Word Up! Goes to School (Part Two)

Last Wednesday, I had the privilege of visiting Garret Romaine’s technical-editing class at Portland State University. We talked about the importance of writing skills in the workplace—a topic already familiar to these language-loving students, many of whom already have experience writing for local companies.

The students (as you may know from a previous post) will be reading Word Up! this semester.

Marcia talking with students in Garret Romaine’s technical-editing class at Portland State University. The topic? What else! The importance of writing. (Photo courtesy of videographer extraordinaire, Asia Brown.)

Todd Albertson, a PSU student who had wanted to take this class but was unable to, picked up a copy of the book at the bookstore and sent me this note: “I read Word Up! in one sitting. I love the witty language and Monty Python references. The glossary alone is so valuable I’m copying it and pinning it to the wall above my computer.”

Thanks, Todd. And thanks, Garret, for the opportunity to meet your students.

I would like Word Up! to find its way into more classrooms. Do you teach writing (or know someone who does)? If so, please check out the excerpts and exercises on this website. After that, I hope that you will need no invitation to add Word Up! to your required-reading list (or to suggest this idea to your teacher friends). What skill merits passing on to the next generation more than writing? People who write well think well. And what could the world need more than people who think well?