fractions came along. Sarah, who won the poetry slam, might struggle to develop cohesive paragraphs in English. Noah may have fallen behind in several classes after weeks in the hospital due to a serious accident.

Even if your program is on a good path, pausing now and then for a compass check can keep things headed in a good direction. Have you noticed students struggling with certain concepts or behaviors during program activities? Have you asked the school-day staff lately about specific academic skills or content where your students could use extra support or enrichment?

It’s possible that tweaks to your planned activities could address your students’ shifting needs. Or you might decide a new or different kind of activity could target an area where multiple students need help. The Y4Y Activity Planner can help you organize your thoughts and work through the activity design process. See the Y4Y Continuous Education course for other tools and ideas for connecting program activities to school-day learning.

Remember, even if needs and circumstances shift, the “true north” of student growth and success doesn’t change. Checking your compass and adjusting course as needed keeps your students and your program on track.

February 14, 2019

Author Marie Kondo is known for her advice on “tidying up” your space and getting rid of things that don’t “spark joy.” Regardless of whether you agree with her approach, the advice to keep it simple is nothing new. The KISS principle (“Keep It Simple, Stupid” or sometimes “Keep It Short and Simple”) has been around for years. 

Keeping things simple means clearing out the clutter so there’s more room for what you truly care about. Sometimes the clutter isn’t in your home or office. It’s in your brain. If worries and to-do lists take up too much of your mental space, you may find it hard to focus at work, enjoy your job and feel a sense of accomplishment. Sound familiar? One way to pare down brain clutter and self-imposed pressure is to reduce the day’s to-do list to one item:

• Deliver something of value today.   

You get to define what the “something” is, and to whom it’s valuable (e.g., yourself, your colleagues or students, the world, or all of the above).  It could be working one-on-one with a student who has attention deficit disorder to show him how to organize his homework, or getting a community organization to partner with your program. At the end of the day, write down what you delivered, the people it affected and how it made you feel.  

You might think of this method as a stripped-down way to set a personal or professional SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goal. Simply put, it’s a way to work smarter and love it more.

Here are some Y4Y “work smart” resources:

Activity and Program SMART Goals

This tool has examples and guidance on developing goals that ensure common understandings and drive results.

Positive Youth Development Rubric

This tool will remind you of the five C’s of positive youth development and ways to help students — and staff — develop competence, confidence, connection, character and caring.

Project-Based Learning Research Brief

Summer Learning Research Brief

STEM Research Brief

Learn more about one of these learning approaches so you can help students get the most out of program activities and encourage parents and partners to become more involved.

January 24, 2019

Happy new year! Chances are, you already have several program activities, meetings, appointments, deadlines and to-do lists on your new calendar. Before all the blank space is filled, here’s a reminder: Don’t forget to put yourself on the calendar! Taking time for personal and professional renewal is important to your success and well-being. Here’s some advice:

Look both ways. As a child, you probably heard this line often from the crossing guard and from Mom as you approached busy intersections. It’s also good advice for crossing into the new year. First, look back at the past year, and reflect: What went well? What didn’t? Which habits, activities and goals do you want to keep? Which will you ditch? Then look forward and consider what you’d like to have, do and be in the coming year. What habits, activities and goals will get you there? A SWOT analysis can help you “look both ways” and consider your options. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Put on your own oxygen mask first. This pre-takeoff advice from flight attendants reminds us we can’t help others if we ignore our own needs. Sure, you’d love to spark students’ interest in reading and math, and help them prepare for successful college and career experiences. But maybe you first need to build your skills through training and tools in those areas. The links in this paragraph can help. See Y4Y’s professionalization resources for other ideas you can use to build your skills and your resume.

Keep your balance. The examples above focus on professional renewal, but time for personal goals and interests is equally important. Maybe you love nature photography or trips with family or friends but haven’t taken a photo or a trip for months. Or maybe you daydream about an afternoon of downtime. Decide what you need, and put yourself on the calendar. Seeking work-life balance and taking care of yourself isn’t selfish. It’s essential.