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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[edit] first

First day of class was a bit confusing for me. I walk into the classroom to find all of the chairs in a big circle with Steph and three students. “Am I in the right class?”, I asked myself. Apparently the class had been divided up into two self chosen categories; the leaders and followers. Those still remaining here had chosen the label of leaders. These kids have balls, I thought. I know I probably would have just opted to join the leaders just to look better in front of all these kids even though most the time I do not take the lead. So interestingly enough they were leaders in a sense.

[edit] What I learned

While I did learn more on theory of group dynamics, I think the majority of my learning was experiential. At first, all this uncertainty and confusion was frustrating and very annoying. Going through this experience, instead of just reading about it, made it much more personal, and thus memorable, than any one article for a class could be. As time went on I became more used to this uncertainty and it even motivated me to become more involved in the class. This is one of the few classes where I took initiative because of the fact my frustration built up so much, which taught me the value of uncertainty. At first, it was something that I really disliked. Well, I still do, but I’ve realized the frustration resulting from it, though unpleasant, is a catalyst for change. I also learned to appreciate the quiet, unacknowledged frame/structure in day to day events life. I had never thought about how many frames were built up around me and how much time and confusion they spared me.

I also learned to work with my fellow classmates on a level that I have never done before. Most classes go by and my classmates are still strangers. We may do group work but it often feels like an arranged marriage; we did not really choose each other, even if we did, because we didn’t know each other nor did we pick the project. Not sure if that makes sense, but basically what I enjoyed was being able to create my own project, to do something that genuinely interested me. I got to spend time with classmates outside of class, getting to know them, participating in something we both wanted to do. Not too many classes do I come to where I feel this level of rapport with so many of my classmates.

[edit] Key Moments in this class

There are several moments this semester which stick out in my mind. One was the day the class finally got in an argument. My group was in charge of observing fishbowls for self-oriented behavior (behavior motivated by personal needs instead of the group’s) but it had been completely dry since the start so we switched into other groups only to have the next fishbowl blow up with self-oriented behavior. I had never seen this in a class before, and it was not until this happened that I felt myself becoming emotionally attached or engaged in this project. I learned how an undesirable frustrating feeling actually pushed me to become more involved in the project.

Another memorable part of the course was when the Author of Look Me In The Eye, John Elder Robinson, came into class. I was excited to see him because I had loved his book and was curious to see what he was like in real life. His explanation of Asperger’s disease was enlightening. I enjoyed the way he described the different types of intelligence and how they related to Asperger’s and people in general. It was interesting to note too how this feeling of not being able to relate or communicate well was not just limited to those with Asperger’s but was something common to most people’s experience. As John said, his story of Asperger’s had reached people he would never have expected because his book hit on something common to the human experience. It helped me see how though we may appear different on the surface, we have more in common than it appears.