The Grounded Learners Guild

We’re going from quoting the Beastie Boys in our last episode to quoting George Bernard Shaw: “Youth is wasted on the young.”  Well clearly good old George didn’t meet any members of Gen Z! 

Gen Z with all its shifting priorities, is capable of stunning us all with a real sense of advocacy for themselves and their future. FAR from a waste, if our last episode is any indication.  If you’re like us and you had a few “YES! MORE OF THIS!” moments listening in, and you’re looking for some research and reasoning behind some of the things we heard? You’re in the right place….

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Teachers don’t choose to become teachers because of the glory, sizable paycheck, and the countless hours educators spent planning, delivering and assessing learning. We become teachers because we love working with and inspiring the next generation and because we had an exceptional teacher ourselves that instilled a love of life-long learning. As we mentioned in our parent university episode on technology,  today's students have grown up in a time unlike any other. Today, we are going to shine the GLG light on Gen Z, those 11 to 26 year olds -  and we are going to go straight to the source. With a very special, confident and impressive guest.

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As very grateful Chicagoans we leave the chill of winter behind us, we embrace the fact that we are moving into spring that will inevitably be rainy….or even foggy.  But what if the fog surrounding us isn’t in the atmosphere at all…but is more of a metaphorical fog? Few educational topics are “foggier” than assessment for even experienced educators. But hold onto your foghorns, folks, because the GLG is here to share some assessment strategies sure to shed some light on the topic-  dissipating the fog and making the path to solid classroom assessment as clear as a bright sunny day.

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Kid books! Oh, kids books! I loathe you! You suck out my brain. I wish I could flush you just right down the drain. If only you found your way to the trash. Kids books! Oh Kids books . .  Wait! Let’s not be so rash…”

While yes, some children’ books can be absolute garbage, especially if we are asked to read them ad nauseam, but who can’t resist the call of “Dad, will you read to me?” “Mommy, let’s read together!” As parent educators, we know the importance of early and shared reading with kids, so we are here to recommend some of our favorites-... books that get kids thinking, aren’t rage-inducing for parents, and maximize the time we spend reading with our kids to help them grow in more ways than one. Stay tuned!

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One of the kids wants to be a YouTuber when she grows up and is begging for her own channel.  Another one would play Minecraft all day long if you let him.  Your teenager barely looks up from his phone. Your preschooler has a complete meltdown when you’re waiting to get your food at a restaurant unless you let her watch a few videos. And through it all, they dutifully pack up their Chromebooks every day to engage with, you guessed it, even more technology at school. What’s a parent to do?

It’s a tricky question, like so many of the questions parents have as they navigate their childrens’ growth and learning.  That’s why the GLG is kicking off our “Parent University” mini-series. As parents of school-aged children ourselves, in this episode we will make connections to our fellow-parent listeners and help answer some questions along the way.

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What would you guess is the ratio is for time we spend dreading or outright avoiding difficult conversations to actually having them? 10 to 1? 20 to 1? 100 to1?!? But how might that ratio change if, prior to initiating such a conversation, you felt as prepared as you possibly could?

You’re probably  never going to be a person who enjoys having conversations like this  - and trust us, we aren’t either… but changing the time spent prior to a trying conversation from simply ruminating to actually preparing is certainly something to try - and also decreases the likelihood of you and your co-communicator falling out of a metaphoric window.

So, let’s take that snake out of those boots and reach for the sky on this week’s episode as we shine a magnifying glass on what it takes to be a candid communicator - using the 90s animated classic Toy Story.

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You grab your device, fire up your favorite, and jump right in - the familiar logo welcomes you and you eagerly kick off your adventure, clearing obstacles, facing challenges, and working hard to finally accomplish your hard-won goal! Of course, because this is the GLG, we’re talking about using ed.tech tools to learn, right? 

Naturally…but we could just as easily be talking about video games! We all remember our first NES, Playstation, or Sega Genesis and the sheer joy of using technology just to play! There are too many connections here to pass up - You gotta stick around and have a listen as the GLG tackles our noisiest studio to date– the Exhibition Hall at one of our favorite Ed Tech Conferences for our first ever LIVE Pop Culture Pop Up.

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This is an episode about…oh what was it again…it was right on the tip of my tongue!? We’ve all been there before haven’t we? That’s why we’re here to talk about retrieval practices.  If you’ve ever asked students to pick back up on where they left off and been met with blank stares…? Or wondered a few weeks into a new unit if students REALLY even remember the previous one? 

This is the episode for you - the GLG is ready and willing to discuss some strategies to help our kids retrieve prior learning. Stick around.

It’s February, and that means a return to conference season! Some of our favorite conferences (DITCHED Con, IDEA Con) happen during this month, and as a guild, we thought it would be a great opportunity to provide some just in time content to help you make the most of these inspiring and reinvigorating professional learning events. This episode, entitled “Field Guide to Educational Conferences” is one we created very intentionally to coincide with “conference season” and it helped us a whole bunch - we’re looking forward to a re-listen and hope you do, too! So, charge those devices, bust out that (printed) schedule and notebook,  and enjoy this remastered episode alongside some of your own favorite professional learning conferences..and who knows, maybe we’ll see you there!

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Welcome normies and outcasts, and thanks to tuning in to this week's episode of The Grounded Learners Guild. We conjured up some great content on our last venture through the creative mind of Tim Burton, so in this episode, we are going to shine some moonlight on Netflix’s Wednesday, the most recent Burton project and everyone’s favorite kooky-spooky family. Woe . . .  this episode is sure to have you . . . raven.