TAA members urged to submit to Teaching Point JACKSONVILLE, Florida, December 7, 1999 -- The 20 percent royalties offered by Teaching Point to members of Text and Academic Authors for course materials is a good deal, said Ron Pynn, TAA executive director. Pynn encouraged members to contact Teaching Point immediately, even before a formal arrangement can be worked out by the association. Teaching Point has proposed 20 percent to authors. Background: Class materials publisher seeks TAA author works (next article).

Teaching Point seeks TAA member course materials JACKSONVILLE, Florida, December 7, 1999 -- The chief executive officer of the Teaching Point, a web site offering a comprehensive series of K-12 course materials, proposed an agreement with Text and Academic Authors to reach veteran authors. Teaching Point, in partnership with the National Association of Laboratory Schools, is developing a complete set of teacher preparation materials called Expert Systems for Teachers and would like TAA to promote the project to its members. Teaching Point offers 20 percent royalties to authors.

Ron Pynn, TAA executive director, urged members, to enter into agreements with the Teaching Point immediately on their own, even without a formal deal with TAA.

Teaching Point chief executive, Doug Matthews, got the idea for the partnership after seeing TAA's web site, which he called informative and helpful. "I had been looking for the TAA contract report to see what percentage of royalties were being offered by other publishers," said Matthews. "Since my wife is a teacher and an author, I told her she should be a member. We have been members for almost six months now and find the web site and print newsletter informative and helpful, giving us a good overview of what's going on in the text and academic authoring world."

All materials submitted to the Teaching Point by TAA members would be reviewed by an academic publishing review board, said Matthews, to ensure that the materials cover nationally recognized guidelines and standards for the subject and are accredited. All board members would be experts in the subject they review, he said.

Teaching Point is looking for veteran teachers, with at least five years of experience in their subject and have written materials in almost publishable form. "The materials are the 'cookbook' for the class, and we're looking for a 'master teacher' in all subjects at all grade levels that have their materials into almost publishable form," said Matthews. "A master teacher would be much like a master chef, who doesn't leave out any ingredients." Their goal is to have the materials ready for publication in 18 months for "just in time" delivery over the Internet in English and translations to major languages. They are offering a 20 percent royalty.

Written materials should have these qualities, said Matthews: Elements that other teachers could replicate. Proven success in the classroom. Strategies that actually work and detailed instructions on how to make them work. The teacher materials would consist of a syllabus, daily lecture notes, quizzes and tests, daily lesson plans, worksheets, homework, labs if applicable, and teaching strategies. The student materials would consist of homework sheets and daily lecture notes for overhead materials. All materials would be carefully timed out, said Matthews, and include a suggested list of videos, textbooks and other ancillary materials.

Teachers interested in the project should visit the Teaching Point web site and fill out a 20-question pre-publication form in the teacher-author section, said Matthews. "

Class materials publisher seeks TAA author works JACKSONVILLE, Florida, November 19, 1999 -- The chief executive of Teaching Point, a web site offering course materials, proposed an agreement with Text and Academic Authors for members to publish course materials, including lecture outlines. Ron Pynn, TAA executive director, said the proposal would go TAA's governing board.