Seeking Guest Bloggers for Fall 2019

Have a great idea for a blog post for teachers? I'd love to hear from you. Guest blogging for Christian Teacher, Public School may be a great way to get your idea out there and build community with other teachers. Here's what we'd most like to see:

• Posts that discuss the everyday life of teachers who hold to the Christian faith while teaching in the public school. This could be in the form of a journal, a how-to, or any structure that works for you.

• Technology, art, music, and other special focus areas of education. Give us your takeaways from a recent conference, a book you loved, or a class you took. Inspire fellow teachers to hone their craft and be the best they can be.

• Devotionals for teachers. How has God been working in your life recently? What Bible passages has He laid on your heart to share with other teachers? Share ideas for how to pray for students.

• Posts that show us first-hand how you or an interviewee build rapport with students and parents.

• Posts that help teachers understand IEPs, 504s, and how to both relate to special needs students and help them grow academically and emotionally.

• Book reviews of recently-published books for teachers. You could also do a roundup of readalouds, multicultural novels for middle grade readers, or other books for the classroom library. Have you written a book for teachers? We'd like to know.

• Posts that show us first-hand how you or an interviewee teach a lesson, build a unit, organize a field trip, rock a fundraiser, or other practical how-to article.

• Posts that round up resources for Christian teachers in public schools, especially freebies, helpful organizations, teacher hacks, online tools, and basically anything practical for daily teacher life.

If you write about students, be sure to change names and any identifying information. Follow FERPA! And get any necessary permissions from people you interview or photograph.

Some guest blog submissions may be declined, usually because they're not quite what I'm looking for. Follow the above bullet points, and you'll be more likely to have your idea accepted for publication. Feel free to submit more than one idea!

There's no pay for guest blogging with me, but I'll generate buzz through Instagram @amyballardwriter and here on my blog. You'll spread the word to your friends, and our combined readership will get your ideas out there to a wide network of teachers. I hope you'll consider sharing your awesome-teacher insight on Christian Teacher, Public School this year.

All the best,

New Tab: Autism Resource Links

"I will give thanks to You, 

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well."

Psalm 139:14 (NASB)

April is Autism Acceptance Month!

We've added an Autism resource tab to the top of the Christian Teacher, Public School blog. This small effort won't lead to the most exhaustive list of Autism Spectrum resources on the Web. Instead, I hope it helps readers of this blog form connections at crucial times in their journeys with autism (whether as parents, teachers, or as people on the Spectrum themselves) and to help others along the way.

Interested in writing about autism in the public school setting? I would like to connect with guest bloggers who are teachers or who are parents of public school children on the Spectrum. On the Spectrum yourself? Even better.

Here are some tips on writing about Autism for Christian Teacher, Public School:

• Be clear: Who are you and why are your writing about this topic? What's your point? What are you helping/asking readers to do?
• Be current and accurate in your research, citing sources as appropriate
• Explain acronyms on the first use
• Be personal, revealing actual perspectives of real people on the Autism Spectrum, not assumptions
• Obtain permission, change names as appropriate, and be accurate in your representations of others
• Connect readers to resources (lesson plans, accommodations, blogs, books, local chapters of Autism organizations, support groups, conferences, etc.)
• Keep a positive and constructive tone
• Be original (only your own work that hasn't appeared online before)
• Keep the audience in mind. We exist specifically for Christian teachers who teach in public schools, although others may find us helpful. Our preferred content is uplifting, spiritually-relevant, and biblically-literate. We believe that God created all neurotypes as a reflection of His creativity, uniqueness, power, glory, and love. We celebrate autism as a gift from the creator. Not every article need express this perspective overtly, and "preaching" is not wanted. Just let your light shine.

How to Submit

Please query before sending submissions for consideration. Contact Amy Ballard by email at amy (at) amyballard (dot) com. Nominal payment may be available for quality content on Autism in the public school, especially if written by teachers or students (current or former) with Autism. We'd love to hear from you!