Teaching a Writing Class: A Reflective Analysis Tool for Your Students

I taught business writing and technical writing courses at the college level. Most students were in the technical writing class because it was a required component for several majors, such as engineering and computer science. The majority of the students took business writing not because they wanted to, but because they thought it looked like an easier elective to fill a requirement for a number of business majors.

When the students in your class are not particularly excited about the subject matter or about attending your class, you have to be creative to earn their respect, keep their attention, and truly provide them with imperative skill development. If you can do that as painlessly as possible, they'll appreciate it even more.

On the first day of each class, I had students write down 5 opportunities, challenges, goals, etc. in regard to learning about business or technical writing. Most of the time, the challenges centered around hating to write and feeling like grammar, spelling, punctuation, or overall writing skills were inadequate to begin with. I assured my students that, by the end of the semester, they would see major improvements in their writing style and they would build confidence as writers.

It is one thing to say this to students, but another to show it to them. To show the students what they had learned, I had them complete a final writing assignment: a reflective essay on how their writing had improved throughout the course of the semester. While this assignment required them to go back and read through their papers from the semester, which can be both tedious and scary depending on how "attached" they were to each piece, what it offered was a chance to evaluate themselves and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Shown below is this reflective writing assignment. This concept can be useful not only for a writing class, but for other learning opportunities (obviously, it would have to be rewritten to work for a non-writing course).

Observations of Improvement in Your Writing Skills
Throughout the semester, we have discussed many aspects of effective business communication, including proper tone, quality, and word choice. For this writing assignment/quiz grade, you are asked to consider the types of writing you will do in your profession and to analyze the progress you have made since you completed the first assignment. Please complete each question thoroughly and with great consideration-this is a valuable tool for you. The final version needs to be typed out, but does not need to be in memo format. Please just list your name and the answers to each question.

1. What profession are you pursuing?
2. What kind of writing will you do in this profession? (think about emails, memos, reports, instructions, contracts, etc.)
3. What have you learned about business communication in this class that will help you succeed in your chosen profession? (tone, style, active voice, accurate words, memo format, etc.)
4. What did you learn in this course that you will not use at all in your profession? For example, did we discuss something in here that directly negates things you've learned in the classes for your major?
5. How has your writing improved over the course of the semester? To answer this question, you need to look back through all of your assignments for this course and list 5 improvements (with examples) that you can see in your writing.
6. What information do you still need to know/skills do you still need to develop to be an effective business communicator?