A unit in assertive communication strategies for the workplace was developed and tested with approximately 45 juniors and seniors at a Utah high school. For 4 weeks of a 6-week grading period, the students were exposed to basic information on verbal and nonverbal communication and administered a survey designed to tap their individual value system regarding sensitivity to others, interpersonal skills, and personal worth. Next, the students were asked to read a magazine article on emotional intelligence, view a video on empowering others, and read excerpts from a book on assertiveness strategies to implement in the face of peer pressure and/or social criticism. After they had been introduced to such techniques as fogging, negative assertion, negative inquiry, workable compromise, positive assertion, and self-disclosure, the students were asked to apply the techniques to sample dialogues between two fictional characters from novels they had previously read in class. The unit's final writing assignment was to create original dialogue using assertiveness techniques in a workplace scenario. Feedback from the students throughout the units, tests, and written assignments was very positive and enthusiastic. (Contains 10 references. Appended are sample evaluation responses from students who took the course and the course examination.) (MN)