Amanda Orza

Amanda Orza 

February 6, 2023 

SPC 1017 9AM 

Blog post

    Being a group leader and active member of this class has taught me many things about working in groups and presenting before my classmates. I have really enjoyed working with this group, it amazes me how we have so much to learn from each other and work together to complete assignments. My group and I are the third group in this class and we worked on Chapter 10. I think our presentation went very well. We had a chance of meeting to rehearse which i think was very effective. I was so impressed by the beautiful slides, colors, and fonts my fellow group members chose, I thought the creativity captured the eye of the audience. Jessica's slides on leadership stuck out to me. There is a formal leader, which in this group would be me. There are also informal emergent leaders; group members who help take turns to lead the group. I was so grateful to be working with such helpful classmates. For example, I am not that strong when it comes to technology. Time and time again, These individuals offered to help me when I was struggling. They patiently helped with the explanation of the google slides and how to allow others access to the document. After i completed my slides, I was curious to see everyone else's. I could not believe how creative the others looked. I felt inspired and added interesting shapes, colors, fonts, and photographs. Additionally, I enjoyed Nicole's slides about having an agenda and planning attendance. I think it is crucial to have an agenda that way everyone is on the same page. Wether it be on a whatsapp chat, or spoken about over zoom, I think structure is key when it comes to group work. Moreover, attendance is key. Specifically in classes like these, everyone needs to stay on top of their work and keep track of what is going on. Often times there are several things happening at once and if you fall off track you are setting yourself up for failure. I enjoyed writing about implementing the agreed upon solution and assessing it. In other words, diving the work. Assigning members to their responsibilities and discussing reasonable time frames. 

    Group one was responsible to cover Chapter 3, which was to do with culture. I enjoyed the visuals they presented. I thought their slides were very aesthetically pleasing and the photos summed up a lot of the writing. I thought the visual aspect grabbed the attention of the audience. Steven's slide brought up an excellent point. We must tolerate ambiguity, be open minded, and be altruistic. Nowadays, there is a very thin line of what you can and can not say. Regardless of your opinions and views, if you make a comment or statement that does not align with what is "correct" it is almost guaranteed that you will lose your job. One must be very cautious to ensure that the person in which you are speaking to does not feel offended or uncomfortable. We all live different lives and some thing may come as a shock but you have to do your best to keep those feelings and thoughts to yourself. I try to always be courteous and be kind. In the end, we are all people with feelings, but again, it seems like every day there are new terms that can not be said being replaced with new ones that must be abided by. For example, Anabella's slide has a photograph of a "genderbread person" which consists of gender identity, gender expression, biological sex, and sexual orientation. Although they seemed like obvious terms, the more I looked at this diagram the more I discovered that I was not fully aware of what these terms entail in today's world. I felt curious enough to do some extensive research based on some terms in this presentation. Just by looking up the genderbread person, It came to my attention that during the holidays, we should use the term gingerbread person and not gingerbread man to not be gender exclusive. It's challenging to balance everything we all have going on in our personal lives to then be aware of new things like these that can get you written up at work. It is sad but it is the world we are living in. Not only can it hurt someone's feelings but you can also lose your job and everything you have every worked for. This really shed light on topics I did not know too much about. 

Group two was responsible to cover Chapter 9, which dealt with groups. It mentions how important it is for groups to communicate. It brings up a great point on how conflict is inevitable but what matters is how it is dealt with. I am not sure who wrote each slides, the names are not included, so I can not credit the writer. However, "It is you against the problem, not you versus your teammate". I think that is an excellent point that often times gets overlooked. In the midst of the moment we can attack our classmates over a simple misunderstanding. I think this is something we all find ourselves to struggle with in and out of the classroom. We should be working together and not against each other. At the same time, I can understand frustration if someone repeatedly does not sign onto class and then asks "what did we do today" or does not meet deadlines and such. Regardless, respect is a non negotiable. As a group leader, I always am respectful and try my best to listen to members and help out when needed. However, classmates are not putting in their work it is helpful to take a deep breath and remind yourself that luckily, we are graded individually and not as a group.  I also enjoyed the realization that we are almost always in groups; Family, social groups, support groups, interest groups, service groups, work groups, and teams. Just try your best always and be kind. Additionally, I really liked the creativity and theme of this presentation. I liked seeing the yellow and gray repeating, It was very organized and aesthetic.