Friday, June 29, 2012

FLL coach's meeting notes-

I have the pleasure of sharing some of my experience with other FLL coach's tomorrow. Here's my outline and general overview of of the responsibilities as I see them for coach's and team members.

Three parts of the tournament- coach's and student's responsibilities

Tournament judging sections-
The coach, co-coach and a historian can come into any judging room. They ask that random parents not come in just for fun. I designate a different parent for each judging section so parents who want can come and watch and have a job :) 
Research judging- 
Coaches-
                 help take the students through the steps-
                      idea generating, helping set up meetings with or send emails to specialists,
                       and building in time during meetings.
                practice for the skit to be created and rehearsed at meetings.
Students-
                 to research for ideas, be open to team suggestions
                 to generate the skit and solution,
                 to work earnestly on creating and rehearsing the skit
                 to come up with the costumes and props
Parents-
                 to allow time for research & skit rehearsal and to help make or gather costume pieces.
                 Make sure team member can attend as many meetings as possible.

Teamwork judging-
Practice at least once each meeting. Allow kids to decide who is the rule keeper, idea solicitor, and time keeper before going into the judging area. Have the kids practice introducing themselves to you as you start the ICs from about 3 weeks out from the tournament.

Robot game- Two parts-
Table run-
        How we set it up-
                 We rotate, but if your team is larger than 6 to 8, you might want to designate a set of students
                  to go to the table.
Table tips-
                 Start the missions at the same place each and every time!
                 Moving it around is difficult to constantly recreate.
                Create lego rulers for yourself to mark off where to start the mission off if you must move it.
                 Have all your programs on the NXT in the order you want to run them.
                Consider using a single program, where all the programs are bundled in one program,
                           and using a touch sensor to start each new mission.
                 Use the guide lines on the start pad to help you find your mark. 
                                           DON'T start in the middle of the block.  The robot will mess it's mission.
                 Can bring your own table stand to set your pieces up.

Design judging-
The judges want to know that YOU, the coach or parents, didn't actually make the programs. The design judging section is so your kids can show case their ideas and skills. The judges will ask them about process, ask to see a program, and see a sample of the code. Don't necessarily do your fanciest one. If you have a program that works 100%, show that one.
FLL members' responsibilities-
                Deciding before the tournament which program they wish to show the judges.
                Dividing up who will speak about what areas.
                Deciding who will run the mission in front of the judges.
Coach's responsibility-
                 Print out one or more of the code images for the tournament book.
                You can snip, or copy and paste the program lines to a word document for printing.

Tournament necessities-
The “ team book”. Not a scrap book, per-say. Judges don't even look at it really. More for the team and keeping track of their progress and success.
Must have 4 copies of the team form, one for each judging station and one to turn in at the beginning of the tournament. Use tabs so the kids can quickly turn to the pages and give the forms to the judges.
Coach's- 
                Take a team photo of the kids, include a 3x5 or 4x6 on the forms so the judges can see the kids as they make their final considerations. The research photo is of the kids in their full costumes, but the other three are of the kids in their team shirts or color. 
                Bring snacks and drinks for your team (or assign this task).
                Organize someone to get a table covering at the very least. 
                Many teams deck their tables out, and give out small tokens that talk about their research. 
                Designate a camera person / historian for the robot game runs. 
Team members-
                 Create a backboard that talks about your research. 
                          These often resemble science fair backboards with the problem 
                           and solution stated on the board, as well as relevant facts.
                 Bring something to do at the tournament. 
                           The tournament is like being a goalie at  soccer match- 
                           1 hour of boredom punctuated by 10 minutes of intensity. 
                            I do like tournaments, but really active kids can find them 
                           stressful in the down times.  
                 Sleep well before the tournament!
                 Remember to have fun.

 

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