Seminar Group Discussions Reflection

Unfortunately, there isn't much to say concerning the effectiveness of the group discussions. There was only one time that the entire group was present, and the others were spent sharing awkward opinions concerning what little research we had done on our topics already. Three of us came consecutively, providing baseline information about our topics, two of which actually had factual evidence. We had enough research done to realize some sort of sequence to present our material, but not too much time was spent trying to come up with a witty or cool way to give the presentations.
The group chemistry was different, and this made it considerably awkward and hard to focus at times, since the three of us that usually came are not close friends. Usually, I would find it easy to become involved in group work and incorporate every one, but it was hard to base a conversation on something that wasn't done... our research. I suppose my group members decided that the presentation would come together in the end and blow every one away, fitting together like perfect puzzle pieces with a touch of B.S. and evolving into an awesome seminar. Unfortunately that rarely ever happens, and the last week before our seminar will most likely be a crazed process of trying to organize our information and linking it together in strange ways. It helps that the over-all theme is in fact the same, but we all worked so individually on this project that our ideas are not connected, I guess it was the chemistry.
Over all, not too well done. We all had good ideas at times, decent summaries of research, and a good idea of where we were going, but that was it. A huge part of the "group mentality" was missing due to a particular distaste for the topic, or a particular distaste for each other, and with the clash of the two, we were not able to stumble across a common ground for an intellectual discussion. I think the seminar could have gone better if we were familiar with each other and able to ACTUALLY give each other advice and commentary without feeling bossy or insulting, like working with strangers and refusing to give them a bad impression of your style of group work. In the end though, a good lesson was learned. You can't always work with the people you want to, and you have to adapt to every situation with a smile and an ability to find your voice and collaborate without hesitation. Though we may not have figured that out this time, I'm sure I'll learn, and maybe if my future seminar group members would like to come to class sometimes, I will be able to adapt and work with the material slightly better.