Technical Writing in the Composition Classroom

I have been struggling with incorporating my field, Technical Writing, into my classes. Through my composition classes I have learned a lot of theory and realize just how important process is in the composition classroom (considering we require students to write rough drafts and turn them in with their "final" drafts). As I have mentioned in previous posts, I see the importance of the process and I have my own process of composing. But, as a Technical Writer I am concerned with the final product. It drives me absolutely insane when I find mistakes in my own final products (although I know I am human and no matter what there are bound to be a few mistakes). All I know is that when I am editing and creating documents for clients, they don't really care what my process is, all they care about is the final product. For me not to emphasize this in class, I think, would do students a disservice.

I have had one class, outside of the English department that has asked me to turn in a rough draft of a paper. In the English department, instructors are lucky because they have the ability to look at the improvement of a piece and incorporate that into the final grade (if they so choose). However, in most other fields, all the teacher sees is the final product (at least in my experience) and grade accordingly.

I have yet to really figure out how to incorporate my passion for technical writing into my assignments other than stressing the importance of not only the process, but the importance of the final product. I do freewrites that prompt students to think beyond the walls of academia. I discuss with them the importance of writing in and beyond college. I do what I can to make it "real" for them. I have a lot to learn, but I am confident I will learn it and I will get better.

Sometimes I feel as though there is this divide between Technical Writing and Composition/Rhetoric. I may be imagining things, but from the things I have studied and read, there is a distinction. For example, I was at the 4C's this week and one of the presenters discussed a paper she does with her Writing I students. Instead of telling her students the importance of writing, she has them research it. The first semester she did this assignment she basically had them search their field and find out whether or not they would need writing and for what context. At the end of the presentation, someone asked a question along the lines of whether the assignment produced results that placed more of an emphasis on "technical writing." Although I do not remember the exact phrasing of the question, I was a little offended. It felt as though technical writing had no place in the English department and maybe even that it was inferior to composition. I may just be overly sensitive, but that is how the question hit me.

I think technical writing and composition can "learn" a lot from each other (for lack of a better way to explain this). There is a place for both. I have found through firsthand experience just why the two "need" each other. I have learned more than I have time to explain about technical writing by taking composition classes and teaching composition. I hope to continue my study and somehow combine the two in the future for I feel they both have a place in academia and in the English department. The thing I find strangest about the comment is that aren't we supposed to be teaching students to write not just in the composition classroom but in other settings, including the "real world" which from the comment is what I think was meant by "technical writing." Although I haven't come up with a specific assignment to incorporate my "passion" for technical writing, I still feel it has a place in and out of the composition classroom and vice versa.