My business writing class was very small this semester. Apparently late afternoon classes are not popular with our students. (A scheduled class for next semester in the same time slot did not get any sign ups.)
Sometimes instructors focus on the “I could have been better.” Let’s face it. Yes, if you are a normal human, you could have been better. You could have done at least one thing in the semester better.
But at this time of the semester, when we’re all breathing a sigh of relief because our grades are in (or are frantically finishing the stacks as finals begin), we should also take a bit of time to think about what we did well.
I borrowed a colleague’s idea and had my students come in early with their résumés and cover letters and do an interview with me. That was great! (Thanks, Heidi.)
I integrated digital presentations into the business writing class. I like this idea. I think it has a lot of potential. It also stretched my students to see composing a video as “writing” (or at least communicating).
Students in my business writing class had to do primary and secondary research on a topic. Most of them did a stellar job.
One of the students created a flyer basically answering the question, “What can you do with an English major?” I liked it. I’m going to be carrying it with me to all those meetings I have with prospective students’ parents. (That’s the single most common question I get asked.) Whoo too! Student created something for my class that will have a real-world use. Thanks, Student!
And, for the actual point of the post, here are the three emails I received from students in this class:
I really enjoyed your class and every assignment we did was something I am going to need experience with and I enjoyed learning how to do them. Thank you for your time this semester.
This was definitely one of the most helpful classes I have taken at OurU, and I was especially glad to learn about résumé writing and cover letters. I’ve recommended it to several of my friends.
Thank you for everything. I enjoyed your class and learned a lot that I will carry with me when I get back into the “real world.”
I love my job!