CRITICAL THINKING AND COMMUNICATION:

AN INTENSIVE SEMINAR IN
PROBLEM-SOLVING, TECHNICAL
WRITING AND EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LANGUAGE

How To Prepare Your Students for the Real World

by David Snyder
Tel:  252.747.1339

Author of How To Mind Read Your Customers
(American Management Association)
and How to Stay Competitive Without Losing Your Soul (forthcoming).

For more information call 252.747.1339, or reach David on his cell phone at 919.920.0551.  Or email: dsnyder@esn.net.

All Material Copyright ©1999 by David Snyder. 

Brief Outline and Reason for Program

# 1 Complaint of Manufacturers and Employers
Regarding New Employees
According To An Extensive Confidential Survey of Education and Business Leaders:*

"Why Can't Our New Young Employees Do a Better Job of Solving Problems, Demonstrate an Ability to Think for Themselves and Learn How to Communicate With Team Members and Supervisors Better-both verbally and in writing?"

#1 Question about this complaint:  "Can anything be done?"

Short Answer:    Yes.   But intervention is necessary.

Explanation: * David Snyder, an organizational development strategist, American Management Association author and nationally recognized corporate consultant in team building and strategic process improvement, spent more than a year exhaustively analyzing the performance of vocational education in Greene, Jones and Lenoir counties.   Almost every high school student in these counties (N=3,000 +) and most of their vocational teachers were subjected to an extensive scientific research questionnaire, teaching methods were observed, guidance counseling was scrutinized, and education and business leaders were interviewed.  Many of their complaints echo the findings of other researchers across the nation.

Bottom line:    A growing emphasis on standardized test taking skills, according to many teachers, employers and even students has led to a perceptible loss in "critical thinking skills" among new high school or community college graduates along with a loss of self-confidence in an ability to solve problems for oneself.   Additionally, writing instruction, according to teachers, seems not to prepare students for the methodical, science-based technical writing that is mostly demanded in today's high-tech workplace.

Solution:   In the mid-1990s, while finishing graduate studies at Harvard University, David Snyder was asked to develop a course on science journalism that became the basis for a critical thinking and business writing course that he has now delivered widely at many other schools such as Penn State, for corporations such as Alltel and the Mayo Clinic, and for public school systems.  At every company where this critical thinking and technical writing module has been implemented, managers have documented a perceptible rise in the * Level of accuracy in verbal and written communications between and among team members and supervisors;  * An increased degree of responsibility for pointing out personal errors to supervisors; *  Visibly increased motivation and a sense of responsibility for one's job;  *  A visibly greater demonstration of self-confidence in problem-solving and critical thinking abilities.   At a public school where a similar program was piloted to middle school students, end of grade scores in reading comprehension were up more than 1000  percent in sixth grade, and were also up significantly in other grades.

Using a patented and highly specific approach that teaches critical thinking, self-confidence and technical writing skills at the same time, the course by David Snyder titled CRITICAL THINKING AND COMMUNICATION: AN INTENSIVE SEMINAR IN PROBLEM-SOLVING, TECHNICAL WRITING AND EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LANGUAGE is guaranteed to achieve the following goals:   

• Students and employees will write much more effective memos, proposals, emails, and problem-solving reports.

• Reading comprehension will improve.

• Test scores on reading tests will improve.

• Student writing in science and technical subjects will improve dramatically, especially with regard to accuracy, clarity, level of persuasion, logical flow, and proposed solutions.

• Teachers will learn simple and easy to grade writing exercises that can help teach science writing and improve student knowledge retention of specific course fundamentals at the same time.

• Critical thinking and self-confidence in problem solving will increase for students and employees in any technical or vocational field.

• Mistakes stemming from poor communications, both verbal and written, will be minimized, especially with end-of-shift or change of shift reports. 

• Team members will learn the 25 essential questions that must be mentally addressed when dealing with or reporting on customers problems, complaints or requests, in order to prevent mistakes.  

• Team members will feel less awkward about reporting their errors or problems to supervisors and will take a greater responsibility for their actions. (Supervisors should be asked to attend the sessions as well to insure that this policy of openness will be adhered to.)