Elizabeth's Reflection on the Group 4 Project
Working in a group has always been difficult for me to do. I always feel like if I'm not doing a lot of the work then I'm not doing enough work. The Group 4 Project wasn't that bad actually. There were some times during the project that I was frustrated and other times I was content.
I had multiple struggles throughout this project. I have a problem with procrastinating when there are other people's grades at stake and if I don't procrastinate (I always procrastinate on my individual work so it wasn't easy not to procrastinate during the project) then neither should the other people in the group. My biggest problem with working in this particular group was that a member (who shall remain nameless for her/his own protection) did not do their work until two days before the actual presentation even though she had ample time (two weeks) to notify me to change things on her/his slide. How I handled that situation was not how it was supposed to be handled and looking back I realize that. Hindsight is 20/20. Instead of getting my agitation out on the group member for not doing his/her work, I should have taken her aside and talked to her, calmly, one-on-one and asked her/him why she/he didn't do the work sooner and then fixing what she/he wanted done on the slide. I'm not telling this to everyone because I am throwing someone under the bus. I am doing this so that the future IB students who have to deal with a similar problem for their Group 4 Project, any other group project, will know how to handle the situation more maturely because I can promise you that this is not the only time this kind of event has happened in a group project.
Another struggle was fighting my procrastination. I am a die-hard procrastinator and I'm used to doing things at the last minute (like my IOP). It was difficult not to continue to push off doing the research, powerpoint, speech, and website. To motivate me I set up deadlines and told myself everything was due by that time or else I don't get a cookie (and yes I really did motivate myself with junk food). I'm glad I got the interesting topic [the history of genetic engineering check it out :) ] because that made it easier to actually do that part.
The success I felt was after the entire presentation was over. I was nerve-wrecked (I said "crap" in my presentation. I can't believe I said that!) but I felt accomplished that I actually got all of my tasks completed. Though I didn't feel successful for long because I began to worry about my IOP that was due Tuesday that I was going to start that weekend (though I ended up starting it Sunday and finishing it Monday).
My advice to you is try not to procrastinate too much, try to see other people in your group's perspectives so you will get along more, be prepared for the presentation, and do a mock-presentation with your group multiple times to get your times down. Have fun future IB kids! Good luck!
I had multiple struggles throughout this project. I have a problem with procrastinating when there are other people's grades at stake and if I don't procrastinate (I always procrastinate on my individual work so it wasn't easy not to procrastinate during the project) then neither should the other people in the group. My biggest problem with working in this particular group was that a member (who shall remain nameless for her/his own protection) did not do their work until two days before the actual presentation even though she had ample time (two weeks) to notify me to change things on her/his slide. How I handled that situation was not how it was supposed to be handled and looking back I realize that. Hindsight is 20/20. Instead of getting my agitation out on the group member for not doing his/her work, I should have taken her aside and talked to her, calmly, one-on-one and asked her/him why she/he didn't do the work sooner and then fixing what she/he wanted done on the slide. I'm not telling this to everyone because I am throwing someone under the bus. I am doing this so that the future IB students who have to deal with a similar problem for their Group 4 Project, any other group project, will know how to handle the situation more maturely because I can promise you that this is not the only time this kind of event has happened in a group project.
Another struggle was fighting my procrastination. I am a die-hard procrastinator and I'm used to doing things at the last minute (like my IOP). It was difficult not to continue to push off doing the research, powerpoint, speech, and website. To motivate me I set up deadlines and told myself everything was due by that time or else I don't get a cookie (and yes I really did motivate myself with junk food). I'm glad I got the interesting topic [the history of genetic engineering check it out :) ] because that made it easier to actually do that part.
The success I felt was after the entire presentation was over. I was nerve-wrecked (I said "crap" in my presentation. I can't believe I said that!) but I felt accomplished that I actually got all of my tasks completed. Though I didn't feel successful for long because I began to worry about my IOP that was due Tuesday that I was going to start that weekend (though I ended up starting it Sunday and finishing it Monday).
My advice to you is try not to procrastinate too much, try to see other people in your group's perspectives so you will get along more, be prepared for the presentation, and do a mock-presentation with your group multiple times to get your times down. Have fun future IB kids! Good luck!