Everyone has his or her own way of communication. Whether it is the most complicated way or the simplest, his or her idea is expressed. Communication between my friends is usually the easiest to understand because of our informal use of words and jargon. My friends and I can get in contact with each other with a simple text message, email or a call. But now, since technology is so amazing, we can even videoconference with each other. We use these genres to keep in touch and to plan for upcoming events. Through out our planning we set common goals that we want to accomplish. These would usually be very broad ideas such as making memorable moments with each other and having fun. But we also have long-term goals that tend to be very serious. We want to be able to communicate openly with each other so in order for us to do that we have to have a trusting relationship amongst us. We tell each other our problems and just unwind. Our “problems” usually seem to be about schoolwork, and or drama that happens to everyone.
Civic communities that the Mayor involves himself with are usually far beyond my reach. However, I was able to be apart of the Mayor’s Top 100 Teens, allowing me to be in a community that included the mayor, his staff, and 100 other teens. The genres that are used in this community were emails, text messages, and phone calls. Whenever the mayor had a project for us to attend, his secretary would send an email to everyone within the discourse community. Then from there some of us would text each other asking if they were going to go. We would also call the secretary for any additional information. As a discourse community our common goals were to help better the El Paso County, and to provide services for the less fortunate within the city. We did service projects such as the First Lady’s Feed the Homeless program. This project occurred every month in locations such as the Salvation Army, or the El Paso Mission, and cook them a dinner and serve them. We also did a project on Global Youth Service Day where we cleaned up multiple house lawns and back yards. In this specific discourse community the conventions are very formal use of language and good attitude and behavior. As previously stated emails were sent from the secretary to us. The emails were very formal thus our responses to her were very formal. At service projects we were to be at our best behavior because we were representatives of the mayor. We were to be examples for other teenagers and children.
Being a professional can be very difficult depending on where you are and what you are doing. For me, professionalism is something fairly new to me due to my inexperience in the working area. However, I have done some community service where I have been put into a job like setting. One specific volunteer project that relates to a job would be when I volunteered at a middle school to help the staff get ready for the upcoming semester. There I did various tasks such as filing and faxing papers as well as delivering books to the corresponding room. I had around 3 bosses who were very strict on how to file the papers. If I filed the papers wrong I would have to start over and do it all over again. Because I was in a professional setting, the conventions were formal usage of language, basic listening skills, and most importantly punctuality. I was there from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and was expected to be there the next day. If I was not able to make a certain day, I was to inform one of my bosses. The genres of communication were phone calls and memos. These were essential for me to do my tasks. Just with this service project I gained a small grasp of professionalism.
As a student, the academic asset of my life is very important. Rather than generalizing my academic discourse community to student I choose my calculus class. In the class we used specialized language that pertains to the class such as limits, derivatives, and integrals. Genres are written notes, and this ties in with the topics that are discussed/ written. Here the topics are specific math techniques such as equations and slope. The conventions are formal/respective communication towards the instructor. In order to be in this specific discourse community you would have to place into the class via accuplacer or other tests, then register for the class.
In all of these discourse communities, communication was an important reoccurring aspect. In order to be heard by friends the proper form of communication is used. The same is with the civic group, my academic class, and professional jobs. Communication is essential for success of all communities, in all aspects of life. As the communication flows from one aspect of life to another it continues to shape and define the community. It might be a stretch but, if communication defines the communities that we belong to, is it too far fetched to say that communication defines people themselves?
