What are we looking for?

I thought a good post today would be to describe what we (and by we I mean the acquisition editors of ReadWriteThink, which is not me at all) are looking for in new lessons and strategy guides. Your proposal--which is always preferred as first submission--is much more likely to garner a request for a full-lesson submission if you follow the topics/themes I am about to share with you.

Lucky you, to have the inside scoop!

Mobile

We are looking to expand our lessons that deal with using mobile technology (smart phones, tablets, and other wi-fi connected devices) in the classroom. These lessons should use mobile technology in an interesting and innovative way, taking advantage of the capabilities of the device rather than using it simply as an alternative to a desktop computer. The key things to consider: how mobile allows students to interact with others, how mobile tools make a task easier, and what product students can create with a mobile device (camera, video/audio recorder).

STEM

We currently are focusing on STEM based lessons that use the various facets of literacy within a real-world problem. For a lesson to be considered STEM, it cannot just have a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics component, but must fully use the problem-solving mindset of the discipline within a literary context.

  

Common Core

Although many lessons on ReadWriteThink.org can be adapted to fit the common core requirements, we are looking for lessons that specifically address the required skills highlighted in the CCSS document. Specially we are looking for lessons for the early grades (K-5) on writing that align to the CCSS (such as opinion/persuasive pieces, which are at the 3^rd and 4^th grade level). I know we have a few people working on lessons that focus on “reading” others forms of non-paper media, but I think lessons on this topic would still be appreciated.

Now, those are the topics, but there are some other considerations that always help get a lesson accepted, such as if the lesson is connected to pre-existing ReadWriteThink resources such as our interactives, apps, and print-outs.

We also try to make sure every lesson is innovated; if a lesson is similar to another lesson, the major difference being it uses a different book or RWT resource, it will likely be rejected. We believe that no lesson should be tied to single resource; the major tenets of the lesson should be able to be adapted as the classroom teacher sees fit--change the book, use a different interactive, have a different output from students. The lesson should hold up to these changes.

And there you have it! A little helpful information on what we're looking for!

Oh, I guess I should tell you how to contribute. You can fill out this for and you'll hear back from a rep from NCTE or IRA--which would be me, by the way, you lucky person you!

And I'll also use this space to confirm that, yes, lesson authors are paid a stipend upon successful publication of the lesson--this being after internal review, blind peer review, and copy editing.

Hope that helps!

Wes