Group Project Hell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs to let the teacher know

And the teacher will say it’s OP’s daughters fault for not managing the project.

100%. I like when the teachers make each person do an eval and state what parts they were responsible for. That helps at least.

Kids lie. A few years ago my kid got burned. They did a huge amount of work, other kid locked the google doc so no one could see it and claimed they did it all. Teacher let my kid redo the entire assignment after going in and seeing who did what and was nice about it but it really sucked to have to do it again.

Wow. That seems like a different scenario. Most bad group project members are just lazy, not sociopathic. At least I hope!

And even then the teacher was able to see through it. Why after looking at the document history the teacher didn't just give PP's kid the right grade I don't know, though. It's very easy in Google Docs to see who did what when.

[Anonymous]

My son has severe ADHD and let his teammates down frequently by forgetting to hand in his portion of the work. He always chooses to work by himself when possible, because he knows he had issues. At the end of the day, it's his career and personal life on the line - he's always going to be like this, and he might get fired from jobs, or lose friends because of his ADHD.

My daughter had kids with ADHD or other issues on her team that would never hand in their part.

So I've seen both sides of the problem. The solution is to always choose the individual option, or if teams are required, to do the other person's part if they're late. Teamwork sucks in general, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs to let the teacher know

And the teacher will say it’s OP’s daughters fault for not managing the project.

100%. I like when the teachers make each person do an eval and state what parts they were responsible for. That helps at least.

Kids lie. A few years ago my kid got burned. They did a huge amount of work, other kid locked the google doc so no one could see it and claimed they did it all. Teacher let my kid redo the entire assignment after going in and seeing who did what and was nice about it but it really sucked to have to do it again.

My kid got in trouble for being honest on the form about a slacker. He was a little brutal in his voice of adjectives but also detailed the number of emails and texts that the kid didn't return and how many times the group met without him.

The teacher made my kid redo the eval because he "didn't say anything positive" about that classmate to balance the negative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is up waiting on one member of her group to send their portion of a group project so she can stitch it together. She has been reminding/pleading with that kid to do their portion for week. WTH. Has been calling and texting this kid all night. The project is now already past due. WTH. How can this kid be so inconsiderate and rude? How should DD handle these types of situations in the future?

This is totally the real world. Happens at work. You have to do their share. It sucks. Life is not fair. Bugging the other kid doesn't help. just get with the rest of the group and see if you can split it or work it out.

[Anonymous]

At our ds Catholic school all group members have to fill out a form after the project is submitted and list what each team member did. It has worked well to keep the team members from slacking off. Luckily the other students all agree to be brutely honest. They will rat you out if you don't do your part.

[Anonymous]

Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

[Anonymous]

In college, group projects always had what we called a "sloth" (person who does nothing) or a "speed bump" (person who does little but wants to control a lot). Even today, decades later, my H and I will refer to someone at work as a sloth or speed bump. It never goes away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

This is so true. I would say that group projects are one of the best lessons available in school. They will learn that someone is going to carry a lot of the weight and how to cope with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

This is so true. I would say that group projects are one of the best lessons available in school. They will learn that someone is going to carry a lot of the weight and how to cope with that.

Maybe kids don't need to learn that lesson 4-5 times a year for major grades, though. Once a year would be enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

This is so true. I would say that group projects are one of the best lessons available in school. They will learn that someone is going to carry a lot of the weight and how to cope with that.

Maybe kids don't need to learn that lesson 4-5 times a year for major grades, though. Once a year would be enough.

It is a continuing challenge and I dont think that is a bad thing. Probably one of the most challenging aspects of schooling. I never interfered and it paid off because your student learns how to manage projects and interactions with all different kind of people ..including slackers and users.... but welcome to life.

[Anonymous]

I graduated high school in 1982 (so, I'm old!) and the same exact issues existed with group projects back in the 70s and 80s, just without the ability to email/text the kid. We made phone calls that went unanswered.... etc. We just had to do the work if one kid didn't do they part. Always sucked. Always hated that. Hated that we all got the same grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

This is so true. I would say that group projects are one of the best lessons available in school. They will learn that someone is going to carry a lot of the weight and how to cope with that.

Ridiculous. You learn that lesson very rapidly and don't need to suffer several times a year, for all K-12 plus college.

[Anonymous]

There are way too many projects throughout the year in many subjects. Generally there is one kid that doesn’t do the work or show up for meetings. The others have to do this person’s share. Teamwork in general is a problem assignment. Teachers love it because they only have 1/4 the amount of work to grade, so that’s why we do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

This is so true. I would say that group projects are one of the best lessons available in school. They will learn that someone is going to carry a lot of the weight and how to cope with that.

Ridiculous. You learn that lesson very rapidly and don't need to suffer several times a year, for all K-12 plus college.

I dont see what you can do about it really. If you run to the teacher your DC does not learn how to solve issues. Give the slacker the easiest things possible and produce the rest of it yourself or among the members that are interested. It is such a common part of life. Get some coping skills going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Group projects suck, but they are one of the things school does that really truly does prepare you for adult professional life. You are going to have crappy coworkers that don't pull their weight at some point in your career, and you'll have to manage that and find a way to get the work done regardless. As others have said, hopefully the slacker gets their due eventually.

This is so true. I would say that group projects are one of the best lessons available in school. They will learn that someone is going to carry a lot of the weight and how to cope with that.

Ridiculous. You learn that lesson very rapidly and don't need to suffer several times a year, for all K-12 plus college.

I dont see what you can do about it really. If you run to the teacher your DC does not learn how to solve issues. Give the slacker the easiest things possible and produce the rest of it yourself or among the members that are interested. It is such a common part of life. Get some coping skills going.

So sure this is life, but even adults in these experiences will often come home and stress to their partner about the slacker on the job and how much more difficult it makes life. Just because kids can learn coping skills this way doesn't mean it's the only or even best way to learn them. Or that it needs to be happening throughout the year repeatedly.