Thank you for agreeing to engage in a dialogue with practitioners, parents and leaders in the

field who are committed to transforming school culture by creating unfettered access for all

students. Blogging may be one of the few opportunities that we have to comment on the present,

drawing on our interactions in daily life and initiating educational discourse in an informal

manner.

To aid you in writing the blog, we, at NIUSI LeadScape, have created a few guidelines for

blogging and stylistic requirements that we ask you abide by throughout the writing process.

The purpose of providing you with these is to ensure that each piece is both designed within the

blogging medium and is aligned with our agenda to support the creation of inclusive schools

where all children experience equal opportunities and access to learning.

Guidelines

Writing Tips? Unlike academic writing for journals, writers who participate in the blogging

genre use a personal, narrative style, which opens up the reading experience for parents and

practitioners who may have little patience for scholarly discourse. You can write in first person

or third but make your writing friendly. When you introduce a new term, explain it without

using technical language. You can even use hyper-links, giving the reader a place to go for a

more in-depth understanding of the concept. Writing in the LeadScape blog style means your

piece is tightly organized and to the point but clear, jargon free, and fascinating. Our goal is to

create highly engaging blogs which keep readers coming back for more!

What is Blog Content? Blog topics should be important to the writer but also be generative

enough to create dialogue/conversation. You could describe a current event, a recent experience,

respond to a current event, or offer a point of view that will engage readers to think about their

practice, their values, and/or their perspectives through fresh eyes. As a blogger, you can use

your expertise, which usually derives from researching and reading widely in the research

literature, but you should also pull from the knowledge gained by reading Ed Week and other

news sources that are reporting the most current happenings in the field of education. Listening

to the radio and TV also can give you relevant and current intellectual and political fodder.

Length of Entry? 500 to 1000 words.

Who is your audience? Remember that families and practitioners are reading these blogs.

They want to know what to do, not an exposition on theory, meaning that you can introduce a

few principles or describe a framework, but then you should create authentic examples or

vignettes that reveal how the framework, idea, or concept works in real life.

What purpose do blogs serve? Our blog is a tool for e-learning. It is designed to translate

research, take every day experiences and uncover their multiple meanings and create accessible

and useful information for news organizations, families, community members and practitioners.

Our blog should challenge accepted assumptions and practices and inspire readers to further

discussion and action. Each blog should engage readers in learning new ways of thinking and

acting to educate all students.

Stylistic Requirements

Writing Style? The writing style should be smooth and friendly. Use headings that ask

questions. Try to hear what you are writing—imagining how it sounds to teachers or family

members that you know. Will they be engaged? Confused? Interested? Curious enough to keep

reading?

Building your argument? Be straightforward. Describe your idea and defend it with research-

based literature. While we want you to reference literature, unlike APA, you should footnote

references to direct quotes and put the rest of your references in a reference list at the back of the

article rather than citations directly embedded in text. If available, please provide the direct link

to the article or reference you are citing.

Making a case for the ways that you label students. In general, all NIUSI-LeadScape

publications use people-first language. When referring to students with disabilities, we use the

terms “with disabilities", or “with differing abilities." We do not use the terms “students with

special needs” or “students at-risk.” Use of other terms are subject to discussion and negotiation.

Further, we encourage you to examine your word choice and why you use particular words or

phrases to describe groups of people.

Using appreciative inquiry approach to urban schools, students and families. We believe

deeply that urban schools, families, and students bring assets, capacities and abilities to the table.

As a result, we avoid beginning any discussion about schools with what's wrong. Rather than

identifying problems as lying within students, your argument should examine how solutions can

be created within systems. One central tenet guides our work: Assets are created wherever

multicultural and linguistic heritages are found.

What does the process involve? Once we’ve agreed on your topic and point of view, we will

negotiate a deadline for submitting your draft. The editorial team will review your draft, make

suggestions and provide edits and revisions, as needed, to maintain the voice and message of the

NIUSI LeadScape Blog. All of our blogs go through a rigorous editing process. We will not

publish any written piece without the approval of all edits by the author.

Writing a blog is a great way to escape the conventions of academia. We welcome your

creativity in reaching out to a broad audience base.

We look forward to your blog,

The NIUSI-LeadScape Editors

Elizabeth B. Kozleski, Project Director

Cynthia Mruczek, Assistant Director

Taucia Gonzalez, Editorial Assistant