The pros for group work are that we get to work with our friends and talk to different people while working, and also that we can learn from others instead of always the teachers. It is different when learning from others, but it can be better because they are the same age as me, so the understanding could be the same as mine. The cons of group work are that we can get distracted easily and not do work, and that we might not learn as much because it isn’t the teacher that is teaching and helping us.
If there is disagreement within the group, I find it helpful to talk to everyone in the group and discuss what the disagreement is, so that we can talk it out and avoid the disagreements. It helps because everyone gets a chance to talk about what it is they want to talk about while everyone is listening. This gives everyone a opportunity to discuss, and once everyone has said what they wanted to say, we then decide what we want to do with everyone’s opinion. Sometimes it is obvious who is right and what we want to do, but sometimes it is hard to tell who is right and who is wrong. When that happens, it is more of a struggle, but we all think of what is right, and then try and decide on it as a team.
I know the group is working well together when I hear/see everyone sitting together and it being quiet, but some people talking and asking questions to each other. This is the best type of work because everyone is being productive and doing work, while also helping each other out and asking questions to figure what it is they need to. Sometimes when it is dead silent, that is also a good thing because it shows that everyone is doing their own work without distracting others, and they are just focusing on themselves.
If the group is not productive, we can take a break to clear our heads and chill out for a bit in order to get things moving in the right direction. We can do this because it is better to have a break and rest our brains, then to go right at it nonstop without giving our brains a break because if we do that, we won’t be as productive and it will just be a waste of time. But if we have a small break, it calms us down and rests our brains so that when we come back, we will be focused again and will be able to do work and be productive rather than sitting there and trying to do work when we know that we need a break.
If I notice that my group is struggling to answer the questions, that’s a sign that my group needs help and we can get support by asking another group or asking the teacher. Asking other groups can be beneficial because they might have answered the questions already and know what they are doing so that we could understand it in a kids point of view, because sometimes the teachers are too advanced for us and we don’t understand what they are saying. So, asking another group can be more helpful since we can understand them more than the teacher sometimes. Although, if no one knows the answer, asking the teacher is always helpful because they know what their talking about since it’s there class.
What I learned from working in a group this semester that I will carry on to my next group experience is that sometimes some people don’t do any work, and some people do more work than the rest. This is something that I have learned and will remember for next time because then I will choose people that will do equal amount of work because it is unfair for people to do more work than others. Especially when the other people are just messing around and not doing any work.
