"Group" Projects for School
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| Mon, 04-03-2006 - 8:53pm |
All these cool new icons and there isn't one for 'Steam Coming Out of Ears'? Ooohhh, I'm pretty frosted right now! I'm sure someone else out there has had this problem ...
'Group' or 'Partner' projects for school!! What ARE these teachers thinking?? DD has a big huge assignment due for her World Cultures class -- tomorrow! Worth a whole lot of her grade. Early on, when the teacher first assigned the project, two boys in DD's class asked her to partner with them, she agreed. Whenever she talked to the boys about working together after school, well, they had sports, carpool, whatever. DD spent a big portion of the weekend working on her 'part' of the project.
I'm sure you all know what happened! Neither boy has done his part ... two slacker boys chose the smart and conscientious girl to work with and did zilch ... and DD had more than the lion's share of work to start with.
DD apparently told one boy that she'd do his part tonight --- WRONG! The other boy avoided DD all day, but did confess to one of her friends, that he hadn't done it and didn't think he'd be able to get it done tonight.
When DD called me an hour ago, she told me she was just going to do the whole thing because she really needed to get a good grade on it. (She's right about that. For the first time EVER, I was quite displeased with her grades, but I'll save that for another post.) Boy, was I mad!
Anyway, I told her that IF she chose to go that route, only her name should go on the project -- not the boys names -- and the boys could answer to the teacher about their contributions. "But that's so mean", she said. Mean? Did she think they are being NICE to her?
I then told her that when she got home, she should call BOTH boys and tell them she really couldn't do the rest of the project because she has other plans. They will either get SOMETHING together to turn in tomorrow, or they won't. DD can turn in her part of the project and hopefully will get a grade based on her contribution and not on the project as a whole.
???
Julie

I'm right there with you, Julie. I hate those group projects. My DD even had a teacher who said that he'd deduct points from groups if he noticed that one member wasn't doing their share -- so unfair! I think the teachers assign group projects because they'd rather grade 10 group projects instead of 30 individual projects.
Hugs,
Deborah
I haven't had that experience yet group projects done OUTSIDE of school. My kids are still in middle school and any of the projects that they've done have been done inside of school - so it all gets done.
What I would do as an adult is probably not what I would have had the confidence to do as as a teen, but here goes: If the boys were known slackers, I wouldn't have said yes to working with them. Of course that is coming from an adult not a teen and there may have been many reasons why she agreed to work with them. Maybe she didn't realize they were slackers either.
That said, I think I would have given the teacher the heads up that the boys weren't cutting it and I'd be doing the project alone. I would also tell the boys I would be telling the teacher that. Again, I realize this is coming from an adult and not a teen. Peer pressure is a horrible thing.
Oh I really have a pet peeve on these ones. To me if teachers assign group projects they should ensure there is adequate time allotted during class to complete these projects as a group. My dd is a competitive dancer who attends classes at a studio 10 hours a week outside of school hours plus there are rehearsals and then this time of year the competitions themselves. She barely has time to do fit in her own work let alone work with a team on assignments. Last semester she had to deal with a group of girls who had performance levels well below hers (lets just say their combined grades matched my daughter's overall grade) who would give her substandard pieces of work, prepare a tiny bit on their own and then rant and rail about how much work they had to do!!! It was so frustrating. She'd have to rewrite and augment most of what they did. And it was problematic to me because I would have to support her through this.
I totally get that they are trying to instill teamwork and all that. But let's face it, in the workworld it is highly UNlikely that you're going to get saddled with people on your team who don't do their work or do it poorly. I've worked on team projects most of my career and this is not an issue at work where people are held accountable and let's just say they are adults of course. Now put a bunch of 14 and 15 yo's in a group who barely know how to make their beds and then expect them to work together as a cohesive team? The school doesn't even TEACH them how to be a team, how to delegate roles, how to plan a project or stay on track etc etc.
I will have to agree, that there are often slackers in work groups in the real world.
I don't think there's a parent around who can STAND group projects. I agree with the poster who said the teachers tend to like them because they're easier to grade. It is especially hard when - like you - we have along commute and kids live all over the place.
I'm still steamed about a partner project dd was assigned in the 4th grade (well, not really - but you know what I mean). She had two weeks to work on it, her partner came over for about an hour one weekend and then vanished into thin air the next weekend. Dd had waited so they could work on it "together". It was the Sunday before it was due, and the first really warm day of the season - sunny and 80 all day. Dd was in the house working and A was not returning her calls.
The following week at open house A's mom approached me and said "Oh I am SO sorry - we had soccer - it's too bad you had to do all that work." I replied, I didn't do ANY work, but D spent the most beautiful day of the year in the house all day working." She kept apologizing, but I refused to let her off the hook.
What did your dd decide as far as the boys go?
That first happened to ds in 4th grade; they didn't get to choose partners (and never do). He and another hard working boy got stuck with 2 girls who came to our house and giggled the whole time. The boys did the work; the girls 'colored' around it to be 'pretty'. DS was livid.
Then last year in 7th he was partnered with a boy and they got a C; not what ds had in mind so he redid the assignment alone for his A.
Like I said, he never gets to choose partners, and most seem to know he'll do the work anyway. I'm so glad most of it is at school vs. outside, but I still feel for him.
Sue
Thanks all ... I was pretty confident we weren't the only ones who have experienced this!
From what I understand from DD, only one of the boys claimed her as his 'partner' initially. Boy #2 jumped ship from his original group when things 'weren't working out'. Hhhmmmm ... It was sometime after this that another girl in the class told DD both boys were slackers. I think DD probably suspected this already because she works with both boys pretty regularly in class.
DD came home last night and called both boys to tell them she couldn't do anymore on the project. Boy #1 told her was actually working on his part right at that moment. DD didn't stay on the phone long enough with boy #2 to listen to his reponse.
Well, a lesson learned for the future. This far along in the school year, DD should have known which kids would be good partners and which are known slackers.