Group Leader Reflection

At the post-secondary level, many students find it difficult to keep up with the heavy readings and course material. As a result, students fall behind on their readings with a lack of understanding and ultimately miss vital information needed for their examinations and essays. As a result, students hand in essays that are poorly written contain an underdeveloped thesis. This report analyses the effectiveness of group leader assignments in AP/Social Science 1000: Introduction to Social Science for the development of essays.

Discussion Broadens Understanding

In my group, each person found it easy to speak on what they understood from the readings. As a result, each of us gained new perspectives and comprehend meaning of the readings in greater depth. I also found the questions provided for the group discussion very helpful. These questions helped us detect what part of the readings would be important to add to our essays. Also, these questions became the main topics for our discussion and they prevented us from veering off topic to discuss unrelated subject matter – which helped us understand how to form an essay (discussion) around one topic and stick with it throughout.

Group Dynamics Help and Hinder Discussion

Although, everyone got an opportunity to voice their opinions on the texts and answer the questions provided, I believe there was a dominant speaker who often made it harder for others to get a chance to speak. In other words, he became the focal and vocal centre of attention. Due to his dominance in the group, I often found it difficult to get the others to speak for long enough before he would interrupt. To solve this issue, I let him speak and when he said anything that made the others react with either interest or disapproval, I asked them to communicate those feelings to him. Subsequently, this turned his lecture into a debate – and this certainly made everyone participate in the discussion. The debate helped us understand how to create logical arguments for our essays.
Conclusion
Without a doubt group leader assignments are difficult.

Often there are people who make it difficult for others to speak their minds, but when each member participates equally, the discussion flows freely. In the end, each member leaves the tutorial with a renewed understanding of the text and (perhaps) a new friend to discuss course materials and readings. As a first year student, I find courses easier to manage when tutorials give me a chance to discuss course materials and readings. It also forces me to read the material and ask questions I had difficulty asking in the lecture. I believe that when students take control of their own knowledge and understanding, they develop independence and confidence to excel in their essays and

examinations.
Recommendations
The following are recommendations for future group leader assignments. First, all group members must speak at least once. This rule is put in place to ensure that no one’s opinion dominates over the others. Then, ask questions that provoke three different responses: “I agree”, “I disagree”, and “I do not agree or disagree”. One example of a debatable question is: “Do you believe that Rasky film does a better job of telling the story of Colombus than the McNiell and Zinn readings?” This question elicits a yes, or no, or negotiated answer that is debatable with substantial evidence to back up each response. By creating a debate, each person is forced to call upon their understanding of the readings and put forward reasonable arguments for or against the question – which is like creating a miniature vocal essay that can be modified by the opinion of the other members of the group. Hence, group discussions become a place to test out each other’s theses. Furthermore, group discussions solve a major problem in the life of a student – essays and thesis formation.