High School Group Analysis

In my small group for the film project analysis project I worked with four other students, Deonte, Frank, Osama, and Stephen. The specific purpose that we came together for was to analyse the film, Oz, The Great and Powerful and identify the different properties of communication in the film and how they were used. We held our group meetings after class three times and once before class. Our group had no clear leader, and instead each member was self-directed, and instead our group came to a general consensus at each meeting as to how tasks should be divided and what should be done before the next meeting. While there were significant setbacks to our group’s progress, aside from one anomaly our group worked well together and had only one major conflict.

Team work in schools is important as it’s a development not only for you but also for others. It helps to build a positive relationship with those that are within your team, as well as showing that there is support for one another within the structure. When there is team work, responsibilities and tasks are shared and are completed more effectively and also in a good time scale. Each member or person has their own skill and or expertise, communicating with them helps you to learn, build up your own knowledge and know your own responsibilities. Communication is an invaluable tool in team work; you can ask for advice or even give advice about certain subjects or topics, as well as

Group communication follows slightly different ‘rules’ to communication in one-to-one situations. There is often more going on in a group, with a number of different people trying to speak, get their point across and their voice heard. Turn-taking can be more complicated; relationships and power issues between group members can also be more complex than in one-to-one contexts. As a communication context, groups can have a number of benefits for participants: • a group can be an effective way of sharing responsibilities • groups can improve decision-making and problem-solving because they draw on the knowledge and skills of a number of

Working in a group to achieve a high quality group project can be one of people’s most difficult school experiences. Working in a group is tough because there is often someone who does not pull their own weight. “There are five stages to group development, adjourning, forming, storming, performing, and norming” (John & Wiley pg 166). Christine’s group from the Case Study the Forgotten Group Member is in between the Storming and Norming Stages. The Storming Stage “is dealing with tensions and defining group tasks,” while the Norming Stage is dealing with high emotionality and tension among the group members” (John & Wiley pg. 166). Christine and her group could have had better

“When groups are planned so that each member's strengths have authentic importance to the ultimate success of the group's activity, this creates a situation where individual learning styles, skills, and talents are valued, and students shine in their fortes and learn from each other in the areas where they are not as expert.”(Willis)

The major benefit of working in a team for me is that it facilitated and provide a great exercise to develop a teamwork skill. As I work in a team, I learned not only to confidently tell my ideas to the whole group member, but also to listen to their ideas and feedbacks. A leader was not elected for the group. In return, each group member with different background take turns to talk about their ideas. We discussed problems and ideas of how the presentation is going to go with an open-mind and understanding. Our group has a total of two meetings in Monash University and went through each process together to make sure that we all had an agreement.Working together from the very first start is very important as it improved outcomes (SOURCE). My team members and I felt free to share our ideas and

In Case Study 5.1, Mrs. James not only effectively started her class with sharing her own experiences and building relationship with her students but also emphasized the importance of group work, which is in helping and learning from each other. She illustrated the following strategies and routines that supported cooperative learning: room arrangement, talk and movement procedures and individual accountability by building students’ social, explanation and sharing skills.

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.

In everything that is successful, there must be someone who motivates and pulls the team through the ups and downs. Someone to show you that you, can, accomplish anything if you only put in hard work, work in unity with others and have determination. This is something that the Friends of Freshman group teaches the incoming freshman of the new school year.

Once a student has worked on a few group projects, they will already have some experience with dealing with other people, and be able work with others more efficiently in the future. Thus, group productivity would increase over time, and reflect in each student’s grade. In addition, students would understand each other better. They would be aware of each other’s opinions and methods, and adjust their own strategies to help accommodate for their group members. Learning how to deal with others is a vital skill in life, no matter which profession someone

Have you ever had to work on a project or assignment in a group? Working in a group might be an uncertainty for many individuals who feel that they put in more effort than some peers. However, I believe working in groups has the highest potential. Group projects help students develop and improve a significant amount of skills that can be used in the professional world.

“Group work is a form of voluntary association of members benefiting from cooperative learning that enhances the total output of the activity than when done individually”.

I used to believe that I did not perform very well in groups. I am an observer who likes to learn alone. I thought I learned best when I worked on my own. Even though I always knew group work had many positive values, I was more comfortable with the lecture-based approach and resisted group work merely because it involved change, not because it had a collaborative learning approach. However, during the learning community project, I came to realize that I learn more effectively when I work in groups. Working in a group was like an adventure for me; there were both exciting and challenging times while preparing for the learning community project.

In conclusion, this class has changed my perspective about working in a group. Since my prior experience with groups was so unsettling, I believed that all groups were going to be the same. However, this class has made it possible to believe that there are groups that respect and take into consideration other members’

Group communication is thought of to be the process of acting or responding to information someone else has brought to our attention (Beebe, Masterson 2012). Individuals make up a group when the number of members exceeds two and, although debated amongst researchers, reaches somewhere between twelve and twenty (Beebe, Masterson, 2012). A small group recognizes communication amongst a small group of people who share a common purpose, who feel a sense of belonging to the group, and who exert influence on one another (Beebe, Masterson 2012). Meanwhile, Beebe and Masterson (2012) also explain that a team is a coordinated group of individuals organized to work together to achieve a specific, common goal while maintaining a rather structured sense. It is to our understanding that teams differ from groups in a number of ways including: team goals are often more specific and measureable, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, rules are expectations are written, and take a lot more coordination and collaboration (Beebe, Masterson 2012). While a primary group exists to meet human’s needs to associate with others, a great example of this would include a group of your college friends, whom have all graduated, meeting up for an informal get together; whereas a secondary group’s main purpose is to accomplish a task or achieve a goal such as a study group that gathers in order to learn and understand information (Beebe, Masterson 2012).