What did you learn about the kind of writing that is being done in your chosen profession? Were there any surprises?
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Dona J. Young is a teacher, facilitator, and writing coach who believes that writing is a powerful learning tool that shapes our lives and careers. In addition to teaching professional writing online, she designs and facilitates corporate training programs on effective writing and communication.
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Hello classmates,
I didn’t learn too much that I didn’t already know about the kinds of writing that are being done in your chosen profession. I interviewed my high school math teacher, Mr. Brumley. Brumley told me that the main type of writing he does are e-mails and recommendation letters. I expected that since he has a lot of his students for more than one year. Not much that I didn’t expect. I was kind of shocked though at how much writing a high school math teacher does.
Have a great weekend guys,
Cristina Toma
Hi Class,
I had a mixture of reactions from what I learned in my interview. I knew that as a nurse practitioner a lot of the writing done is for patient charts, and assessing care plans. I was surprised by the amount of writing needed outside of that, though. The nurse practitioner that I interviewed spent a lot of time writing letters to product or equipment reps, and writing letters to insurance companies in regards to denials of prescriptions and surgeries. I always assumed that taking care of those things was someone else’s job, and that the nurse practitioner focused solely on patient care. I was also surprised that more time was spent interacting with other staff members and with patients, rather than writing. I guess that I assumed writing played a larger role in a nurses’ career than it actually does. The writing interview experience really gave me a greater understanding of what writing skills my career will require.
Have a nice weekend,
Sarah
Hello class,
I was actually surprised to find out how much writing that is involved in the nursing profession. I knew about the extent of charting, however, I did not realize how in-depth it was. Nursing requires that all documentation be completed in APA format. We are required to take not only this writing class, but also a nursing research class. I was informed that the papers range from ten to twenty pages long. I was always good at the writing aspect of writing papers, but the grammar aspect always stumped me. I typically write how I speak and that is a bad thing. I plan on taking the research class in the fall and at this point I am nervous. I came into nursing thinking that it was all based on the fundamentals. I had no idea that this much writing was involved, not only in nursing, but the medical field in general.
Sincerely,
James Bastin
Hello Class,
I am very surprised to find out how much writing is in the social work field. I have not taken any specific courses for social work, even though I have thoroughly researched the field in regards to what kind of work I will be doing in the situations I will be dealing with… but not the writing side! That’s a whole different part of social work I have never thought about. I figured I would be dealing with e-mailing my company but wouldn’t have much to write about when it comes to my patients. I found out I will have to write reports of everything I encounter. I will have to write a scenario of the problem, a beginning assessment, the assessments I conduct, and goals I have for him or her. It’s kind of how a cop would write a report of a car accident… What happened, what’s going on, how I am dealing with the patients problem, and what I will further do in this case. Writing something or other has a big part in every job field!
Sincerely,
Lauren Sergent
Hello class,
I am going to school to become a teacher. As I interviewed a friend that recently become a teacher, I noticed a lot of the information I had already knew. It was pretty much common sense to know that a teacher spends quality time writing e-mails to parents and other people in their profession. I thought this would be the most writing they used. Also, being a teacher you have to use many visuals. This way the students understand the concept better. It is known that if a student sees it they understand it better. I do believe if I would have interviewed someone who had been a teacher longer I may have got different results to the questions I asked. It is still interesting how much writing teachers deal with.
Have a good weekend,
Brianne Wischman
Hi Class,
I didn’t learn too much that I didn’t already kind of think about my profession. Being an accountant I assumed you still write, maybe not as much as some professions. Writing is still a big part of communication, even if it is writing reports about the work she has completed.
Have a great day,
Jasalin Lamar
Hello All,
I would first like to say that the first thought of conducting the interview was a little nerve wrecking. Once the interview got started, it turned out to be great. It was good to have an in depth conversation with a dental hygienist.
I can’t say that I was surprised to hear how much writing was done being a dental hygienist. I knew that there wouldn’t be any extensive writing. Most of the writing comes from filling out charts and makings notes for the dentist and patient files.
Though a dental hygienist does not do much writing, I think it is still a good idea to learn how to write professionally. I say this because a dental hygienist may one day need to write a letter for a leave of absence or may even write a proposal for changes she may feel needs to occur at the dentist office. That could be a stretch, but you just never know.
Have a great one!
Sparkle Robinson
Hi Class-
I am currently pursuing my degree in education, so I sat down with two high school teachers to do my interview. I wasn’t really nervous to do the interview. I speak to new people all day long with my job, so it is something that I am comfortable doing.
The most interesting thing that I took away from the interview was that neither of these teachers thought that they did very much professional writing. I guess that I had always assumed that as a teacher, writing would be something that you did all the time. Both teachers discussed that they of course write lesson plans, but neither of them considered this to be extensive professional writing.
We did have a conversation about emailing. Both teachers agreed that the type of writing that they do the most of is emailing. They both also said that they email a lot of memos. The majority of their emails are sent to co-workers, but they both discussed emailing parents occasionally. We discussed the professional level of emails and they both agreed with my thoughts, that the level of professionalism was dependent on who they were emailing.
All in all, the interviews were interesting. I really enjoyed speaking with these ladies. I feel so lucky to have gotten insight from two professionals that both admitted to me that they love their jobs and could not imagine doing anything else.
Hope everyone had a good weekend,
Debbie
Hello Class–
I agree with a lot of you who posted about writing in the education field. After conducting my interview, I realized I already knew about the writing I will be doing in my field. As an elementary teacher, I will basically be responsible for writing a lot of emails and whatever needs to be written in order to communicate with my students’ parents. I interviewed my cousin who just recently became a teacher. She said that she was more than prepared for the writing she does from the college courses she took. One thing she said that helped her was learning how to compose professional emails. It is crucial that you write emails professionally rather than using slang and incorrect grammar/formatting. Furthermore, teachers also need to know how to write memos in case they need to communicate with the principal or other staff members.
Thanks!
Jenny Aloia
Hello, classmates,
While conducting my interview, I learned quite a bit of information. I learned that teaching elementary school is full of challenges, and that there is more than meets the eye to the teaching profession. Most importantly, I learned how crucial communication is. Teachers must be experts at relaying information to supervisors, co-workers, and parents. The communication is mostly done through emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings. My interviewee stated that emails and phone-calls do not have to be extremely formal, but they do need to be professional; they simply have to contain only the information that is needed. Any other non-relevant information is unnecessary fluff that will distract from the point of the message. I was surprised to see how heavily teachers communicate daily through email.
Thanks,
Sarah Brown
Thank you,
Sarah Brown
Hello class,
My profession involves diagnostic radiology. I am currently working as a CT technologist. The person I interviewed was my Radiology Supervisor. There was not anything new that I learned that I did not already know. Her primary tool of communication is e-mail. Any changes in policies, upcoming events, or anything in that nature, she report in email. Memos and agendas are other types that she uses to prepare for presentations or meetings. Anytime she reports to her superior, her writing style must be professional and formatted as outlined in the professional writing book we use in class.
In profession as a CT tech, there is not too extensive professional writing, with the exception of emails every once in a while. We obtain medical histories and document any thing that will contribute to a more accurate diagnosis, but in a more medical terminology style and less of professional style. As for my supervisor, there is an extensive writing involved on a daily basis. It is how we stay connected since they are not always around.
Thank you,
Daniel P.
Hello Everyone,
SInce I have been doing writing in my profession for the past few years this question is simple for me: Not Really.
Notice I said not really and not:No. This is because I have learned so much in this class. I find that in a business a person tends to conform to the writing around them. Take me for instance. I came into the business from the military with no real techincal writing ability. Everything I had learned was really on the job. For those that are taking this class, I would say do not just go through the paces. Take something away. It will help you in the real world.
Regards,
Larry
Hi class,
I learned a great deal about business writing in my future desired position as a Promotions Director at a major liquor distribution company. I was surprised to hear that writing skills are important as a promotions director, for it is the director who conducts meetings with all sales representatives weekly. Memos are written to all staff when pricing or new specials arrive. Reminder emails are written every week in order to encourage the staff and most of all texting is not used very much as a tool for a promotions director. More direct contact and emails were used on a daily basis.
Best,
Mink Lin
Hello class,
This assignment was very interesting, in that it taught me a more realistic understanding of what an elementary teacher goes through to communicate everyday. There are so many different moving parts that a teacher must communicate with. It could be fellow teachers, students, parents, other people the school is working with, and other people in general. I was thoroughly amazed at the amount of hand written notes in the day my teacher had to write. I volunteer in a second grade classroom once a week and just today she had to call a parent because one student (who was having an especially hard day) needed an extra word of encouragement. You never know what kind of communication you will need each day as an elementary school teacher, but one thing is for sure; I can’t wait to be one!
Have a good weekend,
Mollie
Hello Team,
I learned that a radiographer has a little more writing then what I expected. By asking some of the students that are in the program, I learned that they have to write in the patients charts and they also have to update the patients chart on the computer. They also have to email back and forth communicating about cancelations and test changes. So alot of the writting that goes on with their jobs is all about communicating back and forth about the patients. This is communication is done between doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other radiographers.
Hope everyone has a great weekend,
Andrea Salazar
Hello Class,
There were not any surprises about the kind of writing that is being done in my field. As a radiographer student, I attend clinicals. I have a hands-on experinece as to the kind of writing that is expected. However, I did enhjoy this assignment and reading and responding to my classmates forums.
Thank You,
Serina Garcia
Hi class,
In my carrer field, like in just about all others, understood that writing had to be done. I come to find out that there’s a lot more to write than what I had in mind. Police officers have to keep record of every little thing while writing hundres of reports each week. I went on a ride a long with an officer and found it all very interesting. I know this is what I want to do and, even though writing isn’t my strong point, writing reports seems easier to do than writing papers.
Hope everyone is having a great week.
Vicky Campos
Hello everyone,
I have to say I was pretty surprised by the amount of writing my future profession does. A Nurse does a combination of typing on the computer and writing on charts and orders. I found that almost 65% of their time is used up by writing. That was crazy to find out! I always assumed that most of the communication they used was verbal. While there is a lot of talking to patients and physicians, there is still more writing. It was something great to learn and help me appreciate writing more!
All the best,
Christine E.