The Importance of a Teacher’s Guide for your Children’s Book
By Donna McDine
After I signed the book
contract for The Golden Pathway I
took the time out to discuss with teachers what sparks their interest in
children’s books for their classrooms beyond what the school provides. Many
times over I heard they are under strict confinements with their curriculum and
books need to fit into their daily teachings. I then took to task to research
state curriculum guidelines and learned the creation of an educator’s guide for
The Golden Pathway needed to be a
comprehensive across the curriculum guide. After meeting homeschool specialist,
Amy O’Quinn through the Working Writer’s Club I approached Amy about hiring her
to write a teacher’s guide for The
Golden Pathway. The end result was beyond my expectations!
The teacher’s guide is a
teaching tool for English, Social Studies, Math, Science, and Art teachers, as
well as for Homeschooling families. Activities include:
- Language Arts: Writing/Vocabulary
- Integrated Language Arts/Social Studies: Topical Study/Presentation Boards
- Social Studies: Timeline, Mapping and Geography
- Math: Map Work Mathematics, Calculations, Time, Recipe Math, Quilt Math
- Science: Astronomy, Skin, Plants and Crops, Alcoholism, Five Senses
- Role Playing, Disguises and Escape/Safe Houses
- Toys and Games of the 19th Century: Make a Rag Doll, Make a Nettie Doll, Information on Games/Toys
- Songs of Slavery and the Underground Railroad: Background Information and Lyrics
- More Fun Art Projects, Activities, and Resources: Coloring Sheets, Printables, Juneteenth, Make A Tin Can Lantern
It is in my opinion well
written children’s books have a better chance of finding their way into schools
when it is accompanied with an educator’s guide. By having this guide for The Golden Pathway it has certainly
helped spark additional interest with school visits. Case in point, when I
participated in the New York State Reading Association, October 2011 I had the
opportunity to meet with teachers from across the tri-state area (NY, NJ, and
CT) and many commented on the educator’s guide I was chatting up with them as
they stopped by my table. They were delighted and impressed to learn of this
complimentary addition to The Golden
Pathway, explaining their time is at a premium and to have activities
already planned for them saves them valuable time. At this point in time, one
of these conversations has turned into a weeklong visit to a local elementary
school. The Parent Teacher Association purchased The Golden Pathway for each classroom and when I presented each
teacher with the complimentary CD of The
Golden Pathway Educator’s Guide their responses where overwhelming
positive. Knowing even beforehand how essential an educator’s guide is, I’ve
already hired Amy O’Quinn to create educator’s guides for my future books.
As writers many of us
can and do create our own teacher’s guides, but for myself I wanted someone
with the expertise of being in the trenches of teaching to formulate my teacher’s guide. By outsourcing this project, it has freed me to up to work on
new manuscripts, marketing, and client work.
Details of my author
school visit workshops, visit: http://thegoldenpathway.blogspot.com/2012/03/author-school-visits-bardonia.html.
To learn more about my writing career or to order
an autographed copy of The Golden Pathway
visit, www.donnamcdine.com. Gift
with purchase: The Golden Pathway
Educator’s Guide.
Additional ways to order The Golden Pathway:
Guardian Angel Publishing: http://guardianangelpublishing.com/pathway.htm
I invite you to visit with my fellow Guardian Angel
Publishing authors at their blogs during Children’s Book Week 2012 and beyond:
Don’t forget to enter our contest:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Award-winning Children's Author
The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc.
~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval Recipient and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist
Terrific post, Donna! I can't wait to have a teacher's guide for my new book, The Water Cycle.
ReplyDeleteMayra
Hi Mayra,
DeleteI'll be emailing you later to discuss the quote from Amy.
All the best,
Donna
This post is such a wealth of information that it's absolutely amazing and powerful
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, and continued success for the rest of the week and beyond.
Hi Nancy,
DeleteI'm glad you have find my post helpful! Wishing you all the best and everyone else continued success too.
Best regards,
Donna
I agree that an educator's guide is an important tool. I'm envious of authors who have the experience and expertise to write their own. Amy will be hearing from me soon ;-)
ReplyDeleteAgain, something I hadn't thought of! Do you think a teacher's guide can be written for a fiction as well as non-fiction book? Great information here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great information, Donna.
ReplyDeletehttp://barbarabockman.wordpress.com
I completely 100 percent agree with you. It is so important to reach out to teachers and homeschoolers. I try to do that on my blog and hopefully in the back of my children's books, too. Great ideas here.
ReplyDeleteDonna,
ReplyDeleteyou are so right, teacher guides are essential. I plan on creating guides for my future books too. The guide certainly helps make your book more marketable. Thanks for sharing.
Nicole Weaver
Trilingual Children's Author
http://mysisterismybestfriend.blogspot.com