Displaying items by tag: NAA

YouTube now has more viewers ages 18-49 than television. It currently streams over 6 billion hours of video every month and they are in no danger of running out of content with 400 hours of video being uploaded every minute. Thankfully YouTube has matured and is not just for cat videos anymore!

Last year, I felt like a Gen Xer living in a millennial's world. Wait—who am I kidding? That's exactly what I was! This year is different. I realized that I'd somehow grown from latchkey, Doc Martens, and MTV of the '70s and '80s to afterschool for all, casual Fridays and Twitter for the 21st Century!

Social workers use the phrase, "Be where the client is." It's meant to teach how to initially engage the client by meeting them where they are, versus telling them how and where to be.

The NAA Expert Hub is now live! This new service will help afterschool and expanded learning programs connect with vetted experts for projects and training programs. NAA member organizations can use the NAA Expert Hub to find experts at no cost.

Summer is a popular time for back-to-school planning. From professional development and curriculum planning to supply purchasing and equipment upgrades, there are lots of options. That's why we've created the NAA Back-to-School Buying Guide!

The Three Little Pigs: A classic fairy tale, or a fun way to introduce structural engineering? The Very Hungry Caterpillar: A cute story about caterpillar obesity, or a platform to launch a topic on moving, growing insects and life cycles? Incorporating literacy into STEM activities or vice versa is a great way to promote abstract and creative thinking. Literacy can provide motivation for young people who are not immediately drawn to STEM subjects, and it can provide easy pathways to STEM for staff who might be intimidated by math and science.

As Director of Staff Development at the Leadership Program, I spend a lot of time both preparing and implementing training or coaching others on effective facilitation. There is no recipe or shortcut that instantaneously makes you an expert facilitator.

I recently had a great chat with a parent that highlighted a prevalent fear among parents everywhere: technology. Parents don't know how to embrace the technology their kids are using AND keep them safe in the process!

The National Institute on Out-of-School Time and RTI International recently released "Monitoring the Uptake of National AfterSchool Association Physical Activity Standards."

In my role at the National AfterSchool Association, one of my key responsibilities is to plan professional development. So I think about professional development A LOT, which is why a recent EdSurge article, "Why Good Professional Development Is Crucially Linked to an Educator's Attitude," by Glenda I. Lozada Negron, caught my attention.