Go Team!

This past week was dedicated to finishing and fine tuning our group PowerPoint presentations. Having worked in another group to complete the gradelevel PowerPoint, this experience provided the opportunity to compare and contrast different group styles.

In my first group, I was probably the most saavy about digital cameras and PowerPoint. As a result, I became the unspoken leader of the group. As such, I gathered information and opinions from my fellow group members. Their ideas were vital to creating the final project. However, the responsibility of actually creating the PowerPoint and ading the finishing touches to make it flow landed largely on my shoulders.

In my next group, there were a lot more of my peers who were comfortable and confident working with PowerPoint, and some were much more "take charge" than I tend to be. Therefore, I was not the head leader of this group. Since we had to projects to complete, our group opted to take a divide and conquer approach to completing the assignment, so we split into two subgroups. I did become the unspoken leader of my subgroup. Each subgroup created their own activity and then we came back as a large group to put it all together and present it to the class.

Throughout my schooling, I have been placed into many different groups. Sometimes I take on the role of leader. At other times I am content to let others take that role. I like working in groups because it is easy to utilize individual's strengths to enhance the project. Many brains working together increase creativity, expand expectations, and encourages socialization.

There have also been groups that I did not enjoy working with. Most of the time this was a result of a lack of productivity among fellow group members. I felt like I was the one doing all of the work, but they were going to get all of the credit. I have also had experiences where a group member did not do their part and their lack of commitment reflected poorly on the entire group.

As you can see, there are both pros and cons to using groupwork in the classroom. Overall, I feel that the advantages outweight the disadvantages. But I believe that students must be taught how to work well in groups and not just be left to themselves. The teacher must be available as a facilitator as well as a resource. They must also be careful in how they group students in an effort ot avoid personality clashes and having too many (or too few) leaders in one group.