The Grounded Learners Guild

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Hey all you cool cats & kittens! JK - Hey guild members! Thanks so much for popping by the summer pop culture playground for another round of six degrees of education. Around the time lock down and pandemic life was starting to become the “new normal”, the world was suddenly obsessed with big cats, mullets, and the eccentric backwater zoo owner Joe Exotic and his near-deadly feud with rival Carole Baskin (among others). Tiger King probably would (and should) have probably come and gone the way normal “true-ish” crime documentaries, but we here at GLG we’ve decided to revisit the series.

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Hey, guild members! We hope are finding some time to relax and play this summer. In this week’s minisode at the Grounded Learners Guild Pop Culture Playground, we will be unpacking the connections between HBO’s epic political fantasy Game of Thrones, where kingdoms vie for power over one another for the coveted seat on the Iron Throne. And there are awesome dire wolves and dragons….

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In a previous episode we’ve discussed how educators are designers, and that process is time consuming. Eventually, all designers will need to refuel. Some designers may choose the professional drive-thru - visiting Twitter, YouTube or TikTok for a quick tip or pick-me-up. But here’s a new thought to digest: will visiting the drive thru regularly lead to the intentional and continued growth we really crave? As The Grounded Learners Guild rounds out our first season and prepares to spend the summer relaxing and recharging, it’s time to consider a potluck - and open your mind to how dynamics shift when everyone brings something to the table to share.

Joining us at our “table” this episode is Cathy Dickson. Cathy is an experienced elementary and secondary teacher, and currently teaches middle school math and literature. She is also a community coach for Open Up resources, vlogger, and valued member of OUR professional learning network (@mathreflective). Hungry yet? Grab a plate and join us as we discuss the nourishing power of contributing to a PLN.

There is a fifth dimension . . . It is vast and timeless and is the middle ground between productivity and fruitlessness...This is the dimension of isolation and it is an area which is called "The apathy Zone". 

Apathy rears its ugliness when we feel constricted by a lack of feeling seen and safe at home, at work, and/or at school. When apathy strikes, we have reason to believe our efforts don’t matter and any action we take will result in negative consequences. We at first feel “slave to it - that we cannot hold it or we cannot control it.” At this guild meeting we will explore why apathy has increased right now just about everywhere, and what we can do about it. Oh, and yeah, we also talk about Britney Spears.

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You set a grueling pace, stocked up on oxen, hunted deer and, yes, maybe even lost members of your wagon party to dysentery. We’ve come a long way from the days of “good old Oregon Trail”. Gamification as an instructional technique has stood the test of time and continues to evolve. Yet, there are always detractors who don’t always believe that games can lead to real, meaningful learning experiences. But given the way classrooms look right now, we as educators need to re-examine games as a way to re-energize our students’ brains. If there’s ever a time to explore the true power of play-based learning in a brain-friendly and exciting way, that time is now. And given how much we ourselves love games, this is the guild to talk about it.

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Once upon a time, the circus was a word that implied only positives: excitement, amazement, and good old-fashioned family fun. Nowadays, though, when someone describes something as a “circus”, it’s not necessarily a compliment. It implies frenzy, sensationalism, or even stilted, theatrical “razzle dazzle”. Sadly, the concept of self care, at this precarious moment in time, has taken a similar turn. How can individuals in a place to impact educators take one of the more necessary concepts on earth and stop it from coming across as “the greatest show on earth”? Stick around and find out!

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Just over a year ago, we all got news that tremendously altered the way we all function from how we go about our daily routines to how we work as educators.  The Covid19 pandemic has forced an incredible amount of change, which has led to a lot of discussion about it all:  What’s helping? What’s harmful? What should we have been doing all along?  And yet, amidst all this discussion... we’re pretty sure you’ve never heard the changes we’ve experienced in “the time of Corona” discussed quite like this before! 

In today’s episode we are also stoked to welcome our first guest, Kim Darche.

Stick around, this one’s surely going to make you laugh.

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Some episodes ago, we discussed the visceral reaction educators can have to the word “data”, since educators are tasked with collecting and providing data constantly. In this episode, the guild will explore the stories we often create when we discuss data, and provide tips for transforming it from the villain in your system to a trusted guide for the protagonist...or dare we say it...something worthy of true love?

In this episode The Guild will evaluate the stories that we currently tell with our data, and reflect on whether that is the story we need to tell in order to transform the way individuals, teams, and leaders in our organizations use data. 

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You disagree about your destination and the stops along the way. Everyone has different needs and ideas on the best way to get there, and not everyone wants to be along for the ride. Everyone has their own baggage. It took alot of organization to even get “out on the open road”, but you never feel like you are actually getting anywhere as someone always needs to stop.  When did you last experience something like this? Was it the last road trip you took with your family? Or rather the most recent meeting of your PLC or team?

Deep breath - your GLG “GPS” is here to assist you in “recalculating directions” to help your PLC’s road trip consist of a little more “accelerator” and a little less “traffic jam”.

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We live in a society that says “nobody’s perfect”, but often portrays the exact opposite. Our world surrounds us with ads, images, and social media influencers that constantly remind us of what things “should” look like - a shining picture of perpetual self-improvement and success. This can make the moments where we experience failure feel incredibly isolating. But worry not, the GLG is here to do our part to normalize failure, share with you how we’ve failed, and discuss how we - and anyone - can deal.

The intention of the episode is to reflect on our own failures and articulate strategies that help us reframe the way we view them.