The Y4Y Insider - March 2021 |
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All Is One With the Universe |
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Expand your traditional view of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by incorporating the arts for a more comprehensive educational approach. Your 21st CCLC program is the perfect setting for experiential, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based projects where creativity and collaboration mimic real-world careers ranging from fashion design to space exploration. The updated Y4Y STEAM course offers the skills and knowledge you’ll need to guide students on the journey.
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If you caught the inspiring landing of the NASA Mars rover, Perseverance, last month, you might have had that awesome feeling that we’re humans — EARTHLINGS — first and foremost, and we share this in common with every person on the planet. Where would we be without the brilliant NASA minds in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics? Wait — the ARTS, you say? In Y4Y’s STEAM (formerly STEM) course, you’ll appreciate how the arts and, by extension, design thinking are central to so much progress in education and industry. For decades, the Odyssey of the Mind organization has been proving how collaborative design thinking builds a wide spectrum of skills in students around our small world. Truly, nothing takes place in a silo, and convincing high school students of their place of leadership in your program, their community and the world takes special effort. That feeling of oneness that your students so crave right now is at your fingertips with a wide array of Y4Y resources.
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Webinars
Meeting 21st CCLC ESSA Academic Requirements in Virtual and Hybrid Environments – Part 2 (Three-Part Series)
Mar. 22-24 1-2:30 p.m. ET
In a follow-up to January’s webinar series on meeting academic requirements in virtual and hybrid spaces, this companion series will focus on the supporting skills and staff development necessary for meeting Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) objectives. Join the U.S. Department of Education’s You for Youth (Y4Y) Technical Assistance Team, along with a few 21st CCLC program guests, as we discuss three vital areas for creating a virtual learning environment built to succeed: positive youth development, building a community virtually and staff recruitment, retention and training.
Literacy Done Virtually! (Two-Part Series)
Mar. 30 and April 1, 1-3 p.m. ET
How have leaders in out-of-school time literacy pivoted their best practices to a hybrid or virtual environment? Join the U.S. Department of Education’s Y4Y Technical Assistance Team as we walk through some basic goals of literacy activities and learn about exciting and successful implementation by a team of California professionals.
Do you have questions about Y4Y webinar registration, sign-in, participation or certificates? Send your queries to this email address for the quickest response: [email protected].
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Ideas and Resources to Power Your STEM/STEAM Initiatives
Y4Y is excited to debut a new Y4Y Insider feature, “Gathering STEAM.” Check here each month for ideas, activities and goings-on in the world of STEAM education in out-of-school time.
Innovation During the Pandemic
This school year, Alliance’s VA Environmental Education Specialist, Meredeth Dash, along with educators Penelope Gorman and Tyler Twyford from the James River Park System, are teaming up for an eight-part training series called “Come Outside to Teach.” Teachers learn how to incorporate the outdoors into whatever subject matter they are teaching.
Learning Opportunities (Educators and Students)
Join the NASA STEM Engagement & Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University for live educational webinars.
This hub for environmental education professional development from the North American Association for Environmental Education offers webinars, workshops/trainings, online courses and more.
Bonus NASA Challenges for All!
Engage students in scientific investigations as their missions rove the surface of Mars to look for signs of life while studying the red planet’s interior, volcanoes and rocks.
Become STEM-Famous!
Share photos and videos of your STEM in Action projects!
A Woman on the Moon
NASA will land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. Download the PDF describing the Artemis project and all the amazing related educational opportunities today!
Do you post your STEM/STEAM projects on your program’s/site’s social media? If so, don’t forget to hashtag: #21stCenturySTEM
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Also check out NASA’s Museum & Informal Education Alliance — a great way to get resources, trainings and tools that make it easy to incorporate NASA content into your programming year-round.
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Archived Webinars
Please note: A certificate of attendance is available only to those who participate in the live events. Certificates will not be issued to those who view the recordings.
Build your knowledge of critical legislation that relates to students in your program, what your program can do globally to embrace and prepare for inclusion, and strategies and resources for supporting specific students.
Engaging families in your program can be challenging, but it’s worth the investment of time, energy and resources when you see the positive impact on student success.
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Tech Tip
Each Y4Y tool is designed to accompany a specific course, but you can build your knowledge in different content areas a brick at a time by checking out the dozens of course tools directly.
For each of 19 content areas, you’ll find four categories of tools:
- Learn
- Assess and Reflect
- Plan and Implement
- Train
Choose from convenient PDF versions of every tool for easy duplication, OR Microsoft Word versions for easy customization to your program’s needs. You can download and use any tool without seeking permission. There really is no catch. The U.S. Department of Education wants your 21st CCLC program to succeed, and this is just one way to help make that happen.
So, the next time you’re looking for a quick way to brush up on a topic relevant to your 21st CCLC program, go to the Y4Y Tools tab and poke around!
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State Coordinators Corner
Design thinking. Tinkering. Makerspaces. Are your grantees coming to you excited about these buzz words in education? Y4Y shares the enthusiasm for the expansion of STEM learning initiatives. In fact, we’ve updated the former Y4Y STEM course: now it’s the Y4Y STEAM course. As guiding authorities, you no doubt want to ensure that any shift in out-of-school time practices align with 21st CCLC mandates.
Let’s talk virtual. Considering the appropriate use of 21st CCLC funds during the pandemic has been challenging. As demonstrated by the “February freeze” that froze pipes in thousands of homes across the country, we can’t assume every home has a reliable household water supply, let alone the tools and materials students need to engage in your program’s engineering design activities. Your state may have opted to allow for the delivery or direct shipment of STEM kits with basic supplies like scissors, tape, string, paper and crayons (offering a little leniency to programs, in light of circumstances, on the non-consumable categorization of scissors). If your state has taken an even stricter position, choice boards in virtual makerspaces might have been a practice you’ve advocated for, such that students can scan a whole host of options and find one that matches materials they already have at home. With any luck, in-person makerspaces will replace temporary virtual makerspaces in the months to come.
In-person makerspaces. One of the most common obstacles to creating a new makerspace is the inability to use 21st CCLC funds for furniture, such as the tables, shelves or stools your grantees might be envisioning. Looking for a creative work-around? How about building the needed furniture as a maker activity! Programs might partner with a local woodworker for guidance and perhaps use of their tools, as appropriate, considering the ages of your students. (Be sure grantees follow the safety guidelines of their host organizations.) Also, if makerspaces will be available to any students outside of their 21st CCLC program, be sure grantees are mindful of proportional cost-sharing on consumable materials.
Bigger-ticket equipment items are another area that varies from state to state. Your policies are likely very clear, but it’s best if grantees solicit permission from their SEA for these, with explicit curricula described. Parameters and uses of equipment run the risk of violating some 21st CCLC funding rules, and your grantees might not understand these nuances as well as you.
Want to share your state’s makerspace success stories with the class? Please send us an email with all the details!
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Voices From the Field
Y4Y extends a heartfelt THANK YOU to the 21st CCLC leaders and practitioners who participated in last month’s Y4Y listening session on best practices in virtual learning. Here are some quick takeaways. Stay tuned as Y4Y continues to develop content on this important topic.
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Connection is everything. Not only internet connection, but HUMAN connection. Give students and staff time and space to collaborate, be silly and just hang out. Enrichment will come from building community, whatever that looks like in a virtual space.
- Align your platforms with the school day. Advocate for being brought into their decision making around virtual learning to make students’ transitions as smooth as possible.
- Student voice is important for virtual engagement. Encourage students to express themselves in a variety of ways and offer incentives of their choosing. Try different ways to reward engagement.
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Students are naturals at monitoring each other, especially if they’ve collectively designed a list of rules for reasonable etiquette, or as one program dubbed it, “netiquette.”
- Frequent debriefing with staff right after program time helps to correct course “in the moment.” Together, you can brainstorm fixes to sustain student learning and engagement.
- Staff are people too! As a high level of energy is demanded to keep students engaged (a takeaway worthy of its own bullet point), opportunities for training on self-care can be just as important as trainings on programming.
- Keep flexibility of role and purpose in mind. One day your program may be of greatest use to families for food distribution, another as an information resource, and ALWAYS for homework help and consistent connection with an adult.
- Observations become a breeze in a virtual environment. Program directors aren’t restricted by travel time but can pop in on programs readily and efficiently.
- Virtual learning is here to stay. We can improve equity, bring geographic locales and cultures closer, and build many future workplace skills by investing in a PROactive approach to virtual learning in response to what has been a remarkable REactive approach.
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Be sure to catch last month’s podcast on Equity, Diversity and English Learners with Marcy Richards, 21st Century Program in Anchorage, Alaska – the country’s most diverse district.
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April 3-11 is National Robotics Week. Explore activities and events in your area to connect students with this exciting field of STEAM.
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April 5 is Read a Road Map Day. Have students pick a place anywhere in the world on a map or globe, find roads to and in that place, and reflect on what those roads can tell them about the region.
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April 6 marks 125 years since Athens, Greece, resurrected the Olympic Games after a 1,500-year break. What Olympic sport would your students want to compete in and why?
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April 10-17 is Money Smart Week. Search this term with your state or city name and discover partners and resources in your area to help you in your financial literacy efforts.
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April 21 is World Creativity and Innovation Day. Like Y4Y’s new STEAM course, this United Nations event draws attention to creativity in unexpected fields, and the economic impact of careers in the arts. Challenge students to consider how a selected art form is used in a “non-artistic” job, or how math and science are used in “artsy” jobs.
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- “Throwback to the BSH Conference 2020. Opening ceremony is always fun just like afterschool." Simone M., NY
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"21st CCLC is a place where students can truly shine!" Brenda, OH
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