I’m one of “those” teachers — one who assigns group work. Group assignments are pretty much either loved or hated. And those who hate them REALLY hate them.
The haters tend to be the really good students who can work faster, and often better, alone than with others. They groan when I assign something in a group because they’re annoyed that they’ll either have to slow down for the others, or worried that they’ll have to do all the work.
Let me talk to you haters for a minute: Group work is life.
I don’t mean that group work is necessarily fun or exciting. I mean that there’s pretty much nothing in life that we really do alone. Think about your career of choice. Want to be a doctor? You’ll be working with other doctors, or at least with nurses and office staff, and their behavior and professionalism will affect your chances of success. Want to work in computer tech? You’ll have a team you work with to develop the software, clients that you’ll have to collaborate with, others in the industry whose expertise you’ll need. Every job has others involved, at some level. Even writers have to work with editors and publishers, agents and readers.
And careers are just a small part of the “group work life”. Think about families: Successful marriages are a partnership, where the couple works together to accomplish their goals. Moms and dads need to consider the needs of their kids, sacrificing their own desires, slowing down when they could speed up, so their children can learn and grow.
As Christians, we are called the “body” of Christ, with Jesus as the head. We must all work together, using our gifts and abilities, to accomplish God’s purpose for us. And God’s purposes include families and careers. He never designed us to work alone in anything.
So rather than groaning about the group work, look for ways to grow from it. I’ve found that you guys are often really born leaders. You just need to develop those skills — learning how to delegate, to explain your vision, to break the assignment into manageable chunks, and to hold everyone accountable to do his/her part. Group assignments may very well be preparing you to be a CEO or a Principal or Project Manager. So learn from them, lean into them, look for ways to lead well. You may end up discovering they’re really not that bad, after all!
