Writing an Article for Teaching Expertise
Would you like to share your experience of teaching with others? If so why not write an article for Teaching Expertise? Practical articles from teachers and managers in schools are always welcome.
Don’t worry if you have not written an article before. You could start with a short item covering your approach to teaching or management. This should be an activity or method, which has proved successful. Try to ensure that your idea can be adapted to as many age groups, subject areas and situations as possible.
Although this magazine is aimed at people who help children learn, many teachers manage others. We also welcome RELEVANT articles and ideas from management consultants and trainers in the world of business and commerce, although the content shouldn’t be a glorified sales pitch for your product!
Some suggestions
Write clearly. Readability is essential. Clarity and directness are always looked for in an article. Avoid flowery phrases and long sentences. If any sentence runs to more than 25 words, try to break it up into two shorter, more easily readable sentences. Similarly use shorter paragraphs rather than longer ones. Your audience will often be in a hurry, tired or both!
Be factual. You will find it easiest to write a straightforward, factual article based on your personal experience of teaching. Say what happened in an objective manner. If necessary, provide brief background information about your school or scheme of work, and state the year group to which your article relates. Add evaluative comments if you wish, including any of a light-hearted nature!
Be topical. Write about something that you have tried during the past year.
Be practical. Concentrate on the practicalities of teaching and management. Show readers how they could use or adapt your ideas. You might include a checklist of things to be done.
Give answers. Only pose questions if you intend to answer them. Readers expect authors to provide answers based on their experience.
Get attention. The introduction is important. If you don’t interest the reader in the first 100 words, you are unlikely to do so later. The title should be short and crisp, and the opening paragraph should give a clear indication of content.
Show structure. Use sub-headings, or number sections.
Be Brief. Take as many words as you need to cover the topic and no more. The different sections of Teaching Expertise include articles that vary in length. Where appropriate, an article can be a maximum of 1500 words, which is approx 3 PRINTED pages of the magazine. A hints and tips feature of about 80-0 words equates to 1 page, with 2 pages being around 1000 words of text.
Step back! It is easy to get immersed in what you want to say, but it is important to step back and look at it from the point of view of the reader coming to it cold. Does it form a concise, coherent, readable article? Try it on a colleague.
Don’t forget to include:
- Title
- Author
- Brief details bout yourself (current job, experience etc)
- References (Harvard system of referencing)
- Acknowledgements
- Images if you have them. Photographs or cartoons can really enhance your work. If you have permission, photos of your pupils or classroom can enhance an article and make it more personal to you. Use a digital camera with at least 3 million pixels, or send us prints, which we can scan.
Teaching Expertise offers a valuable opportunity for you to communicate your ideas and share your experiences with other teachers. In addition you will have the satisfaction of seeing your work in print! So please try your hand at writing.
If your article is published, we will refund your subscription to Teaching Expertise.
Submit your article and ideas to Clare at Teaching Expertise.