Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

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My Roommates and I Showing our School Spirit at the Homecoming Football Game this Fall

[edit] Kat's Voyage Through Comm. 352 Group Dynamics

This class can definitely be described as INDESCRIBABLE! It opened my eyes to a world of difference; from no syllabus to no grading criteria it was a voyage for sure! I think this class taught us all to expect the unexpected and that it is okay to steer away from the rigid format that every other class follows. If you're confused, we were too! Check out the Course Description and Syllabus we went by! As the semester progressed there still seemed to be some confusion but Steph came up with an idea to clarify some things to the class and herself through Feedback to Steph and Feedback to Class as a Whole. This appeared to be a solution, but the class kept up its previous crazy and unexpected routine for the rest of the semester!--Buckets34 20:38, 7 May 2008 (EDT)

[edit] Take a look at the resources that outlined our class this semester..

• Okay, now Getting To THE GiST Of Things..

Steph spent a lot of time reiterating the idea behind "gist". It appeared that when you ask the majority of people if they know what "gist" means they would reply yes, even though many people do not know the gist behind the term "gist". Our class spent a lot of time working with this term and relating it to our class and our fishbowls. Steph was trying to make us understand what was going on in our class and where it was headed. She gave us the simple definition above to stem off of and it appeared that our class was realizing the "gist" in no time! Keep following my page and you will continue to learn the basic or in-depth (if you follow my links) gist of our Group Dynamics class!

• Our Group Dynamics class focused on the article The Group: A Cycle from Birth to Death by Richard C. Weber throughout the entire semester. This article was very important to our class because it explained the steps and experiences that form a group. The beginning of the semester was marked by Stage I: Infancy ("Forming"). This stage states that the behaviors in Stage I are initially polite and superficial as each person seeks out similarities or common needs. The first stage reflects dependency with regard to leadership. Depending on the similarities in style and needs that exist in the group, and depending on the tolerance for ambiguity that exists in the group, this first stage may be smooth and pleasant or intense and frustrating. This stage marked a LOT of confusion for our class. It seemed that no one really knew what was going on for the beginning portion of this class and did not know exactly where this semester was headed. As the semester progressed and we started to get to know one another a little better we followed Steph’s guidance and pretty abruptly entered into Stage II: Adolescence ("Storming"). Weber explains that in Stage II, when and if a common level of expectation is developed, the group can then move into the even stormier stage of Adolescence. Possibly the most difficult stage of development to tolerate in either persons or groups, this stage cannot be avoided, as it is a crucial stage dealing with power and decision making- necessary skills for the future functioning of the group. I can say after personally experiencing the dynamics of this stage that it is definitely the most tiresome and difficult stage of the process. Our class remained in Stage II of development for, by far, the longest amount of time. Our biggest problem in the "Storming" stage of our development was figuring out the proper format for our class wiki. Weall had ideas but it seemed to be very difficult to compromise on one that everyone, including Steph, liked. After a LOT of blog posts and fishbowls our class began to agree on one idea, a collaboration of personal Wiki pages that would be beneficial to the entire UMass population. At the arrival of this wiki plan our class began to make the final steps into Stage III: Adulthood ("Norming & Performing"). Throughout this process we all took on new tasks and roles to accomplish our final product. Steph designated certain roles to different students from the article Functional Roles of Group Members by Kenneth D. Benne and Paul Sheats. Classification of Member Roles falls into three categories. Group Task Roles, Group Building and Maintenance Roles, and Individual Roles. Steph gave us some insight as to where she thought some of her students, my classmates, placed at a particular point in the semester. The Group Task Roles were comprised of the following: Initiator-Contributor (Jose), Information Seeker (Eric), Opinion Seeker (Jill), Information Giver (Mattie), Opinion Giver (Mike), Elaborator (Sara), Coordinator (Justin), Orienter (Aly), Evaluator, Energizer (Angela), Procedural Technician, Recorder. Group Building and Maintenance Roles were Encourager (Aligirl), Harmonizer, Compromiser, Gate-Keeper (Jazz), Standard Setter (Steph), Group-Observer and Commentator, and Follower while the Individual Roles were the Aggressor, Blocker, Recognition-Seeker, Self-Confessor, Playboy, Dominator, Help-Seeker, Special Interest Pleader. Not every student had a designated “functional role” but Steph came up with a few examples throughout our “Cycle from Birth to Death” where she could place a select amount of her students. Stage III is when the group can finally pull together as a real group not merely a collection of individuals. Here the group becomes a cohesive unit as it begins to negotiate roles and processes for accomplishing its tasks. The sense of "group-ness," a feeling of the uniqueness of the group with all its strengths and faults, occurs. We were split off into individual teams that we chose and worked on topics of our preference. Markings of leadership were becoming very prevalent in this class and it seemed that everyone seemed to be excited about their project and designating tasks to different members of the group. Our class sure was "Performing", and we continue to be doing so now! Here is a glimpse at my contribution to our class wiki…

Come See UMass Traditions At Their Best

• The other article that we focused on for the ENTIRE semester was Edgar H. Schein: What To Observe In A Group. Within the first few weeks of class Steph assigned us to one of four candy groups, or Schein Teams. We spent a LOT of time working in our Schein groups and continued to do it up until the very end of the semester.

Look above and check out what Schein teams we were individually involved in. Just like you expected we didn't all last in the same group forever! My team, task and maintenance, was split up and we each ventured off into a new group. I chose to be apart of the Communications group for the second half of the semester and I enjoyed this group a lot more then my original one. We focused on the fishbowls and individual interactions and mannerisms in them. We would take note of them and either post it to Steph or keep a note of it for the future. Each of us had a designated task and particular thing to take note of in each fishbowl. Make sure to check out this article if you are interested in why Schein is "A Hero To Us All" and you can see what each group took notice of within our large group as a whole!

• When Steph decided one week that our homework would be designated as the "midterm" we were all a littttle confused! We hadn't heard of having a specific midterm until we looked at the amount of homework we had due that week. When I first looked at the assignment I was irritated because it was so long but when I read what it was about it was actually pretty interesting. We were all expected to read about the concept of "messing with simple words" and had a very interesting array of words to choose from: Arab. Bitch. Busy. Fuck. Green. Hate. Hippie. Liberal. Love. Opinion. Queer. Religion. Shame. Western. and Wicked. "This Class Is Wicked Bitchin" was Steph's collaboration of words and we were all assigned to do similar phrases. Each word had a different meaning to the students in our class and if your interested in learning about the importance of these simple words and our individual interpretations of them check out "Why Mess With Simple Words?" with our interpretations and let us know what you think by commenting back to the ones that interest you! If your still looking for more check out my weblog buckets34and read about my interpretation of the word Liberal.

• The two course readings that we had this semester were After Dachau By: Daniel Quinnand Look Me In The Eye By: John Elder Robison. Both of these books were excellent choices by Steph. We all know what it is like as college students to dread the assigned readings for the semester. We were able to read After Dachau outside of class and talk about it with each other in Fishbowls. I would definitely recommend it to everyone! It is a fun read and really interesting too =) "Look Me In The Eye" was the second book that we were assigned to read this semester. This book I think had a more personal meaning to all of the students in our class because not only did we read the book and have fishbowls about it in class, but the author, John Robison, actually joined us in class! He was very INTERESTED in our INTEREST in his book and was intrigued to find out what we thought about it in person. John joined one of our fishbowls and actually bought us all pizza and soda to have during the discussion! He was a very interesting man and his story was remarkable. I could honestly say that the day he attended our class was probably my favorite class period of the semester! The three hours flew right by (which didn't always happen ;)) and I stayed interested in his story the entire time he was there. I hope all of you get to read his story and you are welcome to share with us through our Wiki and relevant blog posts what you thought!

• Throughout this entire semester we have revolved our time around our Comm. 352 Group Dynamics Wiki. You can take your own voyage through our thoughts and progress through this website and follow the links as you please! We also each had our own individual Web Logs. Take a look at my feelings and thoughts throughout the semester! Buckets34

• If You Like What You've Seen Come Meet The Master Behind It All Because I Know She'd Love To Hear From You on the Wiki! Stephor in her Weblog. Your invited to tour her teachings, blogs, and the rest of our classes blogs too! A Place In Space

• This class was definitely the most sporadic and interesting class I have taken at the University. There was never a dull day or moment, and even when you thought you pinpointed everything that was planned for the following class there was still more to come! Between the fishbowls, peer and self evaluations, and small group activities there was always something going on. As much as I would have liked some direction in this class I will never forget what I learned in Group Dynamics and I will always be aware of the developmental process of forming a group in the future! I am very satisfied with the outcome of this course and I hope you all enjoy touring through our wiki and blog posts as a virtual tour through Comm. 352- Group Dynamics! --Buckets34 17:02, 11 May 2008 (EDT)