Matt Berman

(he/him)

  • M.A.T. in Philosophy for Children, Montclair State University

  • B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education K-8 University of Connecticut

  • Gifted Certification, University of New Orleans

  • 46 years in education

Recipient of the NEH Teacher-Scholar Award, Matt Berman has been an elementary school teacher for more than 40 years, with certification in gifted education and degrees in education and philosophy for children.

A nationally recognized expert in children's literature, Matt has written four books on the subject, and his reviews, articles, and columns have appeared in many journals, including Kirkus, School Library Journal, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He has also taught children's literature at Tulane University and the University of New Orleans, and his reviews have appeared on numerous websites, including Common Sense Media, Disney Family, Family.com, iVillage, and the Child Lit Wiki. Matt has also been a consultant with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, as well as a freelance writer and editor, website developer, teacher trainer and consultant, photographer, communications director, and founding director of the Nueva Center for the Humanities

ASK THE TEACHER:

Do you have any favorite quotes?

Lots - I love to collect quotes. Here’s one that’s relevant to my class: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” —Joseph Campbell. And this one, from The Once and Future King by T.H. White, describing the young King Arthur: “He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him like a baby, but the ones who just went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessing, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas.”

What is your favorite word?

I don’t have a favorite word: I just love words. I love the way they taste in my mouth, the images they present in my mind, the journeys they take me on in exploring their histories and evolutions, the ways they are interconnected across time and space. Every word is a palimpsest, hiding multiple layers of meaning and history beneath the surface. Here’s a recent one that a student came up with: resolution. Its Latin root, solvere, meant “to loosen, untie, release, explain.” Want to take a word journey? Try to figure out how it got from that original meaning to its current meaning, “determination, steadfastness,” which is almost the opposite.