ISTE is more than meetups, and social media is more than tools. It is a series of W.O.W. moments that take your breath away, and I am honored to share mine with you. ISTE2014 - Reflections from Atlanta from Angela Maiers Even if you weren’t able to attend ISTE this year, you can benefit from the knowledge sharing that took place in Atlanta. Below are resources that can empower you to inspire some W.O.W. moments of your own. Genius Hour Live Binder - Comprehensive resources for implementing a Genius Hour. A great extension from the amazing Genius Hour panel I was a part of. Bring passion to the classroom with Genius Hour - My blog post for ISTEConnects on what Genius Hour can accomplish in your classroom. #YouMatter resources - a collection of my best resources on #YouMatter. Teacher Cast ISTE - Video demonstrations and audio interviews from various companies and individual attendees. Brainwaves YouTube Channel - Interviews with a variety of presenters and changemakers at ISTE, including yours truly! Cybraryman’s Guide to ISTE - Links galore to information about the conference. Happy exploring, and I hope to see you at next year’s ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia!  

As a young teacher, I had an epiphany: people need to matter. They need to be noticed, valued, and honored. Ever since, the "You Matter" message has been changing hearts, minds, and lives. This toolkit curates the best of my "You Matter" content. It offers a low-cost, high-energy professional development day or retreat, and can be used every day, all year long.  It includes an invitation to an exclusive webinar on creating a You Matter culture in your organization. Purchase "Mattering IS the Agenda - A Toolkit for Transformation" below. It includes: Videos of three You Matter-themed keynote presentations by Angela Maiers (see excerpt at bottom of this page). A collection of articles on the topic. Links to outstanding writing by other leading voices. Field-tested workshop activities. Digital files for creating reproducible materials such as t-shirts, posters and cards. Examples of "You Matter" activities that have been held at schools and companies. Sample agendas for a professional development day. An invitation to a 90-minute live Webinar, including an extended Q&A, hosted by Angela Maiers and others. Teachers or other individuals purchasing an individual license may use the toolkit within their classroom or home. Schools purchasing a school license may use it throughout the school building. Companies, organizations and communities purchasing an organizational license may use it at a single location. The toolkit is digital and will be delivered via email after August 11. Please email MarkMoranMES@Gmail.com with questions about volume pricing or using a purchase order. Individual License - $39.00 School License (for use by one school) - $139.00 Organizational License (for use at a single location) - $249.00

Photo by cellar_door_films With most schools moving into a new term or near their halfway point, it’s a great time to make use of active reflection. One of the fundamental beliefs in my work is about the need to notice others and to use specific language to show others that they matter to you. The midpoint of the year is the perfect time to notice something specific: change. For teachers, noticing our students change is second nature, but communicating that change to them in real time is critical. Students prosper from not just feedback, but from perspective of how far they’ve come since the beginning of the school year—or even since the beginning of class! Many of you are likely familiar with Dr. Carol Dweck’s work on growth mindset and how much impact it can have on students’ self-motivation. To that end, providing feedback that includes changes over time reminds students that they are growing, and that further growth is worth the challenge. With so much work being submitted throughout the year, it can be easy to forget how many little steps students take to reach the next level of mastery. Scan through some papers from earlier in the year. If a lot of your work is done digitally, look back at some old drafts. (This is a nice benefit of using Google Docs or Classroom.) I know this might sound like a lot of work, but how you use it can have a huge impact on a student. If you’re a K-12 teacher, you probably had to look through last quarter’s work for report cards anyway! On a practical level, doing this will help equip you with specific things to notice and tell your students during class time. But in a different sense, this review will provide you with deep insight that is critical to understanding a student. In these documents you’ll find your students trying, struggling, sketching, searching, experimenting, and inching their way toward producing a better assignment. And, in the process, they themselves are changing. That’s what we need to find in all that old work. Then, we need them to see what we see. They need to know that they are changing, that we see them change, and that they are going to change again today. It might seem like negative change on some days, but over the course of weeks, it’s growth. Share that with them, and they’ll know that what they do in your classroom matters.

Silvia Zanatta wrote how she incorporated the Classroom Habitudes into her 7th grade classroom in a wonderful post last year. Here, she updates us on her progress of using Heartbreak Mapping and the transformation she’s […] The post Transformation through Heartbreak - Guest Post by Silvia Zanatta appeared first on Angela Maiers.

Culture isn’t just a "feel good" part of our classrooms and schools. Being thoughtful about creating and sustaining an effective learning and work culture is foundational to unlocking a the power and potential of the people you live to serve. The post Creating a Culture of Mattering From Day One appeared first on Angela Maiers.

What are your hopes and dreams for this school year? Many teachers ask students this question at the start of every school year. It sets the stage for awesome learning to follow. Posing it to […] The post #GeniusHour: our promise to students that their passions matter appeared first on Angela Maiers.

  "Let’s change the world!!" What do you think when you hear those words? More importantly, what do your students think? For most, "Let’s change the world" is a mere slogan, or a battle cry […] The post Genius Hour: An Apprenticeship to Citizenship appeared first on Angela Maiers.

  I had the honor of speaking at #WYAdvancED in Casper, WY today. Below you will find the resources I shared and ways to keep abreast of developments from me and from Choose2Matter. I look forward […] The post Resources I Shared at #WYAdvancED appeared first on Angela Maiers.

I had the honor of speaking at #AISA15 in Montgomery, AL today. Below you will find the resources I shared and ways to keep abreast of developments from me and from Choose2Matter. I look forward to […] The post #AISA15 Leaders Matter! appeared first on Angela Maiers.

As parents, teachers, students, companies and society, we emphasize competition. We tell our athletes to "win at all costs." In business, employees hear "there is no room for failure." We evaluate our students, and their […] The post Everyone Fails: It’s What You Do Next That Matters appeared first on Angela Maiers.