When you participate in any of the online Write Smart programs, you will be partnering with Mike McClory, one of America’s foremost authorities on turning good ideas into good writing. You will be engaged in a series of live, 21st century, multi-media learning activities — not just sitting through another tedious PowerPoint slide show.
After graduating from Northwestern University, Mike began his career with the Congressional Digest, a publication that has earned a reputation — over a span of 90 years — for presenting different sides of complex issues in crisp, unpretentious language. Years later, in a 1996 interview, he recalled the experience:
Working with seasoned professional editors was full of surprises. I found, for instance, that people in the publishing business expend an enormous amount of time and energy applying the fundamentals of grammar and punctuation. In a few weeks, I learned more about writing than I had learned in four years of high school and four years of college.
As an instructor, Mike is not a dull ivory-tower type. His background includes:
- Producing six videos, beginning with How to Become a Smarter Writer by Solving Word Puzzles, plus a series of brain-training Grammar Games — lively, entertaining online resources that make learning fun.
- Publishing the 250-page Write Smart eBook. This unique online resource provides a simplified, step-bystep Writing & Editing Blueprint, which explains the 12 fundamental language patterns that skilled professional writers and editors rely on to communicate clearly and persuasively.
- Editing the Hill Rag, a monthly Capitol Hill newsmagazine. The publication grew from 36 pages to 98 pages and became the most widely read community-based newsmagazine in Washington, DC.
- Making television commercials in New York for Fortune 500 companies.
- Teaching English and math in public and private schools (K-12) in California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
Mike McClory has taught “plain English” techniques to people of all ages and backgrounds, from fourth graders to PhDs. Participants in his writing and editing programs have come from a broad cross-section of business, government, nonprofit, and education organizations:
Association of American Medical Colleges
Department of Transportation
U.S. House and Senate (both parties)
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Montgomery County Public Schools
National Association of Homebuilders
Department of Agriculture
Public Health Foundation
U.S. Government Publishing Office
Eversheds Sutherland
Environmental Protection Agency
Department of Veterans Affairs
Department of Defense
National Audubon Society
American Psychological Association
National Waterways Conference
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Educational Testing Service
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Federal Trade Commission
Fairfax County Public Schools
American Ecology Corporation
The Smithsonian Institution
Federal Communications Commission
American Gas Association
District of Columbia Public Schools
National Association of Securities Dealers
Wider Opportunities for Women
American Association of Architects
Social Security Administration
Consumer Protection Safety Commission
Newsweek Magazine
Department of Justice
Alexandria City Public Schools
Prince George’s County
Research Institute of America
Princeton Capital Corporation
The Nature Conservancy
Falls Church Public Schools
King & Spalding
Cassidy & Associates
Department of Commerce
State Justice Institute
The Calverton School
Group Health Association
Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Department of Treasury
Chronicle of Higher Education
Library of Congress
U.S. Supreme Court
Baker & McKenzie
Arlington County Public Schools
Marine Corps Institute
The Learning Group
National Public Radio
Phoenix Systems
Berkeley Unified School District
National Institutes of Health
Life Cycle Engineering
American Horticultural Society
KIPP Public Charter Schools
Pepco
IBM
GTSI
FBI
CACI
ACTION
Peace Corps
GAO
WOR-TV
NASA
Rumsey Hall School
ANSER
Burdock Group
St. Albans School
Amtrak
Maret School
Warner-Lambert
Meridian Corporation
AARP
TRW
Burson-Marsteller
MCI
FH2M
AT&T
K2 Group
ZAI
AMS
The Potomac School
WMATA
Contel
U.S. Mint