Tips for English 304 Success

This class is a really great experience. Not only do you learn how to effectively communicate in the business world, you also get the chance to work with a client and put your noewly obtained knowledge to the test. One tip I would suggest for success in this class is to stay on top of your assignments. When you have group work to do, plan meetings quickly and get as much work done as soon as you can. It is a lot of work so it makes the semester go a lit smoother when you are working hard early. Another bit of advice is to go talk to Angie about anything you have the smallest question about. She really does do everything in her power to give people who deserve an A that grade. She will work with you all semester. Good luck in class and enjoy it. It really is a beneficial course, especially when you take it from Angie.

A Good Ole Southern Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving this year, as it is with many people, was full of family. This year, we decided to eat Thanksgiving supper at my new 2nd cousin's Mother and Father's house in Peachtree City, Georgia. Peachtree City is about 35 minutes south of Atlanta. Once we were ready to eat, Amber's Mother told us to split up into the Girl's Dining Room and the Boy's Dining Room. She said that the boys were allowed to watch Football on TV. Little did she know, that I wanted to watch the football game! As we started eating, our conversation was focused along the lines of how women should not have to do anything mechanical or sports related. The conversation was really frustrating and my input was "I know how to change my tire", and "I changed my own oil this summer". The conversation went on and on and I found myself poking my Mom in the side every time something ridiculous was said. Hopefully next Thanksgiving will not be as old-fashioned and I will feel more comfortable in adding my thoughts into the conversation.

Jobs for Personalities

I definately agree that you can teach a person how to do a job, but you cannot teach a person how to be nice and have a welcoming personality. I really do pride myself on the fact that I am pretty easy to get along with and the fact that I am a quick learner. I think that these two characteristics of mine would get me along pretty far in the work world. I liked the example about the playground company who did not ask people to come back for a follow up interview if they did not sit on the swings or at the bottom of the slide. I love articles like this because it lets everyone know that you are not guarenteed a job if you are only nice in front of your boss. Being nice can really get you far and I think that this article really exemplified that fact. It makes a lot fo since that a person looking to hire someone would want to hire someone who was nice.

Dual Coding Theory

I think this theory is so interesting. There are so many advertisements that I remember more than others and It's only because some aspects get to me in more effective ways. One commercial that I always like and remember is one on that is shown on The Learning Channel usually during A Baby Story or Bringing Home Baby. The commercial is encouraging saving cord blood. During the commercial, there is really soothing music playing and various images of babies and mothers. I really love children. I work with them all the time and I think they are just the greatest things in the world. I am in no hurry to have one of my own mind you, but the commercial really get me interested in saving cord blood later on when i do have children. Another example of dual coding theory that I see every time I drive home is for the Shane Company. The Shane Company is a jeweler that specializes in engagement rings. They have a billboard on I-85 heading North that shows a ring hanging off the corner of it and the words, "Ash her already!" I think that if a man was in a relationship with a women and he had been vacillating between asking her to marry him or not, and he saw this advertisement, he just may go into the Shane Company store and buy an engagement all because he saw the billboard. During my Freshman year English class, we talked about Dual Coding Theory also and we were required to bring in a magazine ad and discuss who it was targeting and what it was asking them to purchase. The ad I brought in was for Botox and it was aimed at a Mother of a Bride-to-Be. The said something along the lines of "look the same for her day as you did for your day." I thought this was very smart because I would imagine that mothers of women who are about to get married are very vulnerable and willing to do anything to make the day as perfect as it can be. I think that dual coding theory is something that is efficiently used by a lot of companies and taps into the mind of the consumers.

Group Work

So far this semester, my thoughts about group work have been extremely varied. Initially, I thought that my group was not clicking or working well together at all. Since I started in my new group, I have enjoyed the project much more. The new group communicates very well for the most part and we get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Because I came in late to the group, in Phase two I would really like to establish my group role more and be able to give a little bit more insight and maybe take on a few leadership responsibilities. Group work in general is some of my favorite. I've worked at a summer camp for the past two summers and it has really taught me how to pool ideas together and come up with the best combination of all of them. That experience has really gotten me to prefer group work of individual work. I tihnk you learn more about yourself when you are forced to compromise on some issues and work out minor problems.

Interview Reflection

Unfortunatly, last week I forget to blog so i decided to make up for it this week. Instead of having a free write this week, I will reflect my experience with the mock interview. The only type of interview I have ever gone through was a group based interview for a summer camp staff member. This was definately not as intimidating as my interview two weeks ago. As I was putting on my black dress pants and looking at the lack of nice shoes I own, I realized that this is the first of many instances where I will definately feel out of my element. After sitting my Angie for only a very moments, I was already comfortable with the new setting. Like a lot of people, I do not have too much of a problem talking about myself. I think it is fun to share stories with other people. One thing that really helped was to imagine that the interviewer was not a superior, but a friend that I had not spoken with in a while. After the interview, Angie gave me some great tips for when I have to do this "for real." She said that I should always come up with atleast one question to ask the interviewer just to re-emphasize how interested I am and how much research i have already done on the graduate school or job site. Another thing she told me was to know going into it that I will probably lose my train of thought and that the best way to deal with it is to take a breath, and start over. Overall, I think that the mock interviews were very helpful. I actually have an appointment to complete another one tomorrow and I feel a little more at ease going into the process this time.

Classmate Presentations

My favorite presentation completed by my classmates was the presentation by Jessica K. You could really tell that she knew a lot about her topic and therefore she was able to inform a lot of people about it. Her slides were very bright and that matched her topic of the brightly colored clothes. She was also wearing a great visual aid.