Reflection Case

At the onset I would like to state for the record "I Hate Group Assignments!" there, I feel much better. Group assignments, prepares you for your professional future, give you a chance to tackle significant projects, and enable you to demonstrate teamwork skills. Yeah right! Group Assignments are slow calculating schemes designed to drive you insane. I'll take sanity for two hundred Alex! When I think of this group "Insanity" comes to mind. We all know the definition, doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result. Let's keep that definition in mind because we will come back to it later.

This project was doomed from the start; our personalities did not make for a good fit. We argued about everything even the topic to present which to me set the tone for all subsequent meetings. When I think about what I liked about the group I should start at the end for that was what I liked the best, "It was over!" The end of the presentation was what I like the best. I was pleased with the outcome for the most part; however, I feel that everyone should have stepped up to the plate. Although I too feel that I could have done a much better job in my delivery of the information I think that reading the information off of the slide does not a presentation make. I disliked that everyone did not pull their weight and the inappropriateness of giving a flower to someone that did not really contribute because the final presentation was designed and completed by me.

Jae dubbed herself the "Leader" of the group and Iris was appointed the power point organizer. The topic of adolescent homosexuality was a good choice in my book, however, if as an individual you are not able to leave your personal feelings at the door you will not achieve a positive outcome when discussion take place.

We were all assigned a topic to research and it was our job to develop slides that Iris would later organize into one slide presentation for the group to review. The first meeting was filled with opinions and hurtful comments. We had Jae offering research from religious sites that believes you are able to exercise the demon of homosexuality and making comments like "I have three cousins who are gay." First of all if you are able to count how many anything you have that pertain to race, people and/or sexual orientation something's wrong; need I say more. Then there's Iris who relies on the fact that she is sixty-one years old to get her point across as the person who is all knowing. Making comments such as, "no child is able to determine their sexuality at such a young age" because, Erik Erikson has no idea of what he was talking about. Ranting "My daughter is gay" and for that she must be right! But my all time favorite was, "Being gay is a choice because God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve," Really! Who would choose a life of discrimination and ridicule? Joan have no original thoughts of her own, she only thinks what Jae thinks. I knew then this was going to be a challenge, but because I came into the group with a bias of not liking groups I tried not to let that close me off.

As a student and future social worker you will always have to work within a group setting and with people that come from different backgrounds and cultures. I have learned that one I must choose my group members more carefully that have the same work ethic as I. Two, select a leader or become the leader that is more assertive and able to be supportive and guide the group members. Three, look for members that are more open minded or willing to see shades of gray and four, welcome the opinions of others even if it is unlike my own for a different perspective makes for an interesting outcome.

Which brings us to the first argument, "Is this a creditable source of research Jae because the information seems more opinionated than fact" was the question I asked. You must remember Jae requesting to leave the group, but not before performing her rendition of the "cry me a river" a display of passive aggressive and manipulative behavior. The tears were a bit much but very entertaining to say the least. If social work doesn't work out she could always have a job as an actress. Kim, Linda and I questioned if we should start our own group because we were not in agreement with the other members' position. But because we are clinicians we realize we will not always be comfortable in every situation but we must always rise to the occasion, and just think that was the first meeting.

During the second meeting we reviewed the slides I became upset that the slides I had given to Iris on time were not included. When I asked why my slides were not included in the draft presentation, I was told by