Reflection of Physics 203

This semester of college has been everything but ordinary. There have been many changes, some big some small. The one thing I have been able to see constant is my peer groups.  In Physics 203, I have had the opportunity to be in a wonderful team to be able to tackle the tasks of physics. From the last semester, I have made some changes to how I would like to approach my new group and how I would like to work. However, all of that went out the window on the first day. I was not the communicator I wanted to be and meeting and getting to know the new members was difficult. I was quite and hesitant at first as the group was made of the strong voices and I feared hurting someone or to stumble over some else’s work. Because of this, I felt that my voice could not be heard and what I was saying was not important. It took some time for me to get out of my shell and again and try to force myself to the front. We had many struggles on how something was done and what was the right answer to our questions. After the first CATME, I could see that the team was molded into something better as before we could not express our thoughts on the situation. I then changed my approach to someone on the inside to push the conversations a certain way and be the one to ask questions if a concept did not make sense to me. 

Working in the team is the best way to learn in my opinion. I love that we are able to read the content ourselves and create our understanding to then be turned into something more when we are in the groups. There are so many minds coming together in a way that we can then learn from each other and lend a helping hand when needed. As a group, we were strong in the sense of trying to understand the content which was a change from my previous group as we focused more on is this the right way to get to the right answer. It did not matter if we got the answer wrong and most of the time we did not get an answer down on time as we were still thinking and understanding the problem at hand. By doing the quizzes together, I was able to see how others approached the same questions and how my way of thinking had hindered me from getting the correct answer. As well, it has changed the way I now take notes from the texts as my teammates taught me how they did it and how they were able to retain the information. 

In the beginning, I received some feedback that pointed out that I was not being the best team member. Things like being absent-minded and not being apart on the team setting.  The way I was able to change this was being able to spend more time with my members outside of class and being able to get to know them and learn how they are as people and not students in the physics class. I was able to then come out of my shell of not wanting to talk and not paying attention to what was being said. I appreciate that they were honest with me otherwise how would I be able to grow. 

In closing, I would like to say that I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with these amazing women and for them pushing me to be a better me in the learning community. I would now be able to take what you have taught me and implement them into other learning settings and be able to help others become better. This skill of teamwork is also extremely important to me as I am able to now take these skills forward with me into medical school and be able to succeed more than I would have before. Thank you.