Merry Christmas...

Hey, Chemistry Groupies!

Hope your holidays are happy and safe…looking forward to seeing you after the break.

I want to let you know that I’ve read and thought about your responses that I asked for in writing back around Thanksgiving. You might be interested to know what some of the comments were:

Some thought I should choose the groups next time; most thought I should let you choose, but approve them in the end.
Some felt that groups should be larger (5-6); most thought they should be smaller (2-3).
Some believed that the amount of work was not enough to keep 4 people busy; others thought they had too much to do.
Some of you admitted to procrastination and asked me to have checkpoints or timelines – if I did that, what would I do if you still procrastinated?

Anyway, I do appreciate the feedback and it is quite valuable to me, so don’t quit now!!

For this assignment (and remember this counts as a test grade), you will be telling me specifically about you and your group members.

You need take your time to answer these questions. Follow the instructions carefully.
Make sure you can be objective (that means if you get mad when you think about this whole thing, then you’ve probably not very objective…so chill!) – this is a test grade for you and your group members as well. You can assign the person a grade in between two numbers, like 3.5 or 2.8 or something like that – just don’t give them a grade with more than 2 significant digits!!

1. Be sure to put your name on your response first! I still am getting unnamed entries from time to time.

2. Tell me who was in your group.

On a scale of 1 to 4 (4 is the top score) tell me what you think each member deserves and tell me why you think so. If you do not tell me why, then I will deduct points from your score, not your group members.

4 – this person works very well, an excellent team member, got things completed as promised – on time or even earlier than expected, helped out with others’ assignments, excellent quality work produced by this person (you would absolutely want to be paired with this person on another assignment)

3 – this person works pretty well, a good team member, got things done on time – needed a reminder or 2, would help out with extra work if asked, good quality work produced by this person (you would probably like to work with this person on another assignment)

2 – this person works okay, a fairly good team member, may have complained too much, slow with the work and made excuses for that, wasn’t particularly helpful to other team members, fair or poor quality work produced by this person (you wouldn’t refuse to work with this person, but they would not be your first choice)

1 – this person did very little or nothing to contribute to the project, may have felt left out, but did not take any active part or voice any opinions or advice, poor quality or no work produced by this person (you would never want to be paired with this person on another assignment)


Like I said, take your time. Be objective – this is not the place to vent your anger or get back at somebody. That only reflects poorly on you!

Enjoy the rest of your time off – TAKS camps start up as soon as we get back … and then there’s that field trip….

Ms. H