Real-Life Communication
Carol is a science teacher at Acorn Secondary, a large high school.
She has a lot of students and no spare time. She has become increasingly concerned
that she may be covering the same material or overlapping some topics with
some of her students.
Her supervisor arranges for a teacher aide to
help her. Ann, the aide, quickly realizes that much of the senior class material
overlaps. Carol, Ann and the supervisor meet again to discuss
the issue.
At this meeting, they decide that the school board will
hire a consultant to do some research, interview students and staff and make
recommendations to the school board.
You are that consultant. After
an initial meeting with teachers and staff, the school board requests that
you submit a memo in which you describe what you plan to do and when you plan
to do it. Remember that the school year has already started (it is November).
No one can afford to take a long time to get to the bottom of this.
You
know you need to meet with teachers, staff and student representatives to
get their views on the situation. Then you need to develop methods for doing
your survey and research, and run those methods by the people at the school.
At the end of your memo, remember to ask if you can set up information sessions
to explain the process.
"In my research role, written communication
is vital," says demographer Ellen Gee.