Adventures in After School Learning Blog

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, January 04, 2012

This is an very interesting project that could be a huge benefit to after school coordinators offering math tutoring. 

It's free, data driven and has been very successful helping kids around the world.

Take a look at this video for a concise overview...watch till the end and see a special appearance from Bill Gates.

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, September 21, 2011

In the never ending search for new and useful solutions for after school, we linked up with a fabulous publisher of interactive learning materials named NewPath Learning. I've known the founders both Kurt Gelke and George Nassis personally for years and have witnessed their skill and dedication in serving educators.

Their mission is to create innovative learning materials that teachers can easily customize to positively impact students' academic progress. Their very first product was a fun board game focusing on grade level vocabulary and math facts. It not only allowed kids to review standards in a fun way but also brought healthy competition and game theory into play which won them the "Teachers Tools Annual Award" in 2009. All their materials are backed by solid research and aligned to state standards.

Just a little over two years ago they rolled all their content in ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies together in an online learning system. This system is directed at putting the tools teachers need everyday directly into their hands with an easy-to-use web-based format. I've demonstrated the system to a couple of local customers, who were so impressed they'll be utilizing the software this year.

I see the online system working for after school leaders in three ways:

1. Supplemental Learning Materials: I know that teachers don't always have access to relevant materials to work with kids after school besides homework. The NewPath Online Learning System allows you to create customized assignments for students either in the form of flash cards, worksheets, tutorials or games. The tutorials can be aligned closely to the end of year standards for that student's grade and state. You can also create assignments that involve online practice, where the student can access the system from home or during the school day.

2. Lesson Plans: State Annual Performance Reviews and evaluators require programs to document academic plans which include lesson plans. This can be a tricky requirement to complete, especially with your part-time staff. The system has the capability to create customized learning plans that can be housed on the system and assigned to any student. A really nice feature of the system is how easy it is to align those lessons with both grade level standards and the new common core standards.

3. Quality Time on Task: I've seen this many times with free games, yeah they're easy but at the end of the day and year, you have little idea what kids did with their computer time. The system allows you to control what tasks kids spend their time on and the reporting system will record all progress through the quizzes assigned. This will help you determine your students overall progress and impact your program had for an entire year.

(example screen from online game)

We'll have a lot more to come on this, including webinars and descriptions on other ways to utilize the system. Another great feature of this system is the affordability--just $99 per year for a teacher license that includes 50 student passwords.

If you'd like to learn more take a quick tour or sign up for a FREE TRIAL by clicking here!

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Not many things are universal these days, with so many ways to express your individual tastes, opinions, likes and dislikes.  We have so many communities, friend groups, forums… it seems like there’s a niche for everyone.  

I thought until recently that the challenge for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21stCCLC’s) programs to meet the parent involvement requirement was a universal difficulty.   

Parents Required

The original legislation, from the US Department of Education’s website, states:

“Each eligible entity that receives an award under this part may use the award funds to carry out a broad array of before and after school activities (including during summer recess periods) that advance student academic achievement, including — (Number 10) programs that promote parental involvement and family literacy.”

From my travels, I have heard that establishing a relationship with the parents is the huge challenge that 21st CCLC site leaders encounter after becoming operational (i.e. after getting funded, hiring staff and recruiting kids of course!) There simply aren’t as many built-in mechanisms available to a “voluntary” after school programs.    

Well we all have our assumptions and maybe my thinking parental involvement was a universal obstacle was just a neat way to look at the world.  

Forensics Showcase

Enter Kim Colman from Onalaska, Washington  who was returning my call regarding staff training for the “Cookie Jar Case.” Her kids had just completed the “Cookie Jar Mystery” and were gearing up for the trial next. I had casually asked “How’s it going?”  She remarked how much “We just love the Cookie Jar”’ and added that they just finished up a parent night, which was a huge success!

The kids were really excited to share their new knowledge about forensics, so Kim created a mini-science fair around the “Cookie Jar Mystery”, where students broke down various evidence types into stations like fingerprinting or blood typing.  At each station, students created displays from the crime scene evidence and set up demonstrations. Parents visited each station to hear about each clue and how it was analyzed so parents got the full picture of how this crime went down.

Kim also served a meal as they all discussed their findings and solved the case together.  She said it was a huge success and looks forward to doing something very similar with the “Cookie Jar Case” when they get through that.

Channel the Enthusiasm

So my assumption of the difficulty of the after school parent involvement was shattered; this doesn’t sound that challenging.  If you have a fun activity that gets your kids excited after school like the “Cookie Jar Mystery” you figure out a way to summarize the key points and let your kids’ enthusiasm carry the show!

Take Kim’s idea and apply it to something you’re doing today…then happily cross off one more requirements on your list as an after school leader.

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, March 09, 2011

I know from traveling in after-school circles, trades shows and conferences over the years many sites would love to offer some type of financial education component.  It's so relevant today with the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and the Bernie Madoff scandal still in the news. I'm sure a number of parents would appreciate a clear overview and break down of a "Ponzi" scheme to help them steer clear. But where do you start?

Elementary kids work on learning about money in math in as early as 2nd grade.  But learning techniques on how to manage money is a true lifetime skill and not simple to teach. This sounds like a golden opportunity for knocking off that parental involvement component right?  You might be thinking sure but the details are always in the implementation.

Well, enter Mint.com, a free website that aggregates all your banking account activity, investments, loans and bills to give you an accurate snapshot of your personal cash flow, if you will.  It was created by INTUIT, the company behind the personal checkbook software Quicken and the business software QuickBooks.  It's a nice site with access via your smart phone and many neat features like auto-categorization of expenses.

At the end of last year, Mint.com announced a joint effort with Scholastic to launch a financial educational initiative aimed at middle school kids and their parents. They developed a fun online computer game and lesson plans for both parents and teachers. Take a look at their site and this introductory video, Quest for Credit.   

These activities and resources could help you jump start a fun mini-course on financial literacy. Students could watch the video, work on the activities and sign up for the software with their parents. Kids can use the site to bank allowance and gifts, manage bank statements online demonstrating their 21^st century skills.

And the really good news for your program's bottom line---this educational program is free!