Wild Card 2: Group Work/Peer Review

When I started college, one of my biggest fears about the actual class aspect was group projects/peer review. This sort of thing absolutely terrified me. Whenever I used to sit in a class in high school or the beginning of this school year and I heard the words “assigned groups” I would immediately feel a rise in my anxiety and get nauseous. Every. single. time. I don’t really know why this was, as I did it a lot in high school, but working with people I had never met before just seemed absolutely terrifying to me I guess. It’s like something was triggered in me and flight usually won against fight. To be honest, on the first day of UWRT 1101 when I heard the words “lots of group work in this class” I went back to my dorm and looked to see if I could drop out and find another class. I would avoid it at all cost. I still today choose the biggest classes possible to sign up for in hopes that group work and projects aren’t a part of the syllabus.

Now, while I do still struggle with this on a minor level, my experience in this UWRT 1102 class and my UWRT 1101 classes have helped me become more comfortable with this tremendously. I don’t know if it was doing it so much that helped or just becoming more accustomed to it being a daily occurrence but either way I no longer get that aching fear every time I enter a small classroom, and I want to thank you for that.

Something like working with other people shouldn’t be a cause of anxiety or a reason to skip a class (even though I’ve done that) and being in these two classes has made me so much more comfortable that it rarely even phases me anymore. Peer review of my papers and work is actually very helpful rather than just a teacher. I like having a few people read it and getting different perspectives. This class and my previous writing class this year have really opened my eyes and helped me be more comfortable in a classroom which has helped my learning opportunities grow.