Overall...

Although this class was much much more fun than I expected, I am excited to not have to be in school after next monday. From all the projects and topics covered, I learned a bunch and have an appreciation for the work and thought put into the smallest of documents.

What I learned the most about, and what I think I gained the most from, is essay 4, specifically the cover letter. I have never made a cover letter before or even learned about how to write one, so I think that was the most practical thing I learned as well.
As for the other assignments, I did gain a lot in the understanding of document design. The amount of effort and the importance of every single word/picture/color is so crucial to the entire document. I'm not sure if making documents or layouts for web pages is my thing though, I'll probably serve better as a monday morning quarterback (haha).
As for the instructions, it was a fun project. I learned a lot about how much I hate microsoft word. More importantly, I learned about wordage-- how exact and careful you need to word things in order to make your reader understand you.


I definitely learned and took more away from this class then in most classes I have taken.

After Graduation

Finding a job add was actually quite difficult. In aviation, most available opportunities for employment are not posted. The ones that are posted, are big time airlines; American, United, etc. and I am far from qualified from those jobs.
Realistically what I will probably end up doing is becoming a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and convince a local flight school that I can bring them business with new students. Once I have enough hours I can then consider looking to an airline for a job.

For the purpose of this assignment the best job opportunity I could find was as an internship with Sky West. http://www.skywest.com/careers/intern.php
When I graduate I will have all these requirements, I have most of them now. This is one of the few and only jobs I was able to find which did not require me to lift 70lbs. (if I started working out again I bet I could)

Speaking in front of an audience

In chapter 21, it talks about oral presentations. Everything in there is pretty straightforward but what really caught my eye were the guidelines on pg 598. They give tips on how to "release nervous energy" and I don't agree with most of them.

First of all, I'm not shy or afraid to talk in front of an audience but I'm not good at talking in front of a group while I'm being judged on how well I'm talking. For example, when I took Intro to Communications, the generic comm class everyone needs for their degree, we had to do speeches. The speeches were strictly timed, had to fit into a certain structure, had to have media, have so many index cards with key words only, and probably some other criteria. More time is spent setting the speech up then actually looking into the topic. I know that is the point but that is what makes it difficult for me to talk to an audience. I'm not longer thinking about what I have to say but how I'm saying it and how I'm standing and how I'm using eye contact....etc. I am more comfortable in front of an audience when my focus only on what I have to say.

Back to my original statement, I do not agree with the guidelines the book has. 
"Walking around," that's like pacing, I'm going to walk and all I will be thinking about is having to get up in front of people shortly. That does not sound helpful.
"Go off by yourself for a few minutes," again, now I just have time to think about how fumbling my words will be embarrassing or something like that.
"Talk with someone for a few minutes," this one is good, distraction is helpful.
"Take several deep breaths, exhaling slowly," this is helpful as well but what am I doing while taking my slow breaths? Am I about to start my presentation or is it a couple minutes before and I'm off by myself ruminating about the speech? It depends.

I do not think these tips work for me personally. I would change walking around to lightly exercising the day or morning before, just enough to tire me out but not enough that I would be sore. I think this would prevent being jittery or fidgety while I'm talking. I would avoid drinking coffee because then I would be shaking non-stop due to the fact I had too much caffeine and that now I'm worried about shaking noticeably in front of people. Trying to stop shaking would make me shake more, so caffeine is out.

As for our presentations, I don't think being nervous will be anything I will be thinking about. It is more casual and more about the information then how I structured my speech.

Nicole

Assignment #2 Sources

To create a panflet for BSU, you need to have their information about the school. All of this can be obtained at http://www.bridgew.edu/. Using the website is preferred because it collaborates with every major, department, and office in one location and is created and edited by the school itself. That means everything on the site should be accurate and most up-to-date.

For the project more than the web site will be necessary to complete it but will most likely be the main source I use.