JA Business Communications, part of the JA High School Experience courses, is a one-semester teacher-led course that equips high school students to focus on communication skills necessary to succeed in business, including communicating up, down, and across organizations, talking about performance, and writing in a business setting. Volunteers engage with students through a variety of activities that includes subject matter guest speaking and coaching or advising for case study and project course work.
Students will:
- Learn the necessary concepts applicable to state and national educational standards.
- Apply these standards-based concepts to the real world.
- Synthesize elective concepts through cumulative, tangible deliverables (projects).
- Analyze a business situation or principle through the use of a case study.
- Demonstrate the skills necessary for future career pathway success.
Program Concepts
Active listening, Audience, Business correspondence, Business documentation, Business letter, Business policies and procedures, Communication barriers, Communication model, Communicate expectations, Communication strategies and tools, Decision Tree, Downward communication, Effective communication, Effective feedback, Effective listening, Effective meeting strategies, Email, Employer expectations, External stakeholders, Feedback loop, Internal stakeholders, Interpretation, Levels of Listening, Lines of communication, Listening strategies, Meeting planning, Memo, Message, Online messaging platforms, Organizational structure, Performance expectations, Persuasion, Persuasive writing, Presentation content, Presentation planning, Presentation skills, Professionalism, Public speaking, Purpose, Revision, Social media, Social proof, Surveys, Tone, Upward communication, Virtual meetings, Work traits, Written communication
Skills Students Learn
- Accept criticism
- Accept feedback
- Analyze audiences
- Adjust communication to situations
- Analyze communication problems
- Analyze personal experience
- Analyze situations
- Analyze similarities and differences
- Analyze writing samples
- Apply communication skills
- Brainstorm ideas
- Brainstorm solutions
- Choose the best social media platform
- Communicate with a supervisor
- Communicate with authority
- Create and deliver a presentation
- Craft an online message
- Discuss in small groups
- Draw conclusions from information
- Effective listening skills
- Evaluate consequences
- Evaluate feedback
- Evaluate performance based on expectations
- Evaluate presentations
- Evaluate professionals
- Identify the problem
- Improve communication
- Make recommendations
- Participate in discussion
- Practice oral communication
- Practice group communication
- Practice the communication model
- Provide feedback
- Respond professionally
- Revise messages
- Rewrite based on purpose
- Role-play business situations
- Role-play communication scenarios
- Use technology to polish writing
- Verbal communication skills
- Write a business policy
- Write clear messages
- Write office communication
- Write persuasive messages