Just before class really started on the 13th, the overall vibe was a cross between worry and ‘what happens, happens’. However, it was quick to take a turn for the worst when we could actually see by how Professor K was acting that we weren’t going to like what we were going to see and I was seriously expecting the worst of the worst failing grades. Nobody was really clear on how his grading ways were and the exam wasn’t exactly something, I’m sure, many of us felt genuinely optimistic about. Though I passed, it just wasn’t okay with me and disappointment ran high in the classroom. Just then Professor K threw an idea at us: we could freely decide the format of the next exam as well as left it up in the air with however we felt was a reasonable enough way to boost up our scores a little more. It was a proposal that he would have to agree with and with that, he sat back and let us take over, manage ourselves and the given task at hand. Looking around at whoever wanted to put in their two cents first, it was obvious that some people were doing the whole ‘you first..no, you first’ thing but when everybody finally spoke up, I was worried. So many people, so many ideas, impossible to comprehend each one individually with the way it was all thrown out there.
There wasn't much order initially because many just had so much to say while others may have faded into the background, taking on the avoidance-method to dealing with such a presentation of decision-making. It was pretty funny how it was all for the taking, everybody had let it all go while the professor just sat there watching it all take place. After all, how possible is it to just step in the middle and expect to restore anything to a calm way of negotiating whatever was up for negotiation. Of course, in due time, we’d all have to come to some sort of an agreement by the time class was over but at the rate we were going, we'd need some major leadership to help come to terms with anything. It seemed like two classmates, Abe and Julian, figured that enough was enough and took it upon themselves to bring some order to all of this, taking on the roles of compromising mediators and making little notes here and there of all that seemed logical for the professor to consider, which was just what we needed with time running out. While everybody was pretty aggressive and making sure their point was gotten across, it was nice for some hope for mediation and soon enough we were actually getting somewhere when we narrowed it down to three suggestions we’d all (finally!) come to a consensus on, deciding on an extra-credit assignment, a curve and the lowest of our two exam grades would be dropped as the ultimate reasonable package deal and we hoped it would sit well with Professor K at the end.
Through that whole ordeal, I feel like, as somebody who’s not necessarily aggressive, I wanted to just let everybody else talk it out and pull the avoidance-card because I truly felt like we were getting nowhere fast but decided to turn to compromising and collaborating instead since we all were really in this together and this was just as important to me as it was to the rest of the class. Just when I thought everybody was on the same page, then came the process of deciding upon the format of our next exam and we had a reenactment of what had happened just seconds before, everybody with their own idea in mind and only one conclusion to come to. I felt as though, for a moment there, I had gone back to my avoidance-mentality but eventually pushed that aside and took part in collaborating with classmates and compromising until everybody had finalized a decision, a test format identical to the one just prior except the essay would be made optional as a way to rack up some more points.
It was a nice change from how things started up because I could see people gradually being brought together, those who wanted a completely spiced-up format and those who wanted the format to stay the same minus the essay. Looking back on it, I think we should’ve appointed mediators from the get-go instead of waiting for a sign that everything would be going downhill quickly and then turning to them for help. Either that or we could’ve turned to the professor giving us a few options we could vote on and then just go by the show of hands who was on board and whoever wasn’t, we could calmly address their concerns. Then again, we could’ve gone off of the priorities of the group: who wanted to accomplish what? Did their initial priority lie in results or actually becoming knowledgeable, taking something from the exam and its material? I feel as though with any of these, we would already be able to have a general idea of who wants what and hopefully, it’d all be conducted in a calm manner where it wouldn’t take aggression to accomplish anything.
There wasn't much order initially because many just had so much to say while others may have faded into the background, taking on the avoidance-method to dealing with such a presentation of decision-making. It was pretty funny how it was all for the taking, everybody had let it all go while the professor just sat there watching it all take place. After all, how possible is it to just step in the middle and expect to restore anything to a calm way of negotiating whatever was up for negotiation. Of course, in due time, we’d all have to come to some sort of an agreement by the time class was over but at the rate we were going, we'd need some major leadership to help come to terms with anything. It seemed like two classmates, Abe and Julian, figured that enough was enough and took it upon themselves to bring some order to all of this, taking on the roles of compromising mediators and making little notes here and there of all that seemed logical for the professor to consider, which was just what we needed with time running out. While everybody was pretty aggressive and making sure their point was gotten across, it was nice for some hope for mediation and soon enough we were actually getting somewhere when we narrowed it down to three suggestions we’d all (finally!) come to a consensus on, deciding on an extra-credit assignment, a curve and the lowest of our two exam grades would be dropped as the ultimate reasonable package deal and we hoped it would sit well with Professor K at the end.
Through that whole ordeal, I feel like, as somebody who’s not necessarily aggressive, I wanted to just let everybody else talk it out and pull the avoidance-card because I truly felt like we were getting nowhere fast but decided to turn to compromising and collaborating instead since we all were really in this together and this was just as important to me as it was to the rest of the class. Just when I thought everybody was on the same page, then came the process of deciding upon the format of our next exam and we had a reenactment of what had happened just seconds before, everybody with their own idea in mind and only one conclusion to come to. I felt as though, for a moment there, I had gone back to my avoidance-mentality but eventually pushed that aside and took part in collaborating with classmates and compromising until everybody had finalized a decision, a test format identical to the one just prior except the essay would be made optional as a way to rack up some more points.
It was a nice change from how things started up because I could see people gradually being brought together, those who wanted a completely spiced-up format and those who wanted the format to stay the same minus the essay. Looking back on it, I think we should’ve appointed mediators from the get-go instead of waiting for a sign that everything would be going downhill quickly and then turning to them for help. Either that or we could’ve turned to the professor giving us a few options we could vote on and then just go by the show of hands who was on board and whoever wasn’t, we could calmly address their concerns. Then again, we could’ve gone off of the priorities of the group: who wanted to accomplish what? Did their initial priority lie in results or actually becoming knowledgeable, taking something from the exam and its material? I feel as though with any of these, we would already be able to have a general idea of who wants what and hopefully, it’d all be conducted in a calm manner where it wouldn’t take aggression to accomplish anything.
I don't think there was as much chaos as you make it to be. Considering that a lot of people probabaly didn't read the decision making chapter yet and didn't know the actual process, I think it went fairly smoothly. It could have been more efficient. Generally we followed the outline with the majority of the class not even knowing what it was. I read the chapters in advance, as you already know I do. I observed the class following the outline to a T, so to speak. We identified the problem with our studying and the exam. We generated some alternative solutions (reformatting the exam, an extra credit assignment, and a curve). The hardest part was working out the details and getting everyone to agree with them. Lastly we implemented them. The only thing left to do is the evaluate the results, which we will be able to do in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should have had addressed the people who were not in favor of grading decision. It took several votes to get everyone on board because not everyone understood what was going on so to not waste time, we should have just asked them what exactly was wrong with the proposal.
ReplyDeleteAfter finally deciding on the grading system, I was so relieved that was over but then we still had to decide on the format of the test, which I felt was more difficult to decide on. This was more difficult to work out because, like you mentioned, everyone had their own idea about how the second test should be. Unlike the decision on the grading system, which the objective was to just get everyone more points, the decision on the test had so many differing views because someone might not like the essay while the next person does.