Lyn aims to inspire students
THE writer of a new business book for Leaving Certificate students has spoken about how her love of the subject was sparked by her time in a Wicklow school.
Lyn Byrne’s book, ‘Business for Success Leaving Certificate’, was published in March this year.
An academic writing tutor at IT Carlow, Lyn’s love of business developed while she was a student at St Mary’s College in Arklow. She also attended first year in FCJ Convent in Bunclody, Co. Wexford before her family moved to Arklow.
‘I did do business and it was one of my favourite subjects. I went on to do Business and French in college,’ Lyn said.
A business teacher with many years of experience, Lyn said the book came about following a chance meeting with the commissioning editor at Gill Education.
‘At the time I was speaking to her about my background and what I was looking forward to. I was trying to get into publishing to find some way to help students on a bigger scale.’
Lyn was asked to write a proposal for the business textbook by the commissioning editor.
‘She thought I had great ideas. I have 20 years experience teaching business at secondary and third level. I also have a MA in journalism and a particular talent for writing and communicating.’
Lyn has taught in schools in Carlow, Kildare and Wicklow including Scoil Chonglais in Baltinglass and Colaiste Eoin in Hacketstown. As well as her experience as teacher, Lyn has also worked in the businesses and her family background is entrepreneurial as her parent were sole traders.
Lyn said, it took around 12 months to research and write the textbook along with preparing teaching resources.
‘I also wrote a handbook/workbook for students to answer exam questions and a lot of online resources. I focused on developing an online digital library which I’m really happy with. That’s also to help teachers with extra resources for the class.’
Lyn said she wanted students to engage with the book and provided many real world examples of businesses to grab their attention.
‘There are a lot of Irish entrepreneurs and those from less profiled industries that are in fashion, beauty or pharmaceuticals...I tried to make it very modern, fresh and edgy. I think it does lot to really appeal to the student and teacher.’
As well as producing a book to engage students, Lyn said she also wanted to ‘serve the teachers’ needs’. She has received lots of positive feedback from teachers since the book was released.
‘I did quite a bit of research and then made sure I was looking forward to see potentially what they might need in the future and how to develop their skills.’
Lyn drew extensively on her broad experience of teaching in a variety of settings while writing the book. But she added she wants using the textbook to be a fun experience for students.
‘I tried to bring in the creativity and fun element of learning. What kids really like in the classroom is some exercises that don’t seem like work but feel real and relevant. The first thing teenagers say is “what’s that got to do with real business or the real world?”
‘You want to show them immediately how it’s relevant and get them excited about it, That was in my mind all along to inspire them. Every sentence I wrote I asked myself is this inspiring?’
The book’s cover features successful Irish and international entrepreneurs, many of whom would be familiar to young people. The choice of entrepreneurs was intended to inspire ‘that sense of real excitement and possibility that anyone can become an entrepreneur’.
‘I want to create budding entrepreneurs. [It’s] not just another business book but one that would inspire the new generation of entrepreneurs.’