School Daze: The
Profusion of (Paying)
Possibilities for
Education Pieces
By Erika Dreifus
Even if it's been years since you last handed in a homework assignment, chances
are that September still revives that phrase: back-to-school. And if you’re a
writer, that thought trigger may prove extraordinarily helpful. It might very
well prompt you to devote some time to considering how your education-related
interests and experiences can inspire essays and articles. And then it might
motivate you to find homes for that work, in print or online.
But what makes a given piece an “education” story in the first place? In some
ways education writing can seem deceptively similar to much other nonfiction. A
profile of an accomplished educator or an interview with a teacher-author who
has just published a book may appear in a general-interest magazine or
newspaper. A chronicle of a vacation spent on a literary walking tour may
materialize as a travel essay. Advice on how to negotiate family transitions to
nursery school (or college) may show up in a department on “life at home,” or in
a parenting magazine.
One useful way to develop story ideas while considering the broader marketing
possibilities of education-related writing is to think about the academic
calendar. Review all the key events: the first day of school; parent-teacher
conferences; exams; winter vacation; spring break; class reunions. What ideas do
you associate with each topic? What questions do they raise for you?
For example, have you ever worried about meeting your child’s teacher? Why? What
happened when the moment actually arrived? And do you think it’s possible that
others-- a parenting magazine’s readers, perhaps-- might share some of those
anticipatory anxieties?
What about school vacations? Might issues of travel in this case-- selecting a
destination, traveling in groups, keeping one’s cool on the busiest travel days
of the year-- hold more general appeal?
You get the idea.
But for those who want to specialize, there’s no dearth of education markets
“proper.” It can be helpful to try to group them into categories to try to grasp
some of the issues and ideas they tend to cover most frequently.
Publications targeted for students. Advice is often the name of the game
here. How to apply to college. How to survive the first year at college. How to
return to college as an older student. See, for instance, Back to School.
Publications targeted for teachers. Teachers-- and parents-- know that no
two students are the same. Diversity thrives in the teacher population as well,
with markets to match (Today’s Catholic Teacher). Although articles in
teacher-oriented publications often concentrate on curriculum and teaching
practices, there’s also often room for opinion and personal essay. Education
Week’s commentary section, for example, focuses on issues in
pre-collegiate education and child development. Teacher magazine’s
“Comment” section includes both “Viewpoint” pieces and “First Person”
submissions, the latter describing “a particularly meaningful or moving personal
experience. These articles are generally school-related, and they are often
lighter in tone than ‘Viewpoint’ essays.”
Alumni magazines. Consider your own alma mater’s magazine. What kinds of
stories does it publish? Perhaps you live near a college or university and are
attuned to the people, events, and ideas percolating in its environment. Most of
these magazines are highly specialized and tailored to their own alumni audiences; the more closely related to the institution your article idea is, the
better. Many graduate schools, too, publish alumni magazines. (One good online
source with links to a number of these magazines is the University and College
Designers Association. Visit
http://ucda.com and click "Design Resources," then "Alumni Magazines.")
Publications specializing in a particular academic subject or field of
expertise. Do you have a very strong science background? Maybe you’d be
willing and able to write for one of California Wild’s several
science-oriented departments. Or perhaps you have theatre experience that the
editors of Teaching Theatre or Dramatics will appreciate in their
publications, which are geared for theatre arts teachers and students,
respectively. And if you can translate your tech-savvy to help K-12 teachers
seeking information on how to use computers in the classroom, you may have quite
a lot to offer the editors of Technology and Learning.
So throughout the school year-- and perhaps even over the summer-- give yourself
an assignment: pursue opportunities for adding some education pieces to your
portfolio. Who knows? You just may learn something, and do a bit of “teaching”
in the process...
Publications mentioned in this article:
Back to College
http://www.back2college.com/guide.htm
California Wild
http://www.calacademy.org/calwild/standard/guidelines.html
Dramatics and Teaching Theatre
http://www.edta.org/publications/writers_guidelines.asp
Education Week and Teacher
http://www.edweek.org/info/about/submit-commentary.html
Technology and Learning
http://www.techlearning.com/content/about/tl_edguide.html
Today’s Catholic Teacher
http://www.peterli.com/tct/index.shtm
© Erika Dreifus 2005
Erika Dreifus is a writer in Massachusetts and an alumna of
the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her education-related articles and
reviews have appeared in The Adjunct Advocate, Community
College Week, the New York Times Education Life, San Diego Family, Poets &
Writers, Writer’s Digest, and many others. Visit her website at
http://www.practicing-writer.com and check out her latest “Practicing
Writing” blog posts at
http://www.lulu.com/erika-dreifus.
