SESSIONS & RESOURCES
Beyond the Policy
2026
-
Session 1: Mattering Matters: Building Connection Through Everyday Teacher Practices
Registration details coming soon!
About the Session:
When students feel that they matter at school, they are more likely to feel connected to their classrooms and to the broader school community. Mattering means feeling valued by others and having real opportunities to add value, and teachers are uniquely positioned to foster both. Teachers foster mattering through small, everyday choices, such as how they greet students, follow up after an absence, and create meaningful roles in the classroom.
In this interactive ECHO-like session, participants will reflect on their own experiences of mattering, learn practical, research-informed teacher practices drawn from a recently published conceptual model, and apply those practices to realistic classroom scenarios. Teachers will leave with concrete strategies for building classroom and school environments where every student feels seen, valued, and like they truly matter.
Presenters:
- Jennifer L. Caruso, Ed.D., University of Michigan School of Public Health
Learning Objectives:
- Define mattering and describe its two dimensions: feeling valued and adding value.
- Explain how students' sense of mattering relates to their connection with the classroom and school community.
- Identify everyday teacher practices that help students feel valued and practices that help students add value.
- Apply mattering-oriented practices to a realistic classroom scenario and plan at least one strategy to use in their own classroom.
-
Session 2: Our Crisis of Connection: Its Roots, Consequences, and Solutions
More information to come!
-
Session 3: Building Connection in Schools and Classrooms: The Listening with Curiosity Project
More information to come!
-
Session 4: Building Connection by Design
More information to come!