Read your classmates’ posts and write a response to two classmates

Read your classmates’ posts and write a response to two classmates. Give honest, constructive, respectful feedback.

Professor Rogers thought her Speech 101 students would enjoy role-playing a real court trial as their last speech for the semester. She also hoped the experience would teach them to work well in teams, a skill much sought after by employers. So, she divided her students into groups of six—a team of three defense attorneys and a team of three prosecuting attorneys—and provided each group with court transcripts of a real murder case. Using evidence from the trial, each team would present closing arguments for the case, after which a jury of classmates would render a verdict. Each team was allowed a maximum of 24 minutes to present its case, and all three team members would receive the same grade.
After class, Anthony told his teammates, Sylvia and Donald, “We’ll meet tomorrow at 4:00 in the library and plan a defense for this guy.” Sylvia felt angry about Anthony’s bossy tone, but she just nodded. Donald said, “Whatever,” put headphones on, and strolled away singing louder than he probably realized.
“Look,” Anthony said to Sylvia at 4:15 the next day, “we’re not waiting for Donald any more. Here’s what we’ll do. You go first and take about 10 minutes to prove that our defendant had no motive. I’ll take the rest of the time to show how it could have been the victim’s brother who shot him. I want an A out of this.”
Sylvia was furious. “You can’t just decide to leave Donald out. Plus, what about the defendant’s fingerprints on the murder weapon! We have to dispute that evidence or we’ll never win. I’ll do that. And I’ll go last so I can wrap up all the loose ends. I want to win this trial.”
The defense team met twice more before the trial. Donald came to only one of the meetings and spent the entire time texting his girlfriend. He said he wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he’d have it figured out by the day of the trial. Anthony and Sylvia argued about which evidence was most important and who would speak last. At one point, another student threatened to call security when Sylvia lost her temper and started shouting at Anthony that no one had elected him the leader. Sylvia glared at the complaining student and then at Anthony, and without another word, stomped out of the library.
The day before the trial, Anthony went to Professor Rogers. “It’s not fair that my grade depends on my teammates. Donald couldn’t care less what happens, and Sylvia is always looking for a fight. I’ll present alone, but not with them.”
“If you were an actual lawyer,” Professor Rogers replied, “do you think you could go to the judge and complain that you aren’t getting along with your partners? You’ll have to figure out how to work as a team. The trial goes on as scheduled, and all three of you will get the same grade.”
On the day of the trial, the three student prosecutors presented one seamless and persuasive closing argument. Then Anthony leapt up, saying, “I’ll go first for my team.” He spoke for 21 minutes, talking as fast as he could to present the entire case, including an explanation of how the defendant’s fingerprints had gotten on the murder weapon. Sylvia, greatly flustered, followed with a 7-minute presentation in which she also explained how the defendant’s fingerprints had gotten on the murder weapon. At that point, Professor Rogers announced that the defense was already 4 minutes over their time limit. Donald promised to be brief. He assured the jury that the defendant was innocent and then read three unconnected passages from the transcript as “proof.” His presentation took 75 seconds. The jury of fellow students deliberated for 5 minutes and unanimously found the defendant guilty. Professor Rogers gave all members of the defense team a D for their speeches.
Listed below are the characters in this story. Think about who you would rate as most responsible for the group’s grade of “D.” Be prepared to explain your choice in this week’s discussion forum.
Professor Rogers
Anthony
Sylvia
Donald

Classmate 1 discussion
1. The most responsible person for the outcome of receiving a “D” grade is Anthony. Anthony didn’t show quality traits of a real leader or partner. Instead of working with his peers, he chose to overrun and undervalue their abilities or participation strictly on the fact that he did not get his way in the whole project. Anthony also overstepped by going straight to the professor and trying to present the project himself without the help of Sylvia and Donald. Now, that being said, Sylvia and Donald also have some fault into the matter as Donald showed zero effort and slacked until the last second and provided a brief unconnected correlation of the evidence to try and win the defense. And Sylvia, battled and clashed with Anthony and didn’t even attempt to try and compromise with him or Donald to be on the same page together to pass the presentation. Anthony also took almost the entirety of the presentation singlehandedly trying to pass on his own when that wasn’t the clear objective for their project. They let petty obstacles interfere with their final grade instead of working together as a team. All in all, I feel Anthony is the most responsible.
2. In this situation, when the first problem arose in the group project, I would have tried to talk to him on a personal level and understand where his thoughts and feelings were in the matter. After hearing Anthony out, I would have tried to make him respect and realized that my input in the matter has importance and substance to the project and how we would approach it. With that “spark” I would hope it would trigger my teammates to step up and tell their side of the situation as well so that maybe we would all work together and become a real team and work together as such. Hopefully with encouragement and establishing communication as a team, it would influence more compromise and motivation to work together to change the end result of a “D” grade into a “A” or “B” grade in the presentation. People’s feelings and thoughts matter and it is the only solution to making a team project work and succeed.
3. This reminds me of the video “Listening” from The Big Bang Theory where both Sheldon and Leonard had an issue but only Sheldon cared about his own and only worried about his own advice and problems. Convincing him that Leonard’s feelings and thoughts about his own problem would have done wonders as their exercise of listening and being empathetic toward one another would have resulted in a more successful outcome where both problems could be handled with twice the brain power. But due to the lack of communication and try on both parties sides, they both didn’t find an answer to surpass either one of their issues. This proves that establishing a strong balance of teamwork, communication, empathy, and compromise would only allow ample opportunity for many issues to be tackled and overcome in a more successful pattern.

classmate 2
In my opinion, all the three students are equally responsible for their team’s D grade. In the beginning, Anthony demonstrates positive leadership as he initiates by planning the place and time for the team to meet and discuss the case. However, Anthony possesses a “bossy tone” which raises a red flag.
Anthony exhibits signs of poor leadership. He decides not to wait for Donald who is late without consulting his team member. He also plans for the court presentation of the argument without seeking Sylvia’s agreement. He could not have afforded a disagreement with his only active team member while the other member, Donald, was not behaving responsibly. His desire for personal gains is obvious when he declares, “I want an A out of this.”
Sylvia is neither ready to accept Anthony as the leader nor does she offer any suggestion for a more conducive arrangement. She demonstrates personality issues (anger) from beginning to end. She is a poor team player when she shouts, “And I’ll go last so I can wrap up all the loose ends.”
Donald has a nonchalant attitude towards the whole affair and does not show up for all the team meetings. He is irresponsible and does not do his part for the team.
Professor Rogers is stern with her decision to proceed with the mock trial. However, considering the overall tacky situation, she could have given heed to Anthony’s escalation and could have had a word with all three of them.
2. Employers look for team players and teams need able leaders. If I were in Sylvia’s shoes, as a team player, I would go along with Anthony’s plans. But, I would voice out my opinions and concerns while managing my emotions in a better manner. I would also try and reach out to Donald (a free rider) to ensure his support for the team.
3. Anthony lacks interpersonal intelligence and possesses a domineering attitude. He resembles Dr. Sheldon Cooper who refuses to work as a team and tries to run the show by himself. Just like Sheldon in the second video, Anthony fails to stick to his timing in the mock trial and, moreover, puts his team members in jeopardy. He could have rather led by example like the cheerful Dancing Guy in the third video.

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