Smells Like TEAM Spirit (Phoebe)

This week has been a bit of a battle – I’ve had assignments, essay drafts, blog entries (for my cultural studies class) and the most dreaded of all – GROUP PRESENTATION!! DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN!

I’ve never really enjoyed group tasks, especially in high school. It was always so difficult for everyone to agree or even compromise. On top of that, there was the even harder task of getting everyone to share the work load.

 

Am I right?

 

So anyway, it was Tuesday, the day of the presentation and the only time our whole group could meet was an hour prior to the presentation. I was a nervous wreck; how could we POSSIBLY finish a polished presentation in time?!?!

I like to have things organised, especially when they are group tasks. Don’t get me wrong, procrastination is like second nature, but I tend to do that when it’s an individual task; then I only have myself to blame. So I’d had a bit of a tough time not taking control and forcing people to create the presentation at my pace.

That’s one of the things you have to learn to accept at university – not just the diversity of the individual, but also the diversity of timetables.

However, I have never been more happily surprised in my life (well, with a group task that is). Everyone came to the meeting having read the essay we were presenting, everyone had exciting ideas and opinions to put forward and even more excitingly, everyone was willing to participate in the presentation itself.

Now I am in no way suggesting that leaving a group assignment till the last will produce miracles for everyone, but I have certainly learnt a valuable lesson from it. Just because others aren’t working at my speed, doesn’t mean they aren’t working. One of the best things about university is that I’m surrounded by like-minded peers who all want to be here, and as a result, want to actively participate in their education.

Enjoy your week,

Phoebe