Revisiting Tech Writing

Reading Gian is a bit spooky when it comes to some of his experiences and mine. I already mentioned my first publication on Updike's Rabbit novels and there I see Gian talking about his familiarity with the author as he relates to personal writing. I see many other parallels as well.

One that stuck out was his experiences with technical writing. Maybe, some of you know that I sometimes teach the 3301 course on Professional Report Writing. At the Sigma Tau Delta meeting last night, I sat with two students who had taken the 3301 class with me. They asked what other courses I taught, and their mouths dropped when I told them that I was teaching Autobiography and the Personal Essay this semester. I also told them I was teaching African American literature next semester. They found it hard to believe that this technical writing teacher could switch gears and focus on more "creative" classes. I used to be proud that I could switch gears and put on my technical writing hat after coming straight from a literature or autobiography class. I had a couple of undergrad students who took the 3301 and Latino/a lit class with me the same semester. They said I was almost a different person. Oh, what high praise for such a versatile professor--a professor of all things. I was so full of myself in this regard until I read Gian's chapter on "Telling Work Legends."

Journal writing in tech writing? Uh, oh, the guilt cloud started to descend as I realized that I should have been doing this in tech writing--the personal essay scholar should have known the benefits to 3301 students, yet she tried to play the part of the traditional technical writing professor to fit in. I guess I'm reverting to 3rd person to distance myself from "that" person. I have to admit there has been a lot of serendipity going on this semester. I read Gian again today, my former students remind me of my versatility, I re-examine that "false" sense of versatility that I've created for myself. Reality hits! What a fraud I've been!
Why the heck haven't I introduced what I know and what I believe in my technical writing students? As they're working on their different portfolios "Writing on the Job," "Writing to Get a Job," and "Writing to Fill a Need," what an ideal opportunity it would be for journaling to better understand their career decisions and how they interact with community members to fill their needs. I know the class is jam packed with readings and projects, but we need to carve out a space for this type of daily or weekly journals. "Writing to Fill a Need" is a project where they meet members of our community and must help them fulfill a need. It's a difficult project to say the least--one that requires constant reflection to understand their multiple audiences as is the case for most service learning/community outreach endeavors. I hear many stories of breakthroughs and frustrations, but it would be nice to see it in written form to help them grasp some of these thoughts and work through it.

Gian gave me a good kick in reminding me what I'm supposed to be all about, and I will take this into account the next time I teach this course. Thanks, Gian, for the reminder.