Guest Post on Educator Guides – plus a GIVEWAY! « Lydia Lukidis
Guest Post on Educator Guides – plus a GIVEWAY!
Hello world!!
Welcome to my blog, Blissfully Bookish. It’s guest post time! Please welcome today’s guest, Ann McCallum, here to chat about making useful educator guides. She’s got lots of experience with this, trust me. I”d like to also celebrate her middle grade nonfiction book that just got released, Fantastic Flora: The World’s Biggest, Baddest, and Smelliest Plants, illustrated by Zoë Ingram and published by MIT Kids Press.
BUT first- YAY! Ann is generously giving away a FREE copy of her book. To be eligible to win, please enter the Rafflecopter contest by clicking HERE. Contest ends June 6, 2025. US only.
How to Write a (Super Useful) Educator’s Guide
By Ann McCallum Staats
A contract! The thrill of receiving an offer on a manuscript never gets old. Of course, like any creative endeavor, one doesn’t know in advance how the book is going to be received. Will it gather dust on a few back shelves here and there, or will it get into the hands of the many kids you wrote it for?
An educator’s guide is a pathway into the school market, a place where busy educators love books but often don’t have time to incorporate them into the school day. However, a well-prepared guide makes it easy to say yes to engaging more fully with a wonderful book. It provides a gateway into a topic and a chance to dive deeply into the text. For most kidlit, having an educator’s guide is an obvious yes, please. So, now what? How does one create an accessible, valuable, downloadable document that teachers are going to use and appreciate? In other words, how can you make an educator’s guide that’s super useful?
I’ll start with what I don’t recommend when constructing a guide. First is busy work. In the teaching business, this refers to an overreliance on things like coloring pages, word searches, and rote tasks that don’t involve significant learning. Of course, including some of these is fine, but a meaningful guide is going to go further than that. Second, an educator’s guide should not be overwhelming. I subscribe to the ‘less is more’ club where quality outranks quantity—too much is going to lose its appeal. If busy teachers have to sort through loads of information, they might give up. Lastly, an educator’s guide must include easy-to-implement activities that don’t require too many outside materials, complicated steps, or a huge time investment.
Okay, check, check, check. Now onto specifics. Since the guide must be attractive and easy to use, I provide a cover and a table of contents (though I’ve seen others that jump right in). I also try to make the pages themselves appealing. However, note that for activity sheets, I don’t use colored backgrounds or include huge, extraneous images. Educators might want to print the pages out, especially the activity sheets, and with ink at a premium, it might deter them from doing so.
As for the tasks themselves, I start with the participants, the kids themselves. What do they already know and where are they at? In my guide for Fantastic Flora: the World’s Biggest, Baddest, and Smelliest Plants, I provide a ‘before you begin’ list where students demonstrate what they already know about plants. To elevate the fun factor, this could also be done as a modified bingo game. (Create a grid and fill in each box with a prompt like “tall plant” or “Plant with thorns.” Students then walk around the classroom to find others who can supply answers in each box.) This activity not only drums up interest, it also helps an educator gauge what students already know.
Next up are targeted activities, maybe two or three, or if you’re ambitious (and having fun) a few more. One way to engage with the book itself is to include excerpts that prompt further exploration and discussion. For instance, an extremophile is a plant found in a difficult environment such as a dry desert or a very cold climate—can students name some extremophiles? What do these plants do to survive? Take it a step further by making a human connection. For example, humans, like plants, find ways to adapt to sub-optimal conditions, too. How do people solve the problem of intense rain or too much sun?
I like to vary the activities by providing both group and independent activities. Team trivia anyone? Match up games? A friendly team game of two truths and a lie? (Teams vote on which is the lie in a series of three statements and earn points for the most correct). Next are some independent options. Make a collage, a journal, or even a wanted poster for plants (in the case of my book)—what characteristics do those toxic, smelly, or otherwise unpleasant (to humans) plants feature?
What else? How can you extend the learning and excitement further? How about a field trip, either in-person or, easier, to one of the many options online? Museums, parks, and other venues often have virtual tours. Whenever an educator can expand the learning beyond the classroom, the more authentic the experience. The book should also be a springboard to in-depth study.
Finally, I remind myself of the care I’ve taken in writing each of my books. I endeavor to reach my readers by igniting passion and curiosity. That same care—and joy—can be found in creating an educator’s guide that illuminates the topic and provides easy-to-implement, relevant ways for educators to bring the book into the classroom. Making a super useful educator’s guide is invaluable—and fun!
Link
https://annmccallumbooks.com/
