I am a soon-to-be school counselor who is about to start the journey towards a Masters Degree from Longwood University. I am currently a graduating senior who is studying Liberal Studies with minors in Psychology and Sociology, but my focus is on counseling. I have been interested in this field of work since the summer before sophomore year when I realized that I did not want to be a teacher. I decided that instead of conducting daily lessons, I want to be in the thick of things and helps students with their personal and social development. I have always been someone who enjoys giving advice and listening to people venting about their issues, so this job makes perfect sense for me. What really solidified this choice was an internship I did that just recently ended. I was a school counseling intern at Prince Edward County Middle School for 30 weeks and loved every minute of it. I had a wonderful mentor who showed me every side of school counseling; the good and the ugly. I was really able to dive in and see what it would be like to actually have this job. It helped me understand that this is truly what I want to do with my career. As someone who loves working with kids and is very organized, I believe those two go hand in hand when it comes to school counseling. I am excited to put my communicative and creative skills to work as I change the lives of my students who might not have anyone in their corner to support them.
The purpose of this ePortfolio is to showcase the projects and writing pieces that I have created during my time in this professional writing course, English 470. Throughout the semester, I completed two letters that involved presenting bad news in a professional setting and then persuading people of high influence in my community to improve upon an aspect that would benefit the members of Farmville. My next assignment included two different parts with a brochure and press release based on a fictional company that was intent on selling a new product. My team and I created a visual representation of our company and product within the brochure and then produced an announcement of this product coming to sales in our news release. The assignment that followed, and the last, was a formal report that analyzed different websites to give feedback to a struggling company. My group and I created a consulting team that looked at three different gaming websites in order to assist another gaming company in improving their overall layout and modern feel to increase website traffic and sales.
These multiple professional writing pieces have helped open my mind to what I will experience in the working world. While in the classroom, I have accomplished and grown from all of the desired learning objectives by putting my best foot forward and applying my abilities to create professional documents. Before this class, I had no idea about the documents that are required for the business world. I did not think that I would use anything from this class after graduation, but my mind was changed when I realized that these professional writings are very commonly used. Though a middle school may not seem like the most professional setting, I am sure I will still be required to conduct professional documents in some capacity. Because of this class, I can now confidently say that I will be able to handle a variety of assignments given in the working world that pertain to writing in an executive environment. Both the formal and informal assignments I have completed in this class have increased my repertoire when it comes to writing for different occasions and purposes.
I will be connecting my time in this class, and the assignments, to the learning outcomes below as I show how I have achieved each and every one of them.
| Course Learning OutcomesÂ
1. Analyze and produce writing genres commonly found in the professional world (e.g., business, gov., media); 2. Create professional documents that use plain English (clear, concise, and grammatically correct); 3. Conduct research to create content for a variety of professional documents (memos, letters, reports, etc.); 4. Create professional documents that use design—standard formats, layout, use of graphics, etc. 5. Practice oral communication skills to present content effectively (enhanced with multimedia tools); 6. Participate productively in collaborative projects. |