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Hey guild members! It’s not just the weather outside that’s frightful. In the 1993 classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack, the spook-tacular Pumpkin King, is so inspired by Christmas Town, he decides to try his hand at taking the reins. So join the GLG as we put our shrunken heads together to make six connections to education, leadership and teams honoring this terrr[or}----ific film in our pop culture Winter Wonderland.

Pop Culture Winter Wonderland: The Nightmare Before Christmas

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The holidays are a hectic time. There are parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and students all sitting in rows???? Ha, just kidding - we know those kids aren’t sitting still! The excitement around the holidays permeates into our schools, so many teachers unwind with predictable storylines, cheesy characters, and over-the-top romantic fantasies in the Made-for-TV movies of The Hallmark and Lifetime channels. So, cozy up in your favorite buffalo plaid throw and a gourmet hot-cocoa from your friendly neighborhood marketing-executive-turned-barista - we are coming back home for the holidays to the twinkly lights and snow-covered winter wonderland we know & love for some pop culture connections.

Pop Culture Winter Wonderland

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Maybe not the most inspirational educational quote but when Johnny Lawrence of Cobra Kai says “In the real world, you can’t expect people to do what they’re supposed to do,” he is speaking some truth. We all want our students to be engaged, but it’s not a given. We as teachers have to bring students to the mat by becoming master instructional designers who strengthen students academically, personally and socially. Join us for the reboot as we continue our discussion of student engagement and Cobra Kai.

Students On Or Students Off: Engagement Part 2

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To paraphrase Mr. Miyagi from the 1984 classic film “The Karate Kid”, “there’s no such thing as a bad student; only a bad teacher.” While we here at the GLG avoid shame & blame where teachers are concerned, we can all admit that some lessons are certainly more engaging than others. But why? And what does engagement really even mean?
We’re here to discuss this concept in our very favorite way  - using a metaphoric lens.  This time, we’ve set Karate Kid and Netflix’s Cobra Kai in our sights; so join us for another 2-part series what we hope will be an “engaging” conversation.

Students On or Students Off? Engagement, Part 1

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They are faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive. Able to assess student work in a single period. Look - at the end of the hall … it’s a … its a co-teaching pair! In our last episode we discussed the power of having an in sync dynamic duo to support students.

So, join our GLG Warriors Three as we continue our quest to support co-teachers with a case study of heroic proportions, and a utility belt full of strategies.

Educators Assemble: Co-Teaching, Part 2

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"I’m The Best There Is At What I Do:” This statement while being a catchphrase of X-Men’s Wolverine, might also be the mantra many of us general classroom teachers subconsciously bring into our spaces. This approach, however, often leads to friction when a new capped crusader is added to “our classroom”.  You’ve probably heard someone utter the truism “2 heads are better than one” before. But I’m sure you’ve ALSO heard another one: “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.”

So you might be wondering: how can two teachers with different backgrounds and experiences combine their strengths and honor each other's expertise, to best serve their students’ needs? The GLG has you covered by  bringing you a two-parter that balances both the light and the dark in co-teaching.

Co-Teaching: Setting Up Super Teams for Success

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As well-documented fans of reality TV, we acknowledge that it’s so easy to love the climactic reveals offered by a good reality “makeover”. These parts of the episodes offer so much hope and promise…kind of like the beginning of a new school year or finishing a really good training session, right?

It’s easy to want to turn over a new leaf…but how do we take the excitement of sweeping change and make it into something more sustainable and habitual? Stick around - all will be “revealed” in this discussion with the GLG in our 50th episode.

Sustainable Change

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It’s a new school year and With it comes a new season of the Grounded Learners Guild! Season 3… I know, can you believe it?! So what topic is first up in the GLG line up? As we are jumping into new routines, you included, and getting to know many new faces, this episode, jam-packed with Casey’s Mary Poppins bag of strategies, you’ll surely take away a ton you can apply!

How many of us steel ourselves for something appallingly outdated or unhealthy every time someone begins a sentence with “Well, when I was in school…”
Truth is, when a lot of us were in school, the ways we were taught and disciplined were formulated without the understanding of child/adolescent psychology needed to connect our actions to the consequences that resulted, much less to learn from it.  The good news is, practices evolve, and now we have restorative practices. How do you start? How do you explain it to non-educators? You’ve come to the right place.

Restorative Practices

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You awaken. The walls enclosing you are white cinderblock. Fifty sets of eyes stare up at you. You turn to grab something anything to appease the eyes that stare, but none of your resources are available. Does this sound like the start of a D&D campaign, or the first day of school?

The beginning of a new school year is here, guildmates, so we’ve got one more episode in our Pop Culture playground series. And in this episode, we are headed back to a time with big hair, and demogorgons. So, grab yourself some Eggos and turn on the Christmas lights, because we are going to turn the end of your summer Upside-Down with a Stranger Things themed episode: stay tuned.

Summer Pop Culture Playground: Stranger Things

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Ahoy, Guild Members! As you navigate your way through the summer seas, we hope you have a few moments to run that ship aground and take in some connections on our summer Pop Culture Playground. This time, we’re “anchored” in the world of Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnett and the wacky & wonderful pirate crews that sailed into our world in HBO’s series “Our Flag Means Death.”  Can we, at the GLG, connect the worlds of educators and buccaneers? You bet your booty. 

Summer Pop Culture Playground: Our Flag Means Death

The Grounded Learners Guild