Group Work Does Not Work

In my opinion, group work is a type of cooperative learning that helps people to accomplish a certain task in a faster and more effective manner. Team working also helps to achieve the tasks that are impossible to finish by one individual. However, if people in a group have a lot of conflicts, group work will not be able to achieve as much as we expected. There are many reasons which lead to dissatisfaction in group work such as individualism as well as conflicts in opinion and time.

Have you ever been working alone and needed help? Our group agrees that working in small pairs or groups with other classmates is helpful because your knowledge grows, you get the diversity of others in your work, and if you are stuck you have a group of peers ready to assist you. Groups not only help you and your peers, but help your teachers as well. Small groups are extremely helpful, and we definitely recommend their use in schools.

I believe many students do not like group assignments because for the most part a person or two do not pull their wait leaving the leader doing most of the work. Other problems includes having to deal with various personalities, the work distribution, trying to communicate with each other, feeling vulnerable, and the way everyone gets the same grade because it is a group effort. So the lazy people get the same grade as the people who worked hard.

Since much of our time is spend in groups, it is helpful to work in groups because it will give an opportunity to improve their human functioning. Group work helps to develop individual skills in communication, relationship building and asserting oneself

In my opinion, I agree that students should go through a group setting in training to become a group worker. Only in this setting, can students truly learn what it is like to be in the group member’s position and to learn how to best handle situations. Students will be able to know exactly how their future members will feel and how they resolved those unwanted feelings.

Working in a group was a great way to get to know my classmates. Despite our differences, we worked together and completed the assignment. I like working in a group, but sometimes I would rather do the assignment on my own. Group work has its good and bad effects.

When I become a teacher I plan to have my students work in cooperative groups because this allows them a chance to share their knowledge and ideas with their peers. Due to the fact that most students are on different developmental levels, those students who are of higher developmental levels can provide the other students with their ideas and perception of their knowledge. I feel that teachers should not be scared to let their students participate in group work because I think it is a great method of learning.

Another problem is that this method requires everyone to have high motivation if they want to complete the project to a high standard and a as the group is small a few unmotivated people can bring the whole project down. The group did have motivation problems during the middle of the project with some group members not producing any work. The motivation could have been reduced if the work been assigned one at a time instead of all at the start allowing people to focus on one thing at a time and seeing the list of work get smaller.

All throughout middle school and high school teachers will always assign a group project where an uncooperative student causes a whole group to come “crashing down,” leaving the other students with a huge hole in their grade. I am against group work because they have more negative characteristics, such as, that it takes more time, dealing with difficult people, and struggling with trust of others. Many group projects leave students feeling frustrated and angry which diminishes the educational value of the process altogether.

Group projects are horrible and just give the opportunity for laziness. I have never, ever liked group projects. Group projects are the worst in my school experience because some people want to do all of the work, some members do not contribute to the project, and some students lack the courage to talk to anyone. Therefore, I have never enjoyed group projects as well as many others.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” (Hellen Keller) “Two heads are better than one.” (John Heywood) “ More hands make for lighter work.” (John Heywood) These adages speak to the potential groups who have to be more productive, motivated and creative than individuals on their own. Should high school classes require group work? Group work can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world. Working in groups creates a share of diverse perspectives, develops a stronger communication skill and helps tackle more complex problems than one could do on their own.

    I think group work is a bad idea because there are people who “get the grade”, but do not do any work. Students just sit around doing nothing. It ends up that you and the rest of the group are doing everything for the project. The student that do nothing put in no effort at all, while the others are working hard for a good grade. After the project is done, the people who did not do anything still get credit for the project. To me that is unfair, but I know that happens all the time.

Professions and all vocations require the ability to collaborate with others. The entire school district of Jersey City is training their students from a very young age to master collaboration, despite who is assigned in your group. Several projects are given as a group effort, therefore students must complete this task efficiently with their group, or everyone’s average in that group will decrease greatly every time a similar task consisting of group work is assigned. Many teachers group the students according to their ability, and some don’t. While many disagree with this technique, I oppose this statement. I believe that students should be grouped by ability because it is equitable, non-stressful, and will act as a wake-up call for some students.

As I sit here to this day group work is still not my favorite thing it makes me angry when professors mention it. I feel as if we are now in college not in high school. We should be treated as one person when doing an assignment. So you could see each potential of each

Have you ever worked really hard, and then all your work disappears? And then everyone else benefits from it? This is how it feels to work in a group. When I walk in a class and the first thing a teacher says is “ Group Project!” my heart plummets. For example, in 8th grade English class we had groups. My group was not the best. I would work all day in class and go home and work. The turn in day came and I didn’t want to be the person to take all the credit. I went and gave everyone their share and gave them free work. Yes, part of that was my fault. I also let them use me for my school work. This is why working in groups and people using me for school is my pet peeve.