Tag: You Matter

black and white laptop
K-12, Teaching Tools

Mattergrams: Canva Templates Shared by Angela Maiers

Terri Eichholz

There are so many things that I love about this idea, “Mattergrams,” from Angela Maiers that it’s hard to think of where to begin!

Last week, I had lunch with a friend, and confessed that I hadn’t been feeling very “useful” as a person lately. A few days later, I received a beautiful card in my mailbox that, basically, reminded me that I matter. It made my day, and I have a feeling that I’m not the only person who could use this kind of pick-me-up — especially lately.

I’ve been a fan of Angela Maiers for many years (here is the first post in 2012 of several that I published on this blog about her). You can visit her website, Choose 2 Matter, to find out more about her mission. When I saw a recent Twitter post from her regarding “Mattergrams,” I had to click on the link to see what it was all about. After receiving my card from my friend a couple of days ago, I was reminded of the importance of telling people that they matter to you, and Angela Maiers has given everyone a simple way to do this. She offers 16 “Mattergram” templates that you can click on, edit, and share with the person whose day you want to brighten.

This is a wonderful concept, making it simple to take a few minutes to let someone know how important they are. But I was also fascinated by her method of delivery — using Canva in a way I hadn’t considered. I knew that you could publish a Canva creation to the web, and I knew that you could share Canva templates, but I never thought of combining those ideas in the way that her “Mattergrams” page does. This is the kind of content that makes so much sense to busy educators who want to give students choice without overwhelming them with options.

Educators and students get Canva free, though there are some Pro features they can’t use. However, as far as I know those subscriptions do give them the option to share template links and as websites, along with all of the other sharing options. So, as a teacher, you can find a few templates for something (like brainstorming templates, which abound on Canva), make links for them, add them to one page, and publish it as a web page. (Click on “Share” on top right, then “more” if you don’t see the options you want in the drop-down.) Share that web page link with your students, and they have choices without having to spend valuable class time hunting for them.

Canva Sharing Options

I know that sounds like it would be time-consuming, but Canva’s numerous templates and multiple sharing options really do make it easier than designing something from scratch. In the meantime, if you have a moment, send a “Mattergram” to someone out there. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t need a boost right now!

For more ideas of how to create with Canva for your classroom, check out this post!

Augmented Reality, Education, K-12

You Matter – With Aurasmatazz (The Sequel)

Terri Eichholz

About 4 years ago, I had one of those crazy-ideas-that-sounds-good-because-you-haven’t-really-thought-through-all-of-the-obstacles.  In a nutshell, I invited the parents of my students (I teach a GT pull-out program, K-5) to send in videos of themselves telling their children how much they matter to them.  I used Aurasma Studio to create augmented reality experiences so that whenever the students scanned their parents’ pictures in their folders, they would see and hear the video of encouragement and love.

The project turned out to be much harder than I expected, but the results were good. The students were surprised and excited, and I learned a lot more about them and their families through the videos that I received.  However, by the end of the year the novelty was gone and I suspected most of the printed parent pictures needed to trigger the videos got thrown away with all of the other school supplies that were zealously surrendered in order to make room for summer fun.  In my mind, the “You Matter” Augmented Reality Project was something I was grateful I had done but would probably never choose to do again.

Flash forward to last school year.  One of my 5th grade students lost his mother in a tragic accident that stunned the whole community.  In the usual way that we try to comfort people who have suffered such a loss, I attended the rosary and told my student that I would be “there for you.”  I felt more useless than I ever have in my teaching career.

But then I remembered that this young man was in my class years ago when I did the “You Matter” project.  I went home and searched my Aurasma account for his mother’s video.  It had been one of my “obstacles” at one point because she was late with the video and then wasn’t sure how to send it to me.   But it eventually arrived.  And, years later, it was still stored in my account.

I downloaded the video to a USB drive.  A few weeks later, I called the student to my room, and explained to him what was in the envelope I was giving him.  I told him that he may not be ready to watch it now, but that it would be there for him when he needed to remember how much his mother loved him.  He took the envelope from me, smiled through his tears, and walked away.

He may never watch the video.  He may lose the USB drive or delay watching it until USB drives are obsolete (but that’s okay, because I have several different backups now!) . But instead of voicing hollow platitudes I was able to genuinely express how much he mattered to me by making a small effort to remind him how much he mattered to his mother.

A few lessons learned from this experience:

  • Never expect that people “just know” they matter.  What you say to them and how you treat them are equally important.
  • Educators (and parents) often don’t see the positive effects of our actions.  We should never regret the efforts we put into something that seemingly did not have the results we expected – as long as we know we were trying to do what is best for kids.
  • Time developing relationships is never wasted time.

As the beginning of the school year approaches for many of us, I urge you to do all that you can to let students know that they matter to you.  Not so test scores will improve or behavior issues will decrease.  But because:

Screen Shot 2017-08-06 at 4.06.10 PM.png

Critical Thinking, Education, K-12, Motivation, Student Products, Teaching Tools

What Breaks Your Heart?

Terri Eichholz

My GT classes and our after-school Maker Club are participating in this year’s Global Cardboard Challenge.  Select projects will be chosen to bring to a local party/entertainment center, Main Event.  We will be inviting the community to play the games for a $1, as well as selling wristbands to access the other fun activities at the facility. All of the money we raise will be going to a charity that the students choose.

But, how can I get several classes of students – in addition to the 24 students in the Maker Club – to decide on which charity will receive our donation?  I decided to use an idea from Angela Maiers, who is internationally renowned for her motivational speeches about how we should Choose to Matter.  One of my favorite quotes from her is, “You are a genius and the world needs your contribution.”

In a blog post last year, Angela described the process for:

  • helping students to determine what matters the most to them
  • determining what “breaks their hearts” about their passions
  • thinking of possible solutions to those problems.

by @Kara Dziobek
by @Kara Dziobek

So far, I’ve walked two of my classes through the first two phases.  It has been very enlightening.  Similar to the activity that Angela describes from teacher Karen MacMillan, I had students mind-map their passions in the middle of a piece of paper.  Then they drew branches from each of those that identified what breaks their hearts regarding those topics.

As an example, I told them that teaching and learning are both passions for me.  What breaks my heart is that there are still children, particularly girls, who are denied the right to an education.

One boy had brainstormed every single sport he could think of as a passion.  When asked what broke his heart about them, he replied, “When I lose a game.”  I had to question him a bit more to get a deeper, less self-centered answer – “when people get injured.”

After we shared the things that break their hearts, we looked for trends or patterns.  Sports-related injuries was a big one with my 3rd graders, as well as cruelty to animals and pollution.  The latter two were also common themes with my 4th graders.  Today, I will get feedback from 5th grade.  Armed with the information from three grade levels, we can then try to find a charity that many of them will find meaningful.

We will also be holding on to these papers to use as jumping-off points for this year’s Genius Hour projects.

I really loved this process for so many reasons.  It tells me about what is important to my students and gives them a voice.  It shows them that they have responsibilities to be contributors as well as consumers.  And, it helps them to understand themselves a little better.

I’ll keep you posted as we continue on this journey 🙂

Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, K-12, Problem Solving, Student Products, Videos

Help Desks

Terri Eichholz

As my students gear up for this year’s Global Cardboard Challenge, they will also be researching a charity to which they will donate the proceeds from their cardboard arcade.  I want them to keep in mind Angela Maier’s mantra, “You are a genius and the world needs your contribution,” and to cultivate their empathy along with their creativity.

Help Desks for Indian children, created by
Help Desks for Indian children, created by Aarambh

As I was thinking about how to inspire my classes this year (many of whom have already seen the Caine’s Arcade videos), I ran across this video from an organization called, “Aarambh.”  Committed to helping students become more comfortable in their schools in rural areas of India, Aarambh found a way to make combination desks/backpacks out of discarded cardboard.  For less than 20 cents in American dollars, a child can be outfitted with this invaluable piece of equipment.  This is a great video to show students so many things:

  • the value of an education
  • how fortunate many of us are to receive a free education with numerous resources
  • how simple, yet creative, ideas can have an incredible positive impact
  • that recycling is not just a luxury but an imperative

Education, K-12, Motivation, Parenting, Teaching Tools, Videos

Kid President: Declaration of Awesome

Terri Eichholz

Quote from Kid President: Declaration of Awesome, Episode 1
Quote from Kid President: Declaration of Awesome, Episode 1

What do a llama, Kevin Costner, corn dogs, and Rainn Wilson all have in common?

Kid President, of course!

Many of you are familiar with the Kid President videos.  One of his most famous is his “Pep Talk” video, which is included on my Inspirational Videos for Students Pinterest Board.  You can view more of his videos by going to his site.

Kid President has just launched a television show on The Hub network.  It’s called, “Kid President: Declaration of Awesome.”  (You can see the schedule, and find out which local channel is The Hub here.) One of the show’s producers is Rainn Wilson – yep, this guy.  The first episode premiered last Saturday, June 21, 2014.  Don’t worry if you missed it, though.  You can view the full video here.

In the premier, Kid President investigates the concept of “heroes.” He interviews Kevin Costner for some insight, and then features a pair of girls who are great friends working for a cause.  As the short (about 22 min.) episode progresses, Kid President starts revising his “Wall of Heroes” to include real-life examples, rather than superheroes like corn dogs who accidentally got dipped in radioactive grease.  Kid President asks the viewer, “Who would you put on your Wall of Heroes?”  This reminds me of the Dream Team project my students do.

There are many quotable moments in the episode.  One of my favorite lines, which is simple but true, comes from Kid President himself, “If you want to be awesome, treat people awesome.”  Definitely great words to live by!

Kid President Medal of Awesome

Apps, Education, K-12, Parenting, Teaching Tools, Videos, Websites

Listening is an Act of Love

Terri Eichholz

Screen shot from "Listening is an Act of Love", a program from StoryCorps
Screen shot from “Listening is an Act of Love“, a program from StoryCorps

This is an excerpt from the “About Us” section on the StoryCorps website: “Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.”  I have always enjoyed listening to StoryCorps interviews on NPR, and was excited when they introduced their animated shorts.  I featured one of them, “Eyes on the Stars“, on this blog at the beginning of this year.

To me, StoryCorps embodies the message that “You Matter.”  I have found so often in my own life, whether in my classroom or at home, that the simple act of truly listening to someone honors them in a way that many of our actions cannot.  That is why I was thrilled to hear about their upcoming television show, “Listening is an Act of Love.”  Premiering on November 28 at 9/8c on PBS, this show will feature 6 animated stories from the last 10 years.

I suppose it’s ironic that I am recommending watching a television show while I am trying to promote that we listen more to each other.  However, if you even watch one of the animated shorts on the StoryCorps page, I guarantee that you will see the value of these conversations and be inspired to begin one with someone close to you.  If so, you might want to use some of the ideas on the “Great Questions” page, such as, “If you could hold on to just one memory from your life forever, what would that be?”  StoryCorps also has an iPhone app with recommended questions and other resources.  (This could be a great project for Genius Hour. Just be sure to preview the questions, first.)

You can read more about the team behind the StoryCorps Animated Shorts here.  If you have a chance, watch or record “Listening is an Act of Love” this Thursday.  If not, at least take a look at some of the Animated Shorts.