EDLD 5364 Week 3 Reflection

This has been a very frustrating week. I started out having to finish last week early because I was taking 23 8th graders to Washington DC and New York City for four days over spring break. Finishing early normally wouldn’t be a problem but when you’re working in a team, the rest of the team is then thrown into overdrive right alongside you. Then I got back from the trip exhausted and had company show up from out of town. It was great to see them but it really put me behind for the week. In the midst of that I’m still recovering from hand surgery six weeks ago and have limited use of and no feeling in my right index finger which makes typing an adventure, to say the least.

That, however, was not the worst of the frustration. One of our group just isn’t doing their part. This isn’t the first project or the first class we’ve worked together in and we are seeing a definite pattern forming. With each assignment the issue becomes more and more apparent. We’ve done everything we can think of to coerce them into contributing more but at this point we realize we can only do so much. The solution…next time there is a group project we just say, “No thanks, we have all the help we need.”

I tell all that to say, isn’t it funny that at almost 50 years old we still have trouble dealing with group projects? My students hate group work for exactly the same reason. And I remember my daughter going to a teacher once just before a “group” presentation and telling the teacher that only her name would be on the PowerPoint because the other two students didn’t do anything. She told the teacher that she would gladly put their names back on the project if either one of them could tell even one thing they had contributed. Kate got an ‘A’ they got nothing! I was so proud of her. That’s why she’s going to be running the show one day! We expect 8th graders to know how to handle these situations and yet we don’t know how to do it either. I never expected the group aspect of my grad work to be the issue. That’s kind of funny to me. On the other hand, I can’t imagine doing this project on my own. It is so good to have one partner who not only thinks like me and has a similar sense of humor but who is always willing to go the extra mile. Thanks, partner!