https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8

(Talking Heads- Once in a Lifetime)

For my 3rd consecutive semester, my teaching fellowship has centered upon conveying the professional identity within the Technical Communication classroom. Unlike previous semesters, the classroom polices outlined in the syllabus are explained in severe detail from the first day of class. I project the syllabus on a big screen, confirm everyone can see it with thumbs up, and make sure that the basics are and hammered into their brains with call and response.

Me: “When is this due?”

Them: “Friday”

Me: “Do you need to come to class this semester?”

Them: “Yes”

Me: “Am I Monster?”

Them: “No?”

This is not to be patronizing or condescending to a younger crowd. These students are incredibly smart adults navigating the new landscape of pandemic education with a dignity and grace that I truly respect. The call and response method reassures the instructor that we all are hearing the same information, agreeing to the same information and make us more than a group of individuals in class.  “This is a community and you not being here does not serve the community.” Sometimes I do it just to wake up other students. I want my classroom to be a machine of efficiency that operates for the benefit of all students. A lofty but worthwhile goal. The use of plain language within the technical communication classroom can increase the likelihood of this goal. According to PlainLanguage.GOV, plain language makes it easier for the public to read, understand, and use government communications. Even more detailed is Kira Dreher’s Engaging Plain Language in the Technical Communication Classroom:

Plain-language experience offers students a marketable, recognizable skill that they can strategically use to contextualize other specialized technical communication knowledge in their future careers (45).

The UNIT 1 assignment helps student focus those “recognizable skills” and organize their formal documents for their future careers. One of Dreher’s class exercises involves revising a letter regarding water meter upgrades. The students are shown a confusingly organized, overly detailed document made by the utility company that needs revision in its design and its overly complex language. Using this idea as inspiration I’ve created a UNIT 1 based resume redesign project. The steps are like Dreher’s exercise with slight modifications:

TECHCOMM CLASSROOM EXERCISE #1:

INTRODUCTION: Students are broken up in groups of 3-4.

PROMPT: Imagine you are team of professional resume writers. The following document is given to you by a client. Groups have 10 minutes to review the resume and develop best suggestions for their client to make their document more accessible to their reader. After 10 minutes, each group will present their case to their class. Use the plain language guidelines from https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/

 and try to edit these resumes for the following:

• Content
• Style
• Organization
• Design

MATERIALS:

-Five Highlighters

-Five Resumes:

(FOR INSTRUCTOR)

Each resume will emphasize an error in designing accessible documents:

1. The Siri speller resume- using talk to text to write leading to spelling mistakes
2. The grammar resume- lack of grammatical presence
3. The fonts resume- uses 5 unprofessional fonts
4. The design resume- pictures, no use of lines, graphics from a template unaligned
5. The length resume- this has details but way too much information 2-3 pages in length.

TECHCOMM CLASSROOM EXERCISE #2:

In order to foster the professional identity in the UNIT 1 assignment and throughout the semester, I have laid heavily upon the use of plain language. One key focus this semester centers on using 10 minute writing exercises written in plain language to help draft the traditionally hardest parts of this assignment for the students. Each class starts with a writing prompt inspired by sections of the UNIT 1 written instructions. For example:

1. Name 3 of your best job skills
2. Give 1-2 reasons for each choice using bullet points
   • Communication education
     1. Bachelor’s degree with honors
     2. current 4.0 master’s student

After this exercise we will discuss our skills and through a class conversation, we will expand and incorporate our thoughts into our cover letters format.

 

PLAIN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM POLICIES:

In addition to creating assignments focused in plain language, the classroom itself is managed in clear language and simplified terms. There is no way to typify or categorize the so-called “average student” in a pandemic learning environment. The previous semesters of UMASS Dartmouth undergraduate students have been uniquely their own. It is no doubt that that the Kairos surrounding a world emerging from hiding that makes these classes a uniquely rewarding experience. The 2023 spring semester has felt more relaxed, less masks/ PPE in years, and at the same time more tense, as probably a result of we can now finally see each other’s faces. Students and faculty taking chances on their immune systems again, and the disappearance of the foreboding emails beginning with, “In these uncertain times…” We are going through something together, beyond the classroom, we are living in a historic time. I want the environment that we grow within to nurture creativity all while we understand that we must adhere to the same rules. Classroom policies use formal university guidelines and exact language copy and pasted from the UMASS Dartmouth student handbook. Are these policies written in plain language? Do they truly understand the rules? The most difficult task of the last 2 semesters has been conveying attendance. One semester goal centered on getting students to come to class. The theme for the semester has been summarized with the class moto: “Wanna pass, come to class.” Using a catchy, grammatically incorrect phrase in the plainest language to convey the importance of classroom attendance. Does this phrase simply mean that if they show up, they will pass? No. But it decreases the ability to disconnect from the course material significantly. Many studies show that students that show up, perform better, therefore we must stress that being class is the centerpiece of success. The classroom is structured in 10-minute blocks of activities, discussions, lectures, and group work. In 50-minutes we squeeze the life out of the time we have together, and as an instructor I go out of my way to seek new voices in their contribution. Dreher said:

Effective plain-language guidelines overlap many of the goals of technical communication, such as prioritizing users’ needs and interests, involving users in producing texts, and using effective organization and design (49).

By prioritizing the users (students), I aim to meet their needs and interests through plain language text. There is no perfect way to govern a classroom, but making sure everyone understands the goals, needs, objectives and rules can expand learning opportunties from instructor to students.