Dealing with Group Assignments
The Impact/Implications of forced group assignments
… especially at the tertiary level on an individual student’s final grade and morale.
That was my suggestion for tonight’s group assignment and without even an objective consideration it was disregarded.
The two naysayers started to question, how easy it would be to find viable journal article sources for such a topic. In my mind, I am thinking they must be joking because we are in the technological age right? with computers, right?
I hate working in groups!
Our instructor gave us a few tasks to complete for next week’s Theoretical Aspects of teaching and learning class.
It was the end of the night. I am recovering from surgery.
My wound has been bleeding for two days since going back to work and here I was caught in another stupid, petty, indecisive group situation. I am losing patience and already demotivated before the first month of this course is even complete.
This is the mood when battling two types of stressors; physical pain and disrespect.
After 15 minutes, no one had any other suggestion, no one proposed even a vague concept they wish to explore. Ego tucked away and trying not to take offense, I threw out a popular and controversial topic.
The impact of Vybz Kartel music on Jamaican society.
Again, the naysayers said nay.
Again they come up with the excuse of not likely to find resources.
I said, “Are you kidding me?
This topic is widely discussed. We have the likes of Professor Carolyn Cooper and UWI had a reggae department. By this time, I checked out. In the corporate world they say, if you do not have a suggestion or a solution do not criticize another.
Seeing as I was getting nowhere, I volunteered to collate the group exercise we completed earlier, pack up mi kocuments an go a mi yaad!
As a highly motivated student who is working to achieve a perfect GPA, I have no time to play around. However, it seems I am doomed to suffer from the small-mindedness and indecisive attitude, which follows me in these classes at the VTDI.
Every group encounter solidifies in my mind the negative impact of the prevalence of group work and its impact on grades. This occurrence in the Theoretical Aspects of Teaching and Learning class is just another example.
As I am always psychoanalyzing people, I tried to ascertain:
– whether these females just wanted things their way
– why did one react so emotional in denying my suggestions or
– were they threatened by me?
Lord only knows, but as always time will tell
I don’t have time for female pettiness. It irks me to my very soul! Even today, I am still intolerant of such behaviors, which I find prevalent in the work environment as well.
As it relates to the lesson, on that day, it was informative, productive, and a vastly different experience from the previous week’s experience.
I learned new concepts and approaches to research and I am very grateful for that.
*****
About the writer:
Poetess Denise N. Fyffe is a published author of over 30 books, for more than ten years and enjoys Training, Publishing and Counseling. She is a freelance writer for online publications such as Revealing the Christian Life, Jamaica Rose, Entertainment Trail, My Trending Stories among others.
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