Key Topics Discussed

• Why Rebecca says “mattering” has to do with our relationships with ourselves and the complications this presents as we navigate the world as humans
• A map of the four personas she says people assume in seeking to matter: the socializer, heroic striver, competitor, and transcender
• The challenges these different personas present to teachers trying to reach students who have different ideas about what the concept of mattering ultimately means to them
• Not assuming that your way of mattering, as an authority in your subject and the classroom, can or should be universally applied to your students
• Respecting students’ different ways of mattering while modeling for them that this is something that can evolve and change
• The importance of having charity toward others and seeing our mutual humanity and vulnerability