I hadn't thought about it until you posed the question, but yes, we've noticed.

I don't have a lot of help though.  Last year, our first year, there
were a lot of missions that could be accomplished by simply pushing
things around (and mostly in straight lines).  This year there was
very little possible with simply pushing.

I had a very hard time getting the kids to think about when a certain
sensor would be really beneficial and make a mission more reliable.
I'm planning on meeting roughly once per month and using the current
table but invent a problem for them that can only be solved by using a
sensor.  Hopefully that will get them thinking in the right direction.

But back to your original question, I'm not sure how to stop the
goofing around time.  Maybe it was unfortunate that we did so well our
first year.

-Tim


On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 1:41 PM, Tom Chiffrilller
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Does anyone else have a problem motivating 2nd year teams?  I have coached 2
> completely different teams and both times the first year was very successful
> and the second year the kids wanted to goof around most of the time.  I've
> talked to a few other coaches who noticed the same problem.
>
>
>
> Any ideas for motivating "veteran" teams?
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Juliann Eberheim" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:50:36 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Mentoring rookie coaches
>
> This year was definitely frustrating board wise.  My team was must
> disheartened by the tasks but I kept reminding them that they are trying to
> make the boards harder so that no-one could get all the points in the time
> period which in turn makes you (the team) have to figure out what is worth
> going for and what do you avoid.  I kept stressing to them to get the most
> that they can with their robot and not worry about what the point totals
> will be.  Unfortunately, the inaccuracy of this type of robot made some of
> the missions - dare I say - "impossible?" or at least impossible to
> duplicate consistently and without destroying strategic pieces (either the
> one you were going for or some innocent bystanding piece!)  In the end, I
> know my team learned the power of frustration and the reward of sticking
> with it through it all.  This was my second year coaching and one thing I
> noticed very much from the team was much more eagerness to work on the
> project th! ! an to go work on that mission board!  I let the kids have a
> break from the board but definitely encouraged them to never give up.
>
> Juliann
> Mindstormers
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: David Levy <[log in to unmask]>
>
>> I ran a few camps in the past two summers and it was truly a delight to
>> see that several of my former students had found their way onto teams
>> this season. I have to say though that the level of training offered in
>> a week long camp is not a prerequisite for participation in the FLL.
>>
>> From what I have seen, the problems that rookie coaches face are due to
>> difficulty in knowing where to start. I can't tell you how many
>> parents that I've advised, had purchased a retail kit for their child
>> but never bothered to install the software. Likewise there are many
>> teachers who have installed the Edu Kit's. software for their school
>> based club or in the classroom but never knew about the included
>> tutorials. IMHO, all it takes is a few hours of an experienced
>> coaches time to get the new coaches acclimated . The new coaches in
>> turn have to ask more questions here on the VADCFLL-L email list.
>>
>> One thing that I did notice this season was a drop off of veteran
>> teams. I'm thinking that this may be due to the difficulty in this
>> year's robot game and the unwillingness for teams to register for
>> tournaments - thinking that their scores were too low. How about those
>> teams that stuck it out and registered for the regionals? Were you
>> surprised that most teams scored lower than prior years?
>>
>> David Levy
>> VA/DC FLL Education and Outreach Director
>> 3rd Year Coach
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> ______________________________________________________________
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-- 
Tim Bornholtz
[log in to unmask]
(540) 446-8404
http://www.bornholtz.com

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