Communicating Events and Issues

At The White House Project, it is very important to educate the community about relevant issues and events. I believe that this communication process allows the non-profit organization to express the importance of their organization to their community. Since I started working at The White House Project, they have been preparing to educate the community about Women’s History. Women’s History month is in March, which happens to be this month and a very important holiday to The White House Project; an organization whose focus is to advance women in the political world of today. The White House Project has been preparing facts about Women’s History and plans to put a new fact everyday on their facebook and twitter site. These two social networking sites is one of their main mediums for communicating to the community. This is where they post facts about current issues/holidays, like Women’s History Month, and also announce events, like political activities around the city. I believe that this message is communicated well with respect to how it is communicated. It is communicated in a very professional manner, uses correct grammar, and gives one a positive perspective of the organization if they have never heard of it. On that note, I do believe that the only down side to their communication is the fact that their main medium is their social networking sites. I think that the downside to this is that only their “fans” receive their informational postings. This method is not very effective at expanding their “following” or “fans”, and if the word of this organization’s cause is not spread, it is possible that their objective takes longer to accomplish. The book discusses the fact that in communication, meanings are created through human interaction with symbols. I believe that if they expand their message to different mediums, their word will get out more effectively. Once this happens, I think that more people will attend their events and be aware of their relevant issues. If they in essence “brand” these events and issues with their organization, people may become more aware through the communication process of human interaction with symbols. I think that this lesson in the book about communication itself, can be very helpful as well as beneficial to The White House Project.

To learn more about events and issues pertaining to THe White House Project, go to TheWhiteHouseProject.Org

Gender in the Classroom

Over the last week while I sat in class, I analyzed the gender dynamics within the different classrooms. Through my analysis, I determined which gender dominantly teaches my classes, which gender dominantly attends the classes, as well as examine the gender interactions between the teachers and students. The first thing that I noticed was that the majority of my classes are taught by female gendered professors; three out of my four classes. I found it very interesting that the genders attending varied by the gender of the instructor. In my World Resources class, which is taught by a male gendered individual, and is around a 100 person lecture class; consist of mostly male gendered students. The day I counted the students there were 65 students present, 42 of them being male gendered students and 23 female gendered students. My Green Marketing class, which is taught by a female gendered professor, is about half and half. Argumentation and Advocacy, taught by a female gendered instructor, has 5 male gendered students and 16 female gendered students. My Gender and Communication class, which is also taught by a female gendered professor, also has a low rate of male gendered students, with 6.  

The gender attendance did vary based on the professor’s gender, but I do not believe that there is any true correlation; I find it to be somewhat of a coincidence. The only explanation that I would possibly consider is examining the fact that both classes with very low male gendered attendance are both classes in the Speech Communication department. I do not know if there are more female gendered students in this department, if there are; I believe that this could be the answer to this phenomenon. If the ratio is even, I do not believe that there is any reason for the correlation. I have a hard time believing that each gender picks their classes based on their professor’s gender; I am a male gendered student with 75% of his professors being female gendered, I am proof that this is not true.

Studying the gender interactions between the teachers and students was a little more intricate than the quantitative first half of my analysis. In my lecture class, there is not much of any interaction between the instructor and his students. He gets to class, sets up his computer and power point, gives an hour long lecture, and then ends class; this routine is very predictable. Even though there is limited interaction with his students, I believe that his gender is communicated through his prescribed teaching routine. I think that it shows that male gendered professors tend to be more straight forward, to the point, and concise with their information. My other three professors, whom are female gendered, have a more interactive teaching style. I find their interactions with students relatively the same. All of the interactions are fairly relaxed, but are still presented in a professional manner. I can see this being a backlash from the Women’s Movements; described in earlier blogs, class discussion, as well as the book. The movements expressed the fact that women too can succeed in the workforce, I believe that their teaching style proves this to be true. I do not see the female gendered professors favoring any gender over another, nor have I experienced this with a male gendered instructor. This analysis showed me that there is limited gender bias in my schooling environment, which makes me feel rather comfortable with the advancement of our society.