Publishing in My Share

The My Share column is rather unique in that it is basically a collection of published lesson plans. Almost everyone has an original lesson or teaching technique that they've found to work like magic in the classroom. Why not share it around with others, and add a publication to your list at the same time? If sitting down to write out your good idea draws a blank, try this: imagine you have just come out of a lesson, buzzing with how well your class went. You meet a colleague in the corridor who catches your enthusiasm and wants to try the activity too. Tell them in a very simple, clear, step-by-step way how to go about it. You can add caveats at each step, or group them all together at the end in a section such as Teacher's Notes. You'll be amazed at how quickly your good idea will write itself up! The important thing is not to get hung up on turning your idea into an academic paper. Certainly if current research is indispensable to communicating your idea, then add it in where necessary. However, My Share is primarily a "how to" column and your writing style should reflect this. Previously published ideas have been as diverse as a whole term's syllabus through to how to get your students simply to raise their hands in class or how to turn the Japanese obsession with cell phones to an English teacher's advantage. Basically, any idea that you have thought up (or significantly adapted from someone else's idea whom you credit) that worked well is suitable fodder.

Here are some guidelines I would love you to consider before submitting:

We now have a word limit of 700 words per article.
Articles are published based on their usefulness and originality. Run-of-the-mill teaching practices commonly found in textbooks are not suitable.
Make sure to include a quick guide at the beginning of the article (including a materials section which we've newly added. See a recent My Share article for sample).
My Share is a very practical column for both native and nonnative speakers. Procedures should, wherever possible, be written in a step-by-step format in simple, concise English. Theoretical background and citations should be kept to an absolute minimum (if any).
Please make sure there is NO auto-formatting. No boxes, no underlining, no bullets, no tabs, and all the other little things that people think are helpful. The first thing I have to do is spend an hour taking them all out!
MS Word is our preferred program.
Papers previously published in any other publication either by yourself or another should NOT be submitted. Papers that are currently under submission with other publications should also not be submitted.

Good luck and I look forward to all your wonderful ideas flooding my computer and lightening the loads of teachers everywhere.

The Editor
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