Professional Portfolio Introduction

Professional Portfolio Assignment 

Ashley Baker

Introduction

As a future forestry technician, I have applied myself to study at Fleming College in their Forestry Technician Program.  After successfully completing year one, I have gained experience in essential transferable skills through team oriented tasks in both classroom and field settings.  The technical skills I’ve learned are complemented by my ability to communicate and work with others to achieve common goals.  Fleming College has taught me the importance and value of soft skills as they apply to a wide range of work-place and professional settings.

One of the most challenging aspects of team-work was working on a 4-person Trend Analysis. This project challenged me to be as clear and concise in my writing, as there was a word-count constraint and each person had to accommodate one another for their sections of the analysis.  I learned how to edit more effectively for myself and my teammates, as well as how to give and accept criticism to improve.  This skill is transferable to the forestry field as it is one that often requires team-work for analysis of empirical data.

In Ecology: Concepts and Linkages, we were tasked with writing a weekly field observations journal.  This task required us to record all of the factual data as well as tieing our observation back to one of the eight principles of Ecosystem Management, with example and explanation.  This activity honed my reading comprehension and critical thinking skills as it required me to  learn and understand a new principle every week.  My professor commended my posts, saying, “you have a good handle on this principle of [Ecosystem Management]” (Feltham, 2019, para. 1).   Through this activity I learned how to effectively communicate new concepts and principles in a cohesive and effective way.

Throughout the second semester, I was tasked with keeping an online blog and posting on a bi-weekly basis.  These blog posts were a requirement for my Communications II class and were meant to encompass the six features of Discourse Communities as explored through a community of my choice.  This activity provided me with the opportunity to think about my chosen community, and communities in general, in a more critical way.  While writing Post #2, a Skills Inventory, I learned how important it is to keep accurate records of work in order to track progress.  The ability to keep accurate records is imperative to understanding progress, change, and how close or far one is from a projected goal.

I have attached three samples of my writing to showcase the skills I have learned and applied. I have provided a brief description of each entry to introduce where the sample came from and why I chose it.

Reference

Feltham, J. (2019). Journal VIIII. [Blog comment]. Retrieved from:             https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/lms/dropbox/user/folder_user_view_feedback.d2l            db=54797&grpid=0&isprv=0&bp=0&ou=104572