So today we have to submit a lesson plan that our class will try out. For the past few weeks I've had to deal with being ignored or brushed aside by my group members. Although I felt pretty annoyed, I still continued to make an effort and contribute to some ideas and also try to narrow our focus so we could present it all within 20 minutes. I forced my group the other day to come together and physically try out the activities we were going to make the class do just to prove (in a non- confrontational way) that we needed to have more focus in our plans.
No one wanted to physically try them out and insisted that everything was fine and that it would be okay. Finally it took me doing the activities that made it clear that we had to narrow our focus and trim the fat on our lesson plan so we could do it all. Today, however, it was made obvious that anything I say has no value and that my members do not take me or the assignment seriously. One portion of our lesson plan involved writing out a floor plan of where our equipment would be placed. One person offered to do it but I also asked them to email it to everyone before sending it to our class so we could do a final edit. I also emailed them later that night to add that we had forgotten an important requirement for the lesson that we should have. I even offered to write it if they could tell me how off we were from the page limit.
This afternoon I open my class email and see that
1) The "floor plan" was drawn without even an attempt at neatness, let alone a ruler. The writing was chicken scratch and crooked written directly on a printed copy of our lesson plan
2) It was sent to the class without the mandatory component I reminded them about
3) The email I used to contact them was the same email used to send the lesson plan to the class (telling me they probably received my email and for whatever reason ignored it)
4) Details like...oh I don't know... our names! were missing from the lesson plan sent to the prof and the class (which would have been avoided if we were given a chance to run through it before they sent it out!)
I made a quick document of the required section we needed and sent it to the class as an additional page, so that issue at least is resolved. But I can't help feeling personally attacked by this situation. I know that I will have to work with people I don't know or necessarily like but I always try to my best at least in the portion I promise to contribute to a group project. And the fact that I was ignored when everyone's success rested on completing the basic requirements of the task makes it feel like nothing I say is valid. I even offered to do it!
I've always been told by my family that I take things too personally but I worked hard to get into this program and I've never been rude or overbearing to my team mates just to get my ideas across and yet I'm being treated as if I have nothing of worth to contribute. It's one thing to be ignored because you're the only one whose not already friends with the other members, it's another thing when EVERYTHING I say or insist on doing is seen as trivial. Even with the correction email I sent out I was wondering if I should contact them first but really there was no point to it. I'm genuinely embarrassed at the quality of work we've officially submitted to the class. Tomorrow we present and I'm anxious about how it will go... in the meantime I need chocolate to console my wounded ego.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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