So my big news at work recently has been that I've been given the "Better Business Writing" or "Business Writing Essentials" class. It's a 2-day, 6 hour class, which is far removed from the 15-week format I had been used to in my former life. The class is geared toward staff members at the university and who work for the university system, which is far removed from teaching undergraduates--and oh, there's no grading. I have the opportunity to revise our current materials if I so choose, and to make small changes to the course if I wish. Right now, I'm just glad to be teaching writing in addition to software--which means that for two glorious afternoons every couple of months, I will be teaching writing instead of software.
Now, you might not be able to tell from the blog, which can be wordy and indirect, but I am a good business writer--however, teaching business writing is not my forte. Which is to say, I haven't really done it. I've taught composition. And I've taught what we were calling at the time "technical writing," which, frankly, doesn't say anything about what you're writing, how you'll be doing it, or in what context. Instead, it presented a smattering of genres--reports, proposals, letters, resumes--and an overall approach, which was to consider who the audience is and what they would be doing with whatever it is you are writing for them. But on a level, teaching writing is teaching writing, and there are simply different contexts to consider, different purposes and audiences--in short, in teaching writing, as in writing, you have to consider rhetorical situation.
So to teach this class, I want to do a little bit of research. Finding that our department's books were out-dated (over a decade old), I consulted a former colleague of mine who teaches business writing for the business school at the university. He offered books, approaches, rubrics, and we just chatted a bit about what he does vs. what I do. And there's a BIG difference there.
He teaches MBAs. He teaches executives. These are the guys who are already in business, or who at the least already have a B.A. and some work experience. They are communicating on a whole different level, for a whole different audience, than the people I teach. Because my audience will be staff members. Not members of the upper administration, but their assistants, bookkepers, accountants. The people I teach need to know how to send an informative email that will not embarrass or irritate the others in the department, to write effective recommendations for employees to get raises--in short, they need to execute standard business correspondance with competance. And I'm going to be giving them tips. They don't need to propose or report on a merger, or write business or financial plans. And that's good. Because I don't want to teach the Haliburtons. Not. Even. A. Little.
What I will be teaching is, in some ways, more humble than academic writing. It will certainly be more practical. In many cases, however, the students will be in the same place as the freshman I used to teach, except that they will have been out of school for longer in most cases, their confidence might be lower to begin with than many (but not all) undergraduates. But they will know why they are there, because if they are there, it will mean that writing is in some way important to their jobs.
I do prefer teaching people to write as a means of communicating, discovering, and synthesizing their ideas. I do ultimately want to teach people to engage with and analyze the written word, however they encounter it, and ultimately to apply that same analysis to spoken language and the world around them. I believe that by having writing at our disposal, we are in command of a lot, whether it's important to anyone else or not. This is why I have four blogs. Or five. Whatever. And I believe that writing gives us access to our own thoughts in unique ways, even as it opens us up to others around us, for good or ill. BUT...
This does not mean that I don't relish the opportunity to teach practical writing to people who need it. Just that awareness on the part of the student--that writing is significant--validates what I am doing, and what I can do. But what is really important is helping people communicate--and making writing a bit easier, and a bit less intimidating. And along the way, what I have taught them might get someone else a raise, award or promiotion. It might help people understand one another. It might mean that someone reading an email feels a little less irritation in a day. And those are all good reasons to teach writing. In fact, there are no bad reasons to teach writing. Well, maybe to train minions for world domination.... But if I had to deal with executives? *sigh* I'd have to think twice.
