Preparing Business- and Technical-Writing Teachers: An Extended Program

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Sep 1989

Preparing Business- and Technical-Writing Teachers: An Extended Program

C. Gilbert Storms Miami University

Abstract

While demand for business- and technical-writing courses at colleges and uni versities has increased, genuinely qualified teachers are not always available. This article describes an extended program for training graduate assistants to teach business and technical writing. The three-semester program includes a semester of apprenticeship teaching, followed by two semesters in which the graduate assistants teach their own classes. During the graduate assistants' first two semesters, they attend preparatory seminars on the teaching of pro fessional writing. The program emphasizes providing guidance and support for new teachers throughout their assistantship period, while encouraging the graduate assistants to develop their own teaching styles.