Every week for my class, I am to reflect on the class. Either the current assignment, discussions or a general opinion on the class itself.
For the most part, I have focused on the topic at hand in the class but this week I will hold off on the Web Quest (The current Major assignment) because 1. I don't have a group yet and do not know what I will be creating 2. We will be working on it over the next 3 weeks (therefore plenty of time to write about it) and 3. I feel very strongly about reflecting on something that I have had to do for the past 5 years--Group Projects.
I am not a fan of group projects and never have been. Although there are those that like them and educators will always tell you how great they are for active learning(constructivism) and socialization, I have found that neither of these theories seem to hold true with me. I have been in numerous group activities both in my Face-to-face classes and my online classes and the main thing I seem to get out of them is heartburn and relief when we're finished.
I took some time the other day to go through my memories of previous group projects and tried to recall if I even remembered any details of what I "learned" from the projects and how many of my classmates I remembered well and the answer is--nope. I really don't remember the projects nor the details. And the only classmates I remember are of 2 extremes: The ones that took over and told everyone exactly what they would do and how to do it and the ones that we didn't hear from until the day the project was due. And I'm guessing that the strong emotional response (irritation &frustration) is the reason those memories are more solid. After all, we do make more firm and clear memories when there are strong emotions involved.
Maybe the reason I felt the need to focus on this is because this semester seems to be heavily laden with group projects in all of my classes. I just finished a group project in another class with 2 experienced teachers that used teacher jargon from their ELAs where I felt like the dunce (I have my degree in psychology and am not a full time teacher) so I had to research terms and some of the other things they talked about before I could follow and contribute properly. Thankfully I have taken a few designing your classroom and flipping your classroom classes. After I focused on what I knew, I was able to join in and help. And now, less than a week later I have another one that will effect a major grade and I am off to a less than stellar start.
Unlike other group projects where you are assigned to a group (which works better for online classes-especially within the first couple weeks because you don't know anybody) This one reminds me of an elementary playground--i.e. the students get selected by other students to be on the teams and there is always that one poor kid that nobody picks--and, you might have guessed it. I'm that kid that nobody wants. At the beginning of classes, many had paired off into groups already some even outside of class, and by the time I was able to check back in many of the others had paired off too. There was one student that had posted what they wanted to do and looked available--so, after a note from my teacher about not participating, I edged over to my classmate and asked to be on their team and was rejected. They had been chosen already.
And here I am. The cheese stands alone.
It won't stay that way. Just like in elementary, if the kid isn't picked, the teacher will force that kid into a group that didn't pick them.And I will do what needs done and also participate much more than I might feel like because participation is graded as well. Plus I know that I felt far more irritation for the girl that didn't do anything in that one group project than I did for the control freak. I don't want to be that girl. I don't want my classmates thinking back on me badly.
SO--yeah. Group projects, the place where everybody works together and what you do directly effects your peers and vica versa. Unlike individual projects where you are solely responsible for whether you pass or fail, here in group project land you can work your butt off and if the others are less than great they pull you down. Or if you are not doing your best--you can go to sleep at night knowing that YOU are the reason the project sucked and that you have a group of people that it might be best if you never meet. Neither of these is very comforting.
What about you? How do you feel about Group Projects? Do you prefer to pick from strangers or be assigned? Maybe they can offer 2 different classroom styles. One for those who adore group projects and one for us introverts--what do you think?
