Sunday, December 9, 2007

For Future Students

English 304 has been extremely beneficial for me. We have learned how to write a resume, prepare for interviews, write memos, create a proposal, and be a part of a project dealing with a real client. I believe all of these things are important and will be very useful to me in the future. I believe Mrs. Rogers organized the class very well. All of the assignments flowed very smoothly. There is a fair amount of work, but because of the way the class is organized it is not too overwhelming.
My suggestion for the client project is to be sure to choose a group that you can work well with. You really do have to depend on other people to do their part and communicate with you. This is a great class to take and Mrs. Rogers is a wonderful teacher!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Christmas

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year, and I am so excited that it is almost here! I love going shopping for Christmas gifts and decorating the house. Every Christmas my family puts our Christmas tree together on the first Saturday in December so we can enjoy it the entire month of December. Another tradition is for my mom, grandmother, cousin, and me to go on a big shopping trip several weekends before Christmas. This is always a lot of fun! I love being in college so when the fall semester ends my friends and I have time to go ice skating and watch the new Christmas movies that are realeased each year. I also like not having any homework or projects to worry about. This makes Christmas even more fun and enjoyable! The typical Christmas for me each year consists of getting together with my mom's side of the family on December 23. We get together at my grandmother's house for a big meal and to exchange gifts. This is my favorite family gathering because I have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins on this side of my family. On Christmas Eve, my dad's side of the family gets together for a big meal. On Christmas Eve night, we go to church for a candlelight service. This is always very pretty! Christmas day is pretty calm at my house. My mom, dad, and I cook breakfast, open gifts, watch movies, and look at Christmas lights at night. Talking about Christmas makes me even more excited! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Reflection on "Employers Study Applicants' Personalities"

I believe the article "Employers Study Applicants' Personalities" by Ellen Simon presented some good ideas. I believe that teaching someone a skill is just as important as their personality. A person has to be able to do the job, but also be able to work well with coworkers. With skill and a good personality, the job will most likely be done well and of good quality because of the positive atmosphere. In my opinion, the interview process that Rackspace uses would be very effective. They have interviewers go through an all day interview. After approximately 10 hours, a company will know a great deal about a person. I also believe companies that include coworkers in interviews would be effective. Coworkers are going to want a person they feel is intelligent, hard-working, and personable.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Dual Coding Theory

I was watching TV and saw a Levi jeans commercial. A boy is pulling up his jeans and the ground level of the building comes up with them. He finds himself on the street looking at a girl that is also wearing Levi jeans. It is obvious that they are attracted to each other. The dual coding theory is used in this commercial because it uses pictures and words to appeal to young men and women. It portrays that if you wear Levi jeans, you are attractive.

I also saw a Geico commercial that portrayed the dual coding theory. It was using celebrities to promote Geico insurance. Because of the words celebrities used and visual images of celebrities promoting the insurance, the dual coding theory was used. This commercial is trying to appeal to men and women using celebrities because many people want to be like celebrities.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Group Work

I have learned that group work can be easy at times and hard at times for college students. My group has done very well with communicating. We communicate a lot through email which avoids many miscommunications because the information is in writing to refer back to. There has been once or twice that an email has been unclear and I have had to ask for an explanation. Also, my group is not good with setting exact deadlines. We usually say to get the work done as soon as possible and email it to the person it should go to. Sometimes this halts progress because everyone's schedules are different, and certain times are better for some than others. This could be avoided in the future and phase 2 by setting a specific time for everyone to have their work completed. Frequent group meetings to discuss the project in detail has been very successful for my group, and email has also worked well. I like that everyone in my group does their share of the work. I think my group has been a good group to work with.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Interview

This interview experience was the first I have ever had. From my interview, the biggest thing I learned is what types of questions to expect an interviewer to ask. After my interview I made some notes on the questions I was asked so I can be prepared for my real interview in the future. This was an all-around great learning experience for me because I really did not know what to expect, except for the pointers Mrs. Rogers gave in class. I do not believe there is any way I could have made my interview on Monday very much better because I did not really know how to prepare myself. In the future, I will know what types of questions to prepare for and practice. From this experience, I also learned that it is best to prepare a cover letter to present with your resume and send a follow-up thank you letter to the interviewer. If I had not learned that in this class, I would have not have known to do that. I feel this interview provided me with a better understanding of what the whole interview process involves.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

CPR Class

I am going to talk about my ED 322 class, CPR class. I have been amazed at how much there is to remember about CPR. It is definitely not as easy as it looks. Learning CPR is different for an infant, child, and adult. There are AED machines you have to learn about and the procedures are different for infants, children, and adults. You have to be mindful of heart problems and respiratory problems. There are different procedures for a choking infant, child, and adult. There are different procedures if the victim is unconscious or conscious. I have taken all of the written tests and done well so far, but we are about to have an individual skills test. Now that I have started studying, it is really hard to remember the minor differences in the procedures. It is frustrating that there are so many different things to learn, but I know that it is very important. In a real situation, I know that it will be very important for me to know all of the details because it could make the difference in saving someone’s life. Wish me luck on my test!

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Presentations

I believe everyone did a great job on their presentations. Everyone seemed prepared with their information and PowerPoints. I also enjoyed the variety of topics that were chosen. Many people chose great topics for a college audience. It made the presentations very interesting! I believe the PowerPoints were all really good. I liked the pictures in the PowerPoints the most. It brought the presentations to life because the class was able to see some of the things that were being discussed. One presentation that I will remember is Derek's presentation on great places to eat around Clemson. Some of the places he mentioned, I would definitely like to try. I also like that he told on what nights certain restaurants had different activities. I also enjoyed Savannah's presentation on crabs. It was exciting to see how much fun a pet crab can be!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Traveling

I love to travel, so I am going to talk about some parts of a trip I took during the summer of 2001. I took a three week trip to Europe with the People to People Student Ambassador Program. I traveled to France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. The most memorable part of my trip was my homestay in Austria. I stayed with a family for 5 days. The family consisted of a mother, father, and 3 daughters. The oldest daughter was my age, 14, and her name was Elka. The other two were just a few years younger. The family spoke German and was not very fluent in English. Elka was learning English in school so we could communicate a fair amount, but she had a small computerized translator for her family and the words she did not know how to translate. One day I was able to go to school with her and see the kinds of things they were learning and the teaching techniques of the teachers. On the day I went, she had a math class, English class, sewing class, and soccer practice. One night I went to see a school play with her. The other days I was there she did not have school. One of those days we went to the mall, and the other we spent with her friends. I really enjoyed my stay with this family, I was sad to leave. After I returned home I wrote a letter to Elka using the address she gave me, but never received one in return so I have not been able to keep in touch. I was scared at first to stay with a family all by myself, but this experience was very enjoyable and what I remember the most about the trip.

My favorite country out of them all was Italy. If I ever get the opportunity to travel to Europe again, I will definitely return to Italy. My two favorite cities were Venice and Rome. They were both very beautiful and the food was great! I did alot of shopping, got to ride in a gondola, and see many great sites. We also got to see many famous attractions in the other countries that I enjoyed. I was really excited to travel to France because I had always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre. I had heard about these places in school, and saw them alot on television. To actually get to see them was awesome! I would highly recommend this program to other students because I really learned alot and had a wonderful time!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Resumes

The first article I read was entitled "Just one Job? Three Tips For Creating a Broad Resume" by Dana Mattioli. I enjoyed this article because I have had only one real job, and this gave me some great ideas on how to spice up my resume. The first suggestion is to write a short introduction following my name and contact information that includes functional strengths, transferable skills, and personal attributes. Below this introduction, it says to list employer information followed by subheadings. The subheadings should reflect different skills and show progression where possible. Thirdly, it advises to create a section for highlighting relevant experience acquired in internships, volunteer work, professional organizations, etc. I believe all three of these tips are easy to include, and will be very beneficial. These are simple ideas that a person may not realize would greatly strengthen their resume.

The second article I read was "Eagle-Eyed Employers Scour Resumes for Little White Lies" by Cheryl Soltis. I found this article very interesting! It tells what the most popular white lies are resumes that companies watch for. One popular white lie is when a person lies about employment dates to cover up periods of unemployment. Another common lie is when someone says they have a degree but never finished the requirments. This article recommends for people to say how many credits they have towards a degree. Deidra Adams, principal human-resources consultant for Constellation Energy Group Inc. states that when most companies discover an exaggeration, they do not pursue the candidate. I found these facts interesting. This article reinforces the concept that people should not lie on their resumes because many companies do check. A small white lie could do more harm than good!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Interviews

I found two articles written by Dana Mattioli very interesting at careerjournal.com. The first article is entitled "Ability to Pull an All-Nighter can be as Useful as a B.A." This article gives college students some great ideas about skills to mention in interviews that they do not even realize they have. I never realized that some companies would like to hear that I have the ability to function on 4 or 5 hours of sleep, work late at night on projects, frequently work on group projects, use some of the latest technology, etc. This article says pulling all nighters demonstrates time-management skills, working on class projects displays cross team collaboration, and completing assignments in general shows you have the ability to meet deadlines. All of these things are good business skills that companies are interested in.

The second article is entitled "You Can Say too Much Without even Speaking". I always thought using a lot of eye contact was a good thing, but this article says you can use too much eye contact. Using too much eye contact can cause you to develop a "stalker stare". The article also says fidgeting is annoying and distracting to recruiters. One good way to keep from fidgeting is to bring a pen and pad to the interview so your hands will be occupied. Crossing my arms is a natural habit for me, but this article says crossed arms are considered the universal sign of unfriendliness. It shows defensiveness and tension. The article suggests using open hand gestures to display friendliness. I will definitely remember all of these great ideas, and refer back to this website for more good ideas during any future interviews.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

My Life in 10 Years

In the next 10 years, I hope to have graduated from Clemson University with a degree in elementary education. I would like to have a teaching position at a local elementary school teaching 4th or 5th grade. I want to teach for a few years, and then begin graduate school. I plan to pursue the administrative supervision program because I would one day like to be an assistant principal or principal. Eventually, I would like to get my PH.D. In 10 years I would still like to be in this area because I like the small town environment, and do not want to leave.

In my personal life, I would like to have my own house, be married, have a child, and a dog 10 years from now. I am really close to my family including my aunts, uncles, and cousins. In 10 years I hope we are all just as close as we are now. I also hope to have traveled to more places around the world. Hopefully after graduation, I will have some time to do this. I would like to travel to Spain, Australia, Hawaii, return to Italy, and many more.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Web 2.0

I believe Web 2.0 is a nickname for the internet. Web 2.0 affects someone who is ready to enter the workforce because the internet is a major way of communication in today's society. People communicate through email, webcams, instant messaging, and many other ways. People can also post their resumes on the internet. Web 2.0 could be the way you find a job. Most companies and work places use the internet and want their current employees and the ones they hire to advance with it as it changes. Web 2.0 also affects people already in the workforce by putting their jobs at risk. Technology and the internet continue to advance. If people in the workforce do not keep up with the changes, the company may replace them with more qualified employees. Current employees cannot get lazy. Because everything is changing, many issues surface such as privacy, copyrights, identity, commerce, etc. As I said earlier, much more communication is now done over the internet causing privacy and identity issues. People from all over the world can see the information people put on the internet about themselves. It is important not to get too detailed because we have recently seen an increase in identity theft. This is a risk you take if you choose to put all of your personal information on the internet. There are advantages and disadvantages to posting information on the internet. It could help you find a job or meet people, but someone could also steal your identity. Copyright is also an issue. Many journals, books, songs, movies, etc. can be found on the internet. They can be copied and distributed by anyone. People also need to rethink commerce. Many products are now available on the internet. In the future people may completely convert to doing their buying and selling over the internet leaving many stores and businesses to close. I believe there is alot to think about because communication and technology has changed so quickly in just the past 10 years. I hope technology and society continue to progress, but everyone needs to thoroughly think about the advantages and disadvantages to all of these changes for that to occur.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Introduction

My name is Brittany Looney, and I'm from Seneca, SC. My major is elementary education. I hope to teach the 5th grade after graduating. I love working with the older students. Some of my interests are working with kids, playing volleyball, shopping, swimming, watching football, watching nascar, and spending time with my family and friends. I also love to travel. The most exciting place I have traveled to so far is Italy. I loved everything about it, and can't wait to go again some day. I have a job as a student worker in the records and registration department. I love my job! I love working with people and helping them with their problems. In my classes, I like group work as long as everyone does their part of the work. I am a perfectionist, so I spend a lot of time on my work and always try to do a good job.