Written communication skills for the 21st century: by teaching the skills needed in today's workplace, technical writing at Baltimore's Eastern Technical High School has become a model for technical writing instruction in Maryland schools.

Taught in a state-of-the-art PC computer lab, technical writing at Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore County Public Schools, Maryland, has drawn wide student interest because of its practical applications. Students use acquired skills when completing the senior independent project, a yearlong research project required for graduation, and in preparing them for writing tasks they will confront in business and industry and in higher education. Working in teams, students learn the cooperative model to produce high-quality documents.

Eastern Tech Senior Derek Lynch (Engineering), when interviewed about his experiences in technical writing this semester, had this to say: "In my engineering courses at Eastern, I constantly have to create documents that explain in detail the projects I am working on. I know that this will be a major communications requirement throughout my college career and later when I get a job. I am glad I selected technical writing as an elective this year, because it has helped me tremendously with my senior independent project, and it makes significant connections to the real world."

Tenth-grader Shannon Hagerman (Allied Health) said, "Depending on what job field I finally land in, I will probably have to write reports and enter data into a computer. The key thing I've learned in this course is to be precise and to the point when doing projects. As Mr. Kramer, my instructor, tells all of his students--`Less is more.'"

Teaching Real-World Skills

Eastern Tech students who were interviewed for this article stressed the practical nature of the course's content and its direct applications to the world of work. Technical writing at Eastern Tech has become a solid bridge to the needs of the business community and a prime example of how a high school, with vision and goal setting, can adjust…