Writing a book is a massive undertaking, with so many pages to fill, and tens of thousands of words that need to be written, and then rewritten, multiple times. How can you generate the necessary effort and create a work that will make you feel proud? Over the next three Writer’s Workshop columns, we will cover this topic in a three-part series to provide advice on (1) steps for conceptualizing your project; (2) how to tackle some of the unique challenges involved in the writing process; and (3) how to perform editing in an efficient and productive manner.
In early 2023, I (George) was a member of a group of seven people who published a free online book entitled Cooperative Learning and the Sustainable Development Goals (Lim et al., 2023). We were a diverse group, with three of us from Japan, two from Singapore, two from China, and one from Malaysia. As you probably guessed, given that the book is freely available online, the authors receive no royalties. Our book, which can be downloaded free of charge (https://payhip.com/b/obOwr), was inspired by a previous one on a similar theme (Maley & Peachey, 2017). Cooperative learning (CL), sometimes also called collaborative learning, is a teaching methodology in which students spend part of their class time interacting with peers. In our book, we showcase CL as a key method for involving students and teachers in promoting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs gained widespread recognition following their launch in 2015. The 17 goals seek to improve the lot of humans, such as providing everyone with enough food, while at the same time protecting the environment.
Our book was a challenging collaborative writing experience. The structure consists of seven sections that cover numerous aspects of the SDGs, CL teaching theory, and practical classroom activities. We struggled at times but ultimately learned a lot from our experience, which we would like to share with you. So, in this series of columns, we will provide suggestions and guidance to those of you who have been considering a book project, drawing on our experiences working on our recent CL publication. I will be writing part one, so these tips will be in my voice. In this first article, I’ll cover three basic tips for all materials developers: (1) identify your passions; (2) seek and use models; and (3) look for collaborators.
Identify Your Passions
Even if many people join you on a project, it will very likely take you longer than you expect. One reason projects take so long is that we seldom have the luxury of big grants that would allow us to focus solely on them. Most often, there is no funding at all, no de-loading from our normal workload. Thus, book projects are often done as labors of love, on top of our regular jobs. It was like this with our project. Fortunately, I am passionate about how CL and the SDGs overlap, and from the early days of my career, I have gravitated towards communicative language teaching. I wanted students to be active learners, a goal which CL facilitates perfectly. What really ignited my passion and told me that CL and the SDGs were a match made in heaven was that the central principle of CL, positive interdependence, lies at the heart of understanding why working toward the SDGs is an act of cooperation, not of charity. This realization fueled my involvement in our project.
So, what are you passionate about? Without clearly identifying what interests you, it will be very difficult to sustain energy through the various challenges that arise during your book’s creation process. Whatever topic you choose, you should feel something plucking at your heartstrings. Or, if you are not getting a hollow feeling in the pit of your stomach when you’re not thinking about your project, at least you should be hopeful that such a feeling will develop over time.
Seek and Use Models
When initiating your project, another valuable tip is to draw inspiration and guidance from other books within your field and use them as models. On our project, we sought out models to help us explain CL and the SDGs, as well as lesson plan models for the book’s final and most important section about practical classroom teaching activities. In our experience, the edited volume by Maley and Peachey (2017) helped us a lot. Likewise, for your project, aim to find another book that covers similar ground and study it closely, as you can learn a lot about what it does well and identify gaps your project can fill.
Models can be found in other places, such as teaching materials created by others or those you’ve developed yourself over the years. As you look over these materials, keep an eye out for anything you can utilize on your current project. For example, when examining materials I’ve made in collaboration with colleagues, I was able to clarify a couple of rules that we ended up using for how to present lesson activities in our book. The first rule was to write in terms of what students do, not what teachers tell students to do (e.g., “Students form groups of four. Each group selects one challenge to investigate”). The second was to link the classroom and the world beyond by encouraging students and teachers to use their language and other capabilities to make the world a better place. We followed these guidelines on our project, and it really helped make for a more effective book in the end. It’s an example of the power of models for guiding and informing your project’s overall approach and goals.
Look for Collaborators
Working with others can make the writing quicker, easier, and better. For me, perhaps I seek out people to work with because I am lazy or want to compensate for my various insufficiencies, such as not being very good with IT or being poorly organized. While those self-criticisms may have some validity, I would like to think that the positives, such as enjoying cooperation and seeking to grow the number of people doing similar work, are more powerful motivators.
Despite obvious advantages, working with others does come with some potential challenges. For example, what can you do about collaborators who do not do their fair share or those who are reliable yet lack the necessary skills? These are real problems that need to be addressed up front in any sort of group writing activity. Unfortunately, it’s beyond the scope of this column to address these issues in depth. However, there is no shortage of literature on building teamwork skills. In the field of CL, for example, strategies such as how to disagree politely (Stephen, 2023) and spend time productively for team building (Mulvahill, 2023) are featured in many articles that are only a quick Google search away.
In short, what we learned on our project, which had seven authors working together in four different countries, was the value and importance of good communication. We were able to work through numerous issues by meeting regularly online. These meetings helped us support each other and enabled us to avoid any serious problems. Overall, I believe it’s helpful to remember that more often than not, each team member brings much to the table. Members of your team will have different strengths and weaknesses, and through a collegial process, you can bring out the best in each other. Sometimes, people just need a chance to develop their skills, confidence, and a level of comfort with the team and the tasks. So, be patient as you work with others and aim to appreciate and value what they can do.
Final Thoughts
This short article has presented three tips from the experience of seven authors co-writing a book. If I were to boil down each into a single word, it would be passion, models, and teamwork. Based on our experience, these are three key ideas to keep in mind when beginning your own project. Once this groundwork has been laid, it is time to actually produce your book. So, in the following two columns of this series, Steven and Jesse will be sharing more tips on a collaborative approach to writing and editing a lengthy publication.
To conclude, publishing Cooperative Learning and the Sustainable Development Goals was the highlight of 2023 for me. We, the authors, hope that you will give our book at least a skim. We hope you will be inspired to use at least one of the lessons with your students and, maybe, develop one of your own. If, in future projects, you seek to work with others on a similar project, please consider us among your potential collaborators.
References
Lim, S., Reidak, J., Chau, M. H., Zhu, C. H., Guo, Q., Brooks, T. A., Roe, J., & Jacobs, G. M. (2023). Cooperative learning and the SDGs. PeacheyPublications. https://payhip.com/b/obOwr
Maley, A., & Peachey, N. (Eds.). (2017). Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom: With reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. British Council. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/PUB_29200_Creati...
Mulvahill, E. (2023, August 7). 43 awesome team-building activities for kids. We Are Teachers. https://www.weareteachers.com/team-building-games-and-activities/
Stephen. (2023, May 16). 275+ professional, polite and respectful disagreement phrases. Work Wizardry. https://workwizardry.com/how-to-disagree-politely-phrases/