Rampart High School, Colorado Springs, Colorado
"It was a specific memory or something that we said.....It made us feel really important. Some kids got cards about stuff that happened they thought nobody remembered, and it made them really happy." This was how one student reacted to receiving one of 130 personal...
Mott Hall Bridges Academy, Brooklyn, New York
“Who’s influenced you the most in your life?” “My principal, Ms. Lopez.” “How has she influenced you?” “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And...
St. John’s School District, St. Augustine, FL
Sean Farnum is an elementary school teacher in St. Augustine, FL. Near the start of a school year, he “thought of a photo project with pictures of kids holding signs saying things like, “I want to be valued,’ and ’ have a voice.’” He then realized there was no better...
Euclid Elementary School, Mount Prospect, IL
“I will be your teacher this year. We haven’t met yet, but every day this summer I’ve thought about the amazing group of 5th graders that will cross the threshold of my classroom in just a few weeks: I’ve thought about challenging you. I’ve thought about embracing...
Fox Hollow Elementary School, Lehi, Utah
We received a Tweet from Matthew Goff,a sixth grade teacher at Fox Hollow Elementary School in Lehi, UT, which included the above picture. It read: Rocks in our backpack lesson – the invisible weight we carry when we forget we matter. -#FoxHollowFlyers It is a...
East Greenwich High School, Rhode Island
East Greenwich High School has hosted two Choose2Matter LIVE events, with many remarkable results. These are just a few of them: Two students had ideas for enhancing the security of schools. Through Choose2Matter, they met Michelle Gay, the founder of Safe and Sound...
- “Choose2Matter – It’s a Coming Together” – reflections from Art Campbell, headmaster of Downingtown STEM Academy
- “What Value Do You Put on Changing Somebody’s Life?” – reflections from the leaders of East Greenwich High School
- “Choose2Matter Should Be an Every Day Event” – editorial from Estherville Daily News.
- “A Nice Day for a Revolution” – reflections from East Greenwich High School sophomore Grace Miner.
- A collection of the brightest moments from these events.
- Bold Leadership From Young Leaders – a reflection on the Choose2Matter LIVE event with 5,200 students from the Hutto, TX school district.
- Downingtown’s Justin Staub on the virtues of “Saying Yes,” after we brought some of his students to the Business Innovation Factory Summit in Providence, RI.
- A post about what we are doing to highlight the work of deserving students and to connect them to information and mentors to help them create change effectively.
- A Storify collection of Tweets from teachers and students at East Greenwich HS.
- A Storify of some of the highlights of the Bettendorf event.
- A Storify of the highlights from Estherville.
Tammy Dunbar is a fifth grade teacher in California.
She and her “Room Nine Kids” worked through many aspects of this course this past school year.
Below are just a few wonderful things that resulted from presenting the lessons to the Room Nine Kids.
“While grieving over a KinderTechBuddy killed in an accident, my students created “Compassion Portraits,” drawing their Buddy on their device and inviting their Buddy to draw themselves. My students added “You Matter,” printed the drawings and gave them to their buddies. The buddies snuggled close, put their heads on the shoulders of my students and smiled. My students came away touched, and changed. One said, “I think they know how important they are to us.”
“One reason they are so ready to tackle projects is the lesson “Finding Mentors.” Students connected with experts. When you meet people from fields you’re interested in, you invite them to an amazing conversation that provides students with resources, confidence and excitement.”
“I was shocked to see the growth of the average class score. In Math, the class average increased from 12.7 out of 20 to 16.6 out of 20. Our students now approach standardized district testing with more confidence and more creativity. That can be directly traced to these lessons.”
