Sonya,
Having co-coached the last 2 years, my experience has been that it can
work well to assign partners within the team. For instance, we
usually have 6 members and pair older, more experienced kids with
younger, less experienced kids when possible but we definitely pay
attention to temperament as well - then we ask them to pick which
mission they are going to work on after the team as a whole has spent
some time brainstorming what they'd like to tackle and after the team
has experimented with and decided (tentatively) on a robot design
that might work. Within each group of 2 we find a range of abilities
and interests - some prefer to come up with attachments, some
gravitate toward programming, some do a little of both together really
well. This year each member has gained programming experience but it
doesn't always work out that way. We definitely encourage kids to
teach kids. Hope that makes sense. We see our role as facilitators
and we try to ask as many questions as we answer - this keeps everyone
actively engaged when circumstances are right (and, if all else fails,
just break out the snacks and call it a night!).
We also find that certain kids really gravitate towards the research
project - it is easiest to accommodate their area of interest and let
them run with it.
For "control of the robot" during performance rounds, our team "tags
in" each member at least once - two members are at the table all the
time, with one rotating out and a new member stepping forward as we
run missions. There are probably many approaches that work well - our
goal is for everyone to have a role at the table because they all feel
valued and more engaged at competition that way. Also, practice
during meetings really helps. We learned all these approaches from
our team mentor, Ann Kutz, who has coached and mentored several
successful teams.
Hope this helps!
Kelly Brayton,
co-coach Team Team, Richmond
On Nov 9, 2009, at 7:38 PM, Sonya Shaver wrote:
> Hi fellow coaches,
> I would love to hear how other coaches approach the division of work
> during the FLL season, and how you decide who does what. Especially
> when it comes to managing things like kids having different levels
> of interest and skill in regards to programming, and also deciding
> who gets to "control the robot" at the performance rounds. I'm just
> owndering how that has played out over the course of the season for
> different teams.
>
>
> Thanks for any insight,
> Sonya Shaver in Harrisonburg
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html
> and select "Join or leave the list".
> VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN-L.
> Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html to
> subscribe.
Frank & Kelly Brayton
[log in to unmask]
-- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list".
-- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html to subscribe.
|