As I move forward from this English class, I am well aware that in my major I do not have to take another written class such as this. My next English class will be more focused on reading scholarly journals and verbal communication. Athletic Training students rarely have to write a paper, and if we do it is a collaborative medical research article. More than writing, I will take my skills of communication, group work and research to my next years of schooling.
In the future I will have to attend a conference (National Athletic Trainer’s Association Conference) every year to continue my education and stay certified. At these conferences I will meet and listen to many intelligent peers. I will also possibly have to give a speech myself. From my English 250 experience I am able to quickly put together a presentation, if the situation arises. However, I also had the chance to work for several days on a presentation that included research, photos and a bibliography. A presentation such as I would give at a conference would take several weeks, possibly months to put together. Though I did not have a speech as big as this in English this year, I can use the skills from my smaller projects to improve my overall performance. In addition to giving speeches, I will also have to ask and interpret the information I am given. A lot of NATA is new research to improve health care. This means there will be a lot of questions on how to integrate this information into each person’s current ‘toolbox’. It is important to be able to quickly digest information and be able to come up with a question in the moment. This is a skill I have learned from many years, but continued to improve in this class. My communication skills have improved in several areas this year, and this will be a big asset in my future profession.
My professor was very interested in group work and collaborating to understand the deeper meaning of our readings. Our groups were comprised of 4 people, and were switched every couple of weeks to give fresh points of view. Never was a leader appointed, or needed. The groups allowed everyone a chance to give their point of view, and to learn from others. It also kept people accountable for reading, while not punishing them if they missed one – as a group member could fill them in. Athletic Training is a huge group effort, and we switch each semester which group we are a part of (new sport). As a major we are one large group that will spend our whole education together. However, we are split up into each sport, combining multiple grades with certified trainers and students. This combination of people allows lots of points of views. It is important to carry these group skills through life. Especially as you will meet all kinds of people, personalities don’t always combine well. This class made collaboration key to completing the work. Though it was possible to do the work alone, it was more helpful and educational to work together.
Quick research, or weeks of research, all kinds of research went into this English class. As I mentioned our class work consisted of group work, and most of the time we had to do some sort of research or investigation. In the span of 50 minutes, you can’t do much more than google search, but my groups were still able to learn important information. In contrast we had our long research project that took many weeks and several databases to find. In my future I will have to quickly diagnose athletes. Though I hopefully won’t have to google search, I will have loads of books at my disposal. A quick search can be helpful and it is an important skill to have in your profession, but also life. As for intensive research, that will always be important in my education and life. Athletic Trainers are always improving our field, and it will be vital to keep up with the newest changes. All kinds of research are important in life, and I will always continue to improve my skills.
This English class contributed to my skills more than I would have initially guessed. Though people think of English as simply writing and reading, there are so many aspects. Written, oral, visual and electronic communication are all important to our generation, and the future generations. As education evolves and the world keeps up with technology, all careers will be changing. However, the skills that I learned in English 250 will always be important to what I want to do with my life. I will always have to collaborate with people in my field, whether we agree or not. As athletic training continues to improve, I will have to keep up with research, and to understand this research I will have to communicate with the researcher. Classes should teach you new information, but you should also continue to improve what you already know. English 250 gave me new skills, but it mainly improved my core skills.