Projecting Possibilities for Writers: The How, What, and Why of Designing Units of Study, K-5

“When you create a unit of study, it’s tempting to think you know exactly what will happen on day 5, 13, or 18. But you can’t know. As soon as a unit starts, we begin making adjustments. This book shares a process for projecting a unit of study so you can make decisions as you respond to students each day.” Matt Glover and Mary Alice Berry

As a teacher, you value instructional flexibility because, after all, nearly anything can happen―and does! Yet you still have to plan instruction that helps your writers meet curricular objectives. Helping you solve this dilemma is what Projecting Possibilities for Writers is all about.

You can’t know exactly when in a unit of study students will need extra support or be ready for a particular minilesson. That’s why Matt Glover and Mary Alice Berry show how to project rather than plan―to design a sequence of instruction that not only supports deep understanding but gives you the agency to respond to individual needs and meet key writing standards.

Projecting Possibilities for Writers shares how to determine what to teach during a unit, how to teach it, and why to teach it―as well as when to make the crucial adjustments that this flexible approach makes possible. You’ll look over Mary Alice’s shoulder as she plans a unit for her writing workshop, while “Try It Out” suggestions lead you to project your own units.

Solve the flexibility vs. planning dilemma! Trust Projecting Possibilities for Writers and learn to teach with a roadmap rather than a rigid set of directions as you create learning experiences for classes of individual students with individual needs. 

Matt Glover has been a teacher, principal, and consultant for over 35 years. He is the author of the Heinemann titles Craft and Process Studies: Units That Provide Writers with Choice of Genre and Engaging Young Writers, as well as the co-author of Already Ready, Projecting Possibilities for Writers, I Am Reading, and Watch Katie and Matt...Sit Down and Teach Up, a video-enhanced e-book. An international literacy consultant, Matt works in schools with teachers on topics related to nurturing writers of all ages, early reading, oral language composition, and supporting children’s intellectual development. 

Mary Alice Berry is coauthor with Matt Glover of the new Heinemann title Projecting Possibilities for Writers. She is an experienced early childhood educator with thirty-four years experience. She has worked as a literacy specialist, media specialist, and instructional leader. Currently she is a first grade teacher at Shawnee Early Childhood School in West Chester, Ohio. Inside the classroom, Mary Alice’s work focuses on developmentally appropriate practices that foster the intellectual as well as the academic growth of students. Outside, she conducts many literacy workshops and lives in Trenton, Ohio with her husband and two dogs.