Session 4, Part 4: Project Out Possibilities for Learning

Create Your Ideal Curriculum, Session 4: Create Conditions for Learning

Matt Glover, former teacher and principal and now education consultant, shares a humorous story of his son when he was very young (Glover & Berry, 2012, pg. 1). 

“When Matt’s son Harrison was very young and just started to talk, he often answered questions with the phrase ‘I can’t know.’ Not, ‘I don’t know.’ For example, if Matt said, ‘Why did you pour juice on the dog?’ Harrison would look at Matt and in all sincerity say, ‘I can’t know.’ He meant to say ‘don’t know,’ but it came out as ‘can’t know.’”

Glover and his colleague Mary Alice Berry use this story as an analogy for when teachers try to project out a series of lessons for a literacy unit of study.

“Great teachers have always responded to what their students need by making adjustments. They watch and listen closely to see the impact of their teaching, and then adjust their teaching accordingly. Responsive teachers don’t cover material; they teach students. We can’t know for sure what will happen on each day of a study, even if w…