It's been a very long semester in one of my classes that involves dividing into groups and completing assignments together periodically. The first assignment was completed by all parties, if you call slopped together "completed." We squeaked by with a 20/25 grade.
The second project went a bit better. I invited everyone to participate. No one contributed and I did the project myself. I got a 24/25. I don't know what everyone else got.
The third project also went well because no one contributed and I did it alone. I designed an advertisement. I showed it to my team mates before turning it in and asked them for input. I couldn't hardly get a word out of anyone. After they left I asked my teacher if she wouldn't mind critiquing it because I really needed input. She did indeed help and made me feel much better.
As she looked over my advertisement, she says, "Can I ask you a question?" I said, "Sure." She gets close to me and whispers, "Do any of your group members ever help out at all, or is it just you doing everything?"
I wasn't expecting this so I stuttered a bit. She says, "I just noticed that the last assignment turned out great and it all sounded like it came from one person. So that kind of tells me, you know? It made me kind of wonder..."
What was I to do? I don't consider myself a snitch, but when someone asks me directly, I do tell the truth. Besides, my patience only stretches so far and then I begin to not care so much. Why should I protect them when they are just using me?
That brings us to today. It's the day before our Final Presentation. We are expected to write a short paper and present for 8-10 minutes in front of the class. The group document has been up and open for over two weeks now. Most of the group members have logged in and put their name next to a section. This means they will complete it.
Today arrived and I checked up on it. My section is done, and has been for about a week and a half. Has anyone else worked on any of their sections? No.
The rest of the document is completely empty. Blank.
So I started a separate document and completed the entire project over the course of the day. I'm not walking into class with nothing.
I was almost finished when one group member popped in and had a verbal panic attack because "nothing has been done." "What are we going to do? Do you need me to make up a power point? How can I help?"
"Well, you can start by completing your part of the work, that you never did." I didn't say that but I thought it.
She bummed around for about five minutes and added a few words to her section; nothing credit-worthy. I told her I was almost done with the speech but it isn't long enough yet. She shouted, "I can finish it for you. Just paste it here and I'll do it."
I pasted it. I didn't tell her that I would finish it myself. I didn't tell her, "there is no way in hell that I'm going to trust you to actually finish the speech." She stayed for only another minute and then vanished.
So now I'm relaxing, drinking a hot cup of cocoa, and looking at my beautiful stack of frantically assembled papers.
The other group members better hope they can pull something together very quickly before class tomorrow. If they don't, there may be a slip of the tongue, on my part.
I'm going to walk right up the teacher, hand over the stack of papers and say, "By the way, I wrote ALL of this!"
The second project went a bit better. I invited everyone to participate. No one contributed and I did the project myself. I got a 24/25. I don't know what everyone else got.
The third project also went well because no one contributed and I did it alone. I designed an advertisement. I showed it to my team mates before turning it in and asked them for input. I couldn't hardly get a word out of anyone. After they left I asked my teacher if she wouldn't mind critiquing it because I really needed input. She did indeed help and made me feel much better.
As she looked over my advertisement, she says, "Can I ask you a question?" I said, "Sure." She gets close to me and whispers, "Do any of your group members ever help out at all, or is it just you doing everything?"
I wasn't expecting this so I stuttered a bit. She says, "I just noticed that the last assignment turned out great and it all sounded like it came from one person. So that kind of tells me, you know? It made me kind of wonder..."
What was I to do? I don't consider myself a snitch, but when someone asks me directly, I do tell the truth. Besides, my patience only stretches so far and then I begin to not care so much. Why should I protect them when they are just using me?
That brings us to today. It's the day before our Final Presentation. We are expected to write a short paper and present for 8-10 minutes in front of the class. The group document has been up and open for over two weeks now. Most of the group members have logged in and put their name next to a section. This means they will complete it.
Today arrived and I checked up on it. My section is done, and has been for about a week and a half. Has anyone else worked on any of their sections? No.
The rest of the document is completely empty. Blank.
So I started a separate document and completed the entire project over the course of the day. I'm not walking into class with nothing.
I was almost finished when one group member popped in and had a verbal panic attack because "nothing has been done." "What are we going to do? Do you need me to make up a power point? How can I help?"
"Well, you can start by completing your part of the work, that you never did." I didn't say that but I thought it.
She bummed around for about five minutes and added a few words to her section; nothing credit-worthy. I told her I was almost done with the speech but it isn't long enough yet. She shouted, "I can finish it for you. Just paste it here and I'll do it."
I pasted it. I didn't tell her that I would finish it myself. I didn't tell her, "there is no way in hell that I'm going to trust you to actually finish the speech." She stayed for only another minute and then vanished.
So now I'm relaxing, drinking a hot cup of cocoa, and looking at my beautiful stack of frantically assembled papers.
The other group members better hope they can pull something together very quickly before class tomorrow. If they don't, there may be a slip of the tongue, on my part.
I'm going to walk right up the teacher, hand over the stack of papers and say, "By the way, I wrote ALL of this!"
When a Group of Five is Really a Group of One
Reviewed by Samantha Jayne Frost
on
December 02, 2018
Rating:
Reviewed by Samantha Jayne Frost
on
December 02, 2018
Rating:
