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In 1990 I was invited to write a resource book for teachers.
The first step was to investigate the market for such books. It turned out the book was desperately needed. The subject Typing would no longer be offered to students – instead a new subject, Information Technology would be offered. It was proposed that it be taught by the Typing teachers.
The next step was to talk to the teachers. Some had never touched a computer before, while others were skilled programmers. This book would need detailed lesson plans to keep the teachers on track, as well as student exercises and answers.
The third step was to investigate the proposed syllabus, which gave details of everything students needed to learn and specified the assessment methods to be used. Tests were not to be used for assessment – so why did I include them? The tests allowed the teachers and students to test themselves against their own goals. Teachers needed objective feedback even more than students did.
Usually, a writer would investigate the competitors to discover what books were popular in this niche, and why. Since there weren’t any competing books in Australia, the publisher recommended a book from England.
It was time to begin writing. I began by organising the content and activities in the syllabus into a thirty-week cycle. Then I wrote a detailed outline and began writing the content.
There were several unique aspects to the writing. Firstly, I had been asked by the publisher to write one-page case studies – which was difficult, because I didn’t know the font and margin sizes that would eventually be used. The other unique aspect was that I was writing for two distinct audiences – 16-year-old students and mature adult teachers. As I wrote, I would alternately picture myself in the teacher’s place and then the students’.