Career Field Research
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03 February 2022
Career Field Research Summary
For my Career Field Research assignment I interviewed Mrs. O’Connor, an English teacher at SMSA who has had some works published. I interviewed her because I plan to go into a career in writing. Our discussion started with how I can get work published. She told me there is a website, called Submittable, where you can submit work to be published in journals and periodicals. Most of it is for free, but some offer a little money, especially contests. She told me entering writing contests is always a good incentive. She told me when writing to do what works for you and to commit to writing often so you can get in the habit of it. Writing workshops will always help you hone your skills. Exposing yourself to different writing styles helps you find your own. By reading different styles like a writer, you can deconstruct their processes and learn about their perspectives, story structures, and styles. Always ask questions about someone’s style too. Even trying to mimic another writer’s style for inspiration can be helpful. Poetry is a good form of writing to practice. Always free write, and get all of your thoughts out, even if they don’t sound right. Then I asked her what types of education would be helpful. She went to UConn and took Humanities, Writing, and Creative Writing courses. Literary Analysis courses were very helpful. For career descriptions, she told me that writing is mostly freelance work and I would most likely need a primary job supplement. She became an English teacher, so a career that focuses on English seems like a good choice.
This experience made me lose confidence in that I could easily become a writer and not have to worry about money. I still do want to become a writer, but I also need to look for a career that can support me financially. The experience affirms my goals of going to college to pursue writing because I heard that writing programs are helpful from someone who had actually taken them, rather than a college website or information pamphlet.
Final Reflections
04 April 2022
My Capstone project for the 2021-2022 school year was to create a more aware environment in regards to transgender individuals and issues. I worked towards this goal by creating and giving presentations on gender and trans issues to educate my fellow seniors. These presentations had surveys attached that gave me tangible data of how much students knew before and after the presentation. I also created a library display and donated books for Transgender Day of Visibility, a holiday that highlights stories from the trans community, which I promoted by writing an announcement which was read on the 31st.Â
I learned a lot about how to create and give a presentation in a way that gets information across. I received lots of feedback from teachers and students alike that helped me see things I couldn’t, like how I talked a little too fast and how more visuals and less words would make concepts easier to understand. This feedback coupled with the experience I got from presenting many times will help me in the future with my public speaking and presentation abilities. I received inspiration from studies I researched for my paper for the structure of my project, which helped a lot to know that there was a model that had been previously attempted. I was also inspired by the displays I had seen for Black History Month and Valentine’s Day to make a display for Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV). But even though I had taken inspiration from things I had seen before, I realized that I was the first person to try anything like this. Not in the way that it was a unique Capstone project compared to some projects that are taken on yearly, but in that I could not think of any Capstones centered around transgender people. From what I have seen, SMSA itself and students’ projects do a lot to promote racial justice and (cis) women’s rights, but not much attention is paid to the LGBT+ community, with trans people being nearly invisible. This was made clear to me when I saw that SMSA’s library collection only had seven trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC)-centered books, six of which were works of fiction. Seeing the display I made and hearing the announcement on TDOV made me (and hopefully others) feel a little less invisible in school.
I would consider the results of my project to be moderately successful. The display for TDOV went without issue, I had no troubles setting up a display and putting out books, and I made up for the lack of books by donating some to the school library myself. The presentations, on the other hand, could’ve gone better. The post-presentation surveys weren’t filled out in the same numbers as the pre-surveys, which I did not account for, and will certainly have an effect on the reliability of the data. My timeframe for presenting was also greatly affect by school’s unexpected closure during the week I planned to start presenting, which I never fully recovered from. The pushback of school only gave me a week filled with half-days and exams to present, so I was only able to give my first presentation to the seniors. Then the semester changed and the students I presented to were broken up into different classes, which made it much harder to try to give a second presentation. The information I do have does seem to be positive, with knowledge test scores increasing by an average of nearly 1.4 points out of 10 (5.07 to 6.45). Attitude scores mostly saw no change or only marginal improvements, but like the studies in Spain I researched, the class had a generally positive or neutral attitude to begin with (Pre-survey and post-survey scores showed a range of 45-53% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with pro-trans statements, adding on neutral responses increases the range to around 80 to even 90 percent of students not disagreeing with pro-trans statements). Surprising data points for me included that 37.8% of respondents actually knew someone who was transgender personally, and only 13.3% did not know anyone who was transgender. And despite answers to opinion questions not improving more than marginally, 51.4% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their opinion of transgender people improved after seeing the presentation, and 82.3% believed that their knowledge of gender had increased. By these stats, even what little information I have shows promise in the project.Â
A specific experience that had an impact on me was when I heard the announcement I wrote being read on the loudspeaker. When I heard what I had written down being presented to the entire school, I really felt like I had accomplished something. I had done something real. I spent the whole year working on my project and being worried about getting things done it really felt relieving to have a sense of accomplishment for my efforts.
It felt good to serve my community. I often feel like there is more that I can and should be doing to help my community out. Being able to help out in my own way felt very relieving and fulfilling, especially in the hard times the trans community faces. Knowing I made even some impact is very satisfying.
The most challenging part of my project was definitely the presentations. First, I had to make sure the information I was displaying was done so properly and in an easy-to-absorb manner, then I had to make surveys and have them approved, and finally I had to actually give the presentations. But the most difficult barrier I faced was finding the right dates and times to present, especially once the semester changed. Looking back, I should have committed myself to presenting regardless of the circumstances and uncertainty surrounding scheduling.Â
My Capstone project has impacted me by giving me the confidence to believe that I can take action to support my community. I have always felt anxious and didn’t believe in myself but now that I know what I am capable of I can work to the best of my ability and not doubt myself. This will help me in the future because I need to be confident if I want to make change in the world.