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EBSTC Minigrant Programs for Teachers
The East Bay chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (EBSTC)
announces a continuing program of in-kind minigrants to assist teachers
interested in presenting technical writing to middle- or high-school students.
The minigrants, although valued from several hundred to several thousand
dollars, consist entirely of professional services donated pro bono by
volunteer EBSTC members.
What are the goals?
The goal of this program is to enable grade-appropriate instruction in basic technical writing skills and techniques to meet student and teacher needs through direct personal and professional support for the teachers who offer it.
Who is eligible?
Public middle- and high-school teachers throughout the geographic area served by EBSTC, in English or other relevant subjects (such as science), are invited to apply. The relevant area includes East Bay communities from Fremont north to Richmond and east to Antioch.
(We encourage interested teachers outside this area to contact us since comparable support negotiated from nearby STC chapters or by special arrangement might still be possible.)
How do I apply?
Read about how the minigrants work.
Select a scope, level, and objective that reflect your teaching interests and needs, and then contact:
T.R. Girill
e-mail: trg@llnl.gov
telephone: 925-422-0146
We will put you in touch with a chapter volunteer who will help you refine and then carry out your minigrant project, perhaps in coordination with related projects elsewhere. Expect us to be in touch within 10 days of your initial request.
Minigrant Administration
What is the scope of the program?
Minigrants vary in scope and in their level of instruction.
Select a project scope:
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Purpose: |
Consult with you to plan/develop a tech writing lesson and provide real examples | Present (or help you present) a localized tech writing lesson or two, with examples and exercises fully developed | Present (or help you to present) a continuing technical writing curriculum |
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Interaction: |
One visit, for an hour or two with an STC volunteer | Several visits, with prep before and follow-up after | Multiple visits, multiple volunteers, on-going contact and support |
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Example: |
Customize a lesson on one of the objectives below, share materials | Prepare and present then evaluate a lesson or two on one or two objectives | Develop or localize coordinated lessons and exercises on all objectives below |
STC Support:
- Find appropriate real-world text or publication samples
- Adapt samples for classroom or homework use
- Recommend reference materials or background reading
- Provide an "outside audience" for feedback on student writing projects
- Provide in-classroom collaboration or support
- Provide career-framing background (talks or materials)
- Recruit mentors for a student-professional mentoring program
What is the level of the program?
Select a level:
| Level | Objective |
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Help students who write poorly recognize the various features of text that improve its usability, such as the presence and absence of such features as lists, heads, labels, and other textual organizers. |
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Preparatory/basic |
Help students edit existing text to improve its usability, correcting suitably prepared technical writing samples. This also indirectly teaches the valuable basic skill of self-editing. |
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Help students with adequate basic writing ability draft usable technical text from scratch, drafting their own text, self-editing it for usability, and comparing results with other students or with real-world examples. |
Instructional Framework
What are the Objectives?
Objectives can be taught separately, in almost any combination, or as part of an on-going student project, such as planning, editing, and publishing a "quick reference guide" for a familiar device.
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| Describe a visible thing or mechanism (so well that someone else could draw it) | Composing with clarity, accuracy, relevance, completeness, organization, focus |
Describe a kitchen or garden tool. |
| Describe a (perhaps not very visible) process | See above |
Tell how milk is pasteurized or how books are printed |
| Prepare well-ordered instructions (a recipe, so that someone else could use it) | See above |
Give the steps for how to make chili mac or how to make a paper airplane. |
| Improve text usability by deploying visual cues | Overtly signaling and prompting readers | Install visual cues in cueless (decued) text (recipe or VCR guide) |
| Distinguish good from bad examples (and develop good ones) | Constructing effective comparisons and contrasts | Give good and bad examples of lists or biographies |
| Coordinate explanatory text with a diagram or picture | Show relationships, manage visual salience | Annotate diagrams selected from Tufte's or Macaulay's books |
| Help readers detect or locate answers with overt access aids | Develop and deploying aids to guide search | Add access aids to a Scientific American article, or to a sample report |
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