[EDLING:241] [Fwd: Invitation to work on a book project/George Jacobs

Tue Jul 6 15:48:11 UTC 2004

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Invitation to work on a book project
Date: 	Sun, 4 Jul 2004 08:59:58 -0400
From: 	George Jacobs <george at vegetarian-society.org>
To: 	<teresap at gse.upenn.edu>

Two colleagues and I have a contract with Corwin Press
(www.corwinpress.com <http://www.corwinpress.com/>), an imprint of Sage,
to produce a mostly practical book on the overall paradigm shift that
has taken place in education, represented by a shift from behaviorism to
cognitivism, although many other theories/perspectives are also
involved. The book is tentatively titled Eight Essential Elements of
Teaching. Our editor at Corwin is Faye Zucker: faye.zucker at sagepub.com
<mailto:faye.zucker at sagepub.com>.

A look at the book’s Table of Contents will give you a better idea of
what we have in mind. In addition to an introduction, the book will have
eight chapters (each about 4500 words), one on each of what we have
deemed the Eight Essentials (although the paradigm shift involves many
other aspects of education). These eight are:

    1. Learner Centeredness
    2. Social Nature of Learning
    3. Integrated Curriculum
    4. Focus on Meaning
    5. Thinking Skills
    6. Student Uniqueness
    7. Assessment
    8. Teachers as Co-Learners

While the paradigm we recommend in the book dominates in courses and
textbooks on education, we know from first-hand experience in classrooms
in the U.S. and elsewhere that the old paradigm often continues to
prevail where it matters most, i.e., in the learning environments of
students. The basic idea of the book is that for this relatively new
paradigm to be successfully implemented, it must be understood and
implemented not one change at a time but as a big picture.

People in education have been talking about this paradigm shift since at
least the 1980s. Because the term “paradigm” is old hat, we are not
putting it in the book’s title. What educators need, we believe, are
practical means for implementing various aspects of the paradigm. This
is why we have decided to go with a mostly practical approach in the
book. Our view is that education suffers less from a lack of good ideas
than from a lack of implementation of those ideas.

In the book, we plan to emphasize the importance of context. Included in
this regard are critical perspectives on pedagogy. At the same time, we
hope that most teachers will feel that our suggestions for pedagogy are
within or not too far beyond the comfort zones of themselves, their
students, and other stakeholders.

Among the three of us, we have published two other books with Corwin,
one on cooperative learning and the other on reflective teaching, as
well as other books with other publishers. Brief bios of the three of us
appear in the appendix at the end of this document. Currently, we all
teach in Singapore, although one of us is taking up a position at a
Canadian university this year, and we all have experience in the U.S.

We have developed a template for the eight chapters. See the sample
chapter for a look at how this template can be used.

We are looking for help of two kinds.

    1. A lead author – We and Faye, the editor at Corwin, feel that the
       book would be best if we had a U.S.-based (the book’s main market)
       lead author who is something of a name in education. The three of
       us aren’t very career ambitious types. Our main goal is to create
       a good book that will be used. This is why we are happy to have
       someone else as first author.

We had a lead author, but circumstances arose which prevented that
person from playing any role in formulating the design of the book,
drafting any chapters, or contributing other ideas. While we continue to
respect that person’s contributions to education, circumstances appear
to have conspired against that person contributing to book. Earlier this
year, the person left the project, wishing us well.

The duties of the lead author are to write chapters, either alone or
jointly, to provide feedback on the chapters of others, and to look for
people to help on other chapters. The other three of us will be doing
the same.

    2. Chapter co-authors or authors – Each chapter will be individually
       or co-written and should include key references relevant to the
       topic of the chapter. What we are looking for is someone who
       already knows the chapter topic well, someone who has published
       about, presented on, and/or taught the topic. Yes, any of the
       three of us could read the literature and write a survey chapter,
       but only someone who knows the topic well can do it justice. The
       hope is that for someone with this kind of solid background in the
       topic, writing the chapter will be a relatively easy and quick
       task. They will see the template for the chapters and fit what
       they have taught and written already on the topic into that template.

    1. The chapters that are already mostly done are:

i.                     Social Nature of Learning

ii.                   Teachers as Co-Learners

    2. The chapters for which we need co-authors are:

i.                     Assessment

ii.                   Focus on Meaning

iii.                  Integrated Curriculum

iv.                 Learner Centeredness

    3. The chapters for which we need authors are:

i.                     Student Uniqueness

ii.                   Thinking Skills

I've attached the book's draft introduction and a draft chapter to give
you a flavor of what we have in mind.

We'd like to have a completed draft to send to the Faye by end-2004,
although I’m sure she’d be very happy to have it earlier. Our experience
is that Corwin is good about copy editing, cover design, and promoting
their books. The manuscript may not be sent out for review, as the
proposal was extensively reviewed.

Three caveats:

a. As with most academic books, royalties are likely to be negligible
and they only go to the four main authors, not to people who only write
or co-write one chapter.

b. If you do submit a chapter to us, we can’t guarantee that it will end
up in the book, as it needs to satisfy us and the editors at Corwin.
However, if we consult as the chapter is being written, success is likely.

c. Although we do have a signed contract with Corwin, in the publishing
game, anything can happen. Thus, there is no guarantee when the book
will be published (although in our experience, Corwin is faster than
most), and the possibility always exists that the book will never be
published.

Thanks for considering this invitation. Please feel free to share it
with others. If you’d like to chat by phone on this, please give me a
phone number and a couple good times and days to call you.

George Jacobs

gmjacobs at pacific.net.sg <mailto:gmjacobs at pacific.net.sg>

Appendix – Authors’ very brief bios

Dr LOH Wan Inn has a doctorate in science education from Rutgers
University. She has taught teachers at all levels of education, but
currently focuses on Early Childhood Education in Singapore. Among her
publications available in the U.S. are The teacher's sourcebook for
cooperative learning: Practical techniques, basic principles, and
frequently asked questions, Corwin Press and Nurturing the naturalist
intelligence, Kagan Publications. She also writes science books for
elementary school students.

Dr Thomas S.C. FARRELL has a doctorate in English Rhetoric and
Linguistics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After many years in
Asia, later this year, he will become an Associate Professor at Brock
University in Ontario. Reflective practice in action:
80 reflection breaks for busy teachers is the title of his Corwin book.
Tom has many other publications on teacher education and language pedagogy.

Dr George JACOBS has a doctorate in Educational Psychology from
University of Hawaii. He edits the newsletters of the International
Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education and of the
TESOLers for Social Responsibility caucus of Teachers of English to
Speakers of Other Languages. Among his publications available in the
U.S. are The teacher's sourcebook for cooperative learning: Practical
techniques, basic principles, and frequently asked questions, Corwin
Press and Nurturing the naturalist intelligence, Kagan Publications.

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