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 < back to authors list Andrew Johnson:
Education author Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D., worked for nine years in the public schools as a first, second, fifth and sixth grade teacher and as a gifted education coordinator before moving into higher education. He credits his ability to maintain the perspective of a second grade teacher with his writing and teaching success. "I love teaching and education," he said. "I'll always be a second grade teacher. This perspective helps me in teaching my graduate and undergraduate courses. It also helps me in my writing." Johnson, professor and chair of the Department of Special Education at Mankato State University (MSU) in Minnesota, recently completed his sixth book, Teaching and Writing: Research-based strategies for teachers, tutors, parents and paraprofessionals (Rowman and Littlefield, 2008), which is due out any day. "This is one of those magical books that fell together," he said. "It only took me about four months to write it." Johnson's purpose for writing the book evolved during the writing process. "Originally, I wanted to create a handbook that my undergraduate students could use as a guide in tutoring students in reading," said Johnson. "I wanted to provide simple descriptions of research-based strategies that they could put into practice immediately." In addition, he selected strategies that could be implemented without having to acquire additional books, packages or other instructional materials. Johnson's goal was that students and others using the book would only need paper, pencil, books, creativity, imagination and a desire to help students. "As I began writing this handbook, I realized that this would also be of use to parents who want to help their children at home, and paraprofessionals who are often put in tutoring roles," Johnson said. He also started to see a use in the strategies for classroom teachers. "Thus, this tutoring guide expanded slightly," he said. "It is designed for parents, teachers, paraprofessionals and others who want to help children develop their full literacy potential." Johnson's innovations are presented in a simple style in the book. "I have sought to keep it as absolutely simple as possible," he said. "Rigor and complexity are not synonymous. Neither are quantity and effectiveness. My language is simple. My citations are minimal. My examples are straightforward and uncomplicated." The strategies and activities are described so that readers can easily adopt and adapt them. In addition, Internet search terms are included to help the reader get more information on a given subject, or to use in finding public-domain worksheets and teacher activities. As the title of the book reveals, the guide describes a variety of effective, research-based strategies to use in tutoring a child to read. The easy-to-understand strategies can be used for one-on-one, small group or whole class instruction. Johnson earned his doctorate in literacy education from MSU in 1997, and he's currently in his 12th year of teaching at the MSU, Mankato. He specializes in literacy education, research-based strategies for the inclusive classroom, social studies education, action research, holistic education and gifted education. His various textbooks reflect his wide range of interests: The Inner Curriculum: Classroom Activities to Develop Emotional Intelligence (Royal Fireworks Press, 2006); Making Connections With Elementary and Middle School Studies (Sage Publications, 2006); A Short Guide to Action Research (second edition, Allyn and Bacon, 2005); A Short Guide to Academic Writing (University Press of America, 2003); and Up and Out: Using Creative and Critical Thinking Skills to Enhance Learning (Allyn and Bacon, 2001), his first textbook. He started writing his first textbook, about teaching skills, in 1999. "I realized that there wasn't a good book out there that explained thinking skills in a simple, straight-forward way, and at the same time, provided activities and strategies that any teacher could use," he said. "The key to writing a successful textbook is finding a hole in the book market." Before writing his first textbook, he focused exclusively on articles related to teaching, education and learning for peer reviewed journals. He continues to write articles for journals, but his main focus these days is writing textbooks. Currently, Johnson has worked under contract to write second and third editions of several of his textbooks. He's working on the second edition for his social studies textbook, Making Connections With Elementary and Middle School Social Studies, which will come out sometime in 2009. He found this one particularly difficult, because he was immersed in two other book projects at the time. It also seemed he was going back to an area (social studies) that he thought he left. "I really had to discipline myself to sit down every day and do my research," Johnson said. "You have to find something new to get excited about. In this case, the editors asked readers about the things they would like included. Many wanted strategies for teaching students who are second language learners in the general education classroom. It was exciting to explore this new area." Johnson's advice to other authors who want to write textbooks includes "to look for what needs saying. Look for a hole in the book market," he said. "Look for the book you'd like to see that isn't there." His other suggestion is to plan your textbook carefully. "The prospectus is very important," Johnson said. "It helps you to think through your book." Also keep in mind that the editors will be publishing your book to make money, not to make the world a better place. "In the back of your mind, you need to always be making a case for your book being able to sell," he said. For Johnson, the summer months are his best time for writing. "However, most of my real writing happens between 5 and 7:30 in the morning. The trick is to show up every day," he said. Johnson resides in Mankato with his wife, Dr. Nancy Fitzsimons, who teaches social studies at MSU. They have two dogs, Teddy and Mickey. In his spare time, Johnson enjoys writing, reading and running. Kim Seidel is a freelance writer based in Onalaska, Wis.
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