Memories

Memory #1:

Six people in a group, loud and boisterous. The one who can't interject is left out; no one cares that her ideas would have given them a better grade. They simply ignore her, leave her out, cast her quiet additions off to the side.

Memory #2:

The teacher splits the class in half, declares they are two work on opposite sides of a debate. The team is overbearing; three leaders emerge over a dozen other students. Anyone who isn't comfortable in their role must complete it anyway. No objections allowed.

Memory #3:

A partner assignment, two people working separately... together. Split the project, each complete a different piece, no communication necessary. Comfortable, but the end result is awful and their lack of cooperation is apparent.

Memory #4:

A poster project. No one will contribute. Only two suggestions, one infeasible. Somehow the proposer of the winning suggestion becomes the leader. She assigns roles, but no one completes their share of the work. She does it all, with nothing to show for the extra effort.

Memory #5:

A team presentation, four to a group. Three working in tandem, each filling a role suited to her own strengths. The fourth waits until the last moment. They had planned, prepared to present without his section. A brilliant cooperation that became unnecessary. They seek each other to be the next team, awe the class with flawless combinations of their strongest abilities.

In five years in the public school system, I have had exactly one successful group. Usually, I end up doing everything myself. Or doing nothing, as people ignore my introvert self. I've been forced into roles I don't suit, pushed to complete certain parts of assignments that I didn't really know how to do. Or, in contrast, my entire team has been made up of introverts - no communication at all, the slightly more dominant becoming the leader and assigning roles, the entire project completed in utter silence; edits made without speaking. I have only had one decent group: my 10th grade English class presentation group, who later became my group-mates again in my 12th grade English class.

I love to work in teams, when the teams actually work and cooperate. So I guess, most of the time, I really would prefer to work alone... not because I only trust myself to do it correctly (although with some groups, that's true), but rather because dysfunctional teams are less efficient than just doing it all myself.