Monday, April 18, 2011

it's a group assignment... who wants coffee?!

Tiny bit disappointed to be honest, blog-land.

Our first assignment for our numeracy class is a group thing. We have to look at data we've collected, and put together some sort of poster without a word limit as a guide. Joy.

As always, I was the first one to finish writing up the bulk of the assignment, and so emailed it through to the other 3 members of the group to help them, since they were a bit unsure of what to do. Now, I'm not stuck-up, or proud, or think I'm the best... I did this because I was the only one who had done anything by that point. Which was last week, or the week before, even. So they all said "Yay! That was so helpful!" and this Sunday wrote up their parts. It's due Wednesday, by the way.
So I edit mine and get it all shiny and ready to get stuck on, and go to class at 8am, and then come into a room where we can work on it together. One of the other 3 is with me, we chat for a while.
15 minute late, another girl arrives.
15 minutes later the last of them arrive. She'd slept in because she'd been up till 4.30am 'talking' to a boy.
People... we have an assignment. Be here on time.

Anyway, time passes with me editing everybody's work (literally). Rewording bits, adding quotes, putting bits in bold, deleting bits. Y'know, Nic's job with my assignments. The other girls are talking about boys, and sex, and drinking, and they're SMSing or curling up on the couch.
Then one proposes:
"Who wants coffee?! Let's have a coffee break! Should we have like, a half hour break and then come back and smash it out?"
And I'm thinking: So far, one of you has flicked through a book of readings, one of you has read through the corrections I've made to your part of the work and the other arrived 15 minutes ago. How about we smash it out now, and then relax.
"Great idea!"
"Yeah! Let's have a half hour break!"
I'm clearly making no move to... move. There are books and bags everywhere, my computer is out and plugged in, I'm deeply engrossed in editing.
"Um... well.. maybe if you just get coffee, and then come back.. then we'll keep working?" I put forward.
"Ok!" So off they go, with my coffee order also placed (3 cups a day- SHAME ON ME!).

....
30 minutes passes and I'm busy writing this entry, going on facebook... waiting for them to come back because, believe it or not, this isn't a one-woman show.
Finally they come back.
Nice to know they too a good break, had a chat, y'know.
"So, how did you go when we were gone?" one asks me, cheerfully. As though it's expected that I was here, trucking away while they fucked around.
"Um.. Yeah." Noncommittal. That's the way forward.

So we get some stuff done. Finally one of the girls gets into action (coffee helped her), while the other comes back from the coffee run cold and weird, and spends the next 2 hours (seriously) texting.
So, I get it, maybe not everybody takes this as seriously as me. I like to get things done. I can't help volunteering to edit, or write this, or do that, because I'm a control freak, and if I don't do it, who knows how/if it will get done! So we I spent 5 hours today (again, literally) working on this group assignment. I think I probably had help for about a cumulative total of an hour. Maybe it's my fault- maybe I don't relinquish control. I don't know.

But really, I just lost a shitload of points on a different assignment because I didn't include page numbers in my references, and I kind of like to do well.
And now I'm worried about the lack of page numbers in the assignment I handed in this morning. No lecturer has ever picked me up on this before.  But apparently this is enough of an offense to 'deduct points'. Well, Mr. Nit-picking 'Health and Wellbeing' teacher, my health and wellbeing is suffering. HAS suffered. Greatly.
Also, you're an ass.

Got to love University, right?
RIGHT?

3 comments:

  1. Group assignments are awful. I am the same way - I need to be in control and make sure things get done. It's so frustrating when others don't care. Do you get to do any sort of group evaluation? We had those sometimes and that was cathartic at least.

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh DAMN i hate group projects. so sorry you're stuck in one! i have always been that kid who does 90% of the work too and it BLOWS. despite always doing all the work, what's strange too is people accuse me of not doing my part in groups? like they have some kind of fuh-reaking insane complex about the amount of work they do? "I did this and this and this and this." "I did THIS gigantic, 90% of the project piece! ALL of the writing and layout. You printed the damned thing!" Sorry....clearly it's a sore subject for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Group projects SUCK.

    And I always learned that you don't include page numbers unless they tell you to--some people hate it. I have profs who grade on bizarre, inconsistent matter this semester and it makes me crazy.

    ReplyDelete