Egypt Project Reflections

I think the activity that helped me most in these projects was the Hairy Biker's video on Egyptian food. It helped me because in our play there was a banquet, and knowing about traditional Egyptian food helped us figure out what foods would make sense to serve.
I am still curious about learning some of the things the wives of noblemen would do during the day. I couldn't really find a website that explained that. I think it would be interesting to learn about that because I wonder if it's similar to what people today do to pass the time.
All in all, I think our group worked pretty well together. The only time we didn't get along was when some people in our group weren't concentrating and they kept making pointless script changes that didn't make sense. An example of this would have been when one person added a line at the end that said that all of the characters murdered each other. So as you can imagine, that was pretty frustrating.
I do not think everyone did there fair share. I think myself and one other person were doing most of the work. Sometimes, the other two group members would be doing good work, but then again, lot's of the time they were just goofing off.
If I could have personally re-done the project, I would have asked to be the director because they technically run the show, and our current director was not doing a good job focussing on the important things in that position.
I think our project was pretty successful, despite the lack of concentration of two of our group members. I know it was successful because most of us remembered our lines and the play ran fairly smoothly.

Group Dynamics

When I am working in a group, I almost always take the role of the leader. I make everyone get along, because if there is tension in a group that is supposed to work together, the project will go down in flames. I talk a lot because I am not afraid to put my ideas out there. However, I always make sure other people are heard. When there is a problem in the group I can put up a good debate and find a good way to solve the problem. I take the role of leader in groups because I like to be in charge. I feel like if I am the leader, I can make sure that the project is good and not messy or not well-done.
When I am working in a group I do like to work with friends. I can get along better with them, and usually there are much less conflicts. I don't really feel like there are cons to this because I can still work and concentrate when I am in a group project with friends.
If there are conflicts in a group project, I usually like to have the people on both sides of the argument share why they believe that the other person is wrong. If one person doesn't see that the other is right, and they still can't agree, then we flip a coin. This almost always works. The only time this doesn't work is when, even after a coin has been flipped, the person that lost is saying, "Oh, that's not fair," or, "Let's do two out of three." But then that person has to realize that it actually was fair because they agreed to it first (agreed to a coin toss).
If someone else is trying to take over the group, and I don't get to say anything, when there is some down time, I will speak to the "leader" and tell them that it is unfair for them to not let anyone else share their ideas.
The most difficult group situation I've ever been in was when someone I was working with thought I was butting in to their part of the project and changing everything they'd done, when I was just reading their work and adding a comma where one was needed. I guess that felt like "changing all the work they'd done" to this person. So, I had to adjust, and not even try to help them. The best group situation I've been in was when my entire group got along perfectly, and we all agreed on an idea of how to present the project. Everyone did their work, and got along great.

Wednesday Wars Blog Post #1

If I was in Holling's shoes, with the whole cream puff situation, I would not bring the class cream puffs. I mean, the whole threat about about killing him if he didn't bring them dessert is kind of unrealistic. Of course no one's going to kill him, but I can see how he would be worried about that threat. But really, I don't see what his classmates were excited about. The cream puffs weren't really good in Holling's opinion! If it were me, I would tell them that it's not my responsibility to bring them cream puffs. Holling didn't even control if I got one or not! Mrs. Baker gave him one! The only thing that's really bad about this approach is that my classmates would get super mad, and maybe do something to hurt me, or completely embarrass me. The pro would be that I wouldn't have to spend tons of money on the cream puffs and waste my allowance. Another option would be to tell my class that I will get them cream puffs, but I need a little bit more time to get all the money. The pro of this situation would be that my classmates, (knowing they will eventually get cream puffs) would stop throwing death treats my way. The con would be wasting my allowance and spending it on something I didn't really want to buy.