I understand that I am walking on a fine line here and there and some people out there don't like what I am doing with various reasons.
Let me make a statement - if I were giving a bit detailed technical advice /demonstration on a meetings, the meeting is like being hosted in a school so it benefits many rookie teams. And also the feedback were all positive so far - they were not about taking advantage of a game execution for 2009 Challenge in particular - you should know the kids wouldn't work in this way! they were about promoting in-depth thinking, for example they were more willing to figure out utilizing the sensors, etc..
I just hope what I am doing will help the rookie teams enjoy more in this great activity.
Jin
--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Rusty West <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Rusty West <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 hour FLL robot design / programming clinic at your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 11:23 AM
Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 ho
Well said Mike. However, I would
mention one exception. If I know a rookie team or rookie coach, or even a
newer coach whose team is struggling, I will give some very detailed advice to
help them get a few successful missions going. The kids need a little bit
of success to hang their hat on when they get to a tournament.
From: First Lego
League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Blanpied
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
10:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special
offer to your team - a free 2 hour FLL robot design / programming clinic at
your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01
Lisa and Jin,
I believe that Jin is collecting and distributing information on
general robot design and programming principals, and examples from prior
seasons. Most of this information is already available online, on many team web
sites, Youtube, etc., and many teams already take advantage of those resources.
I don't believe Jin is including information specifically about the
Transportation challenge, or about his team's work in the current season, but
he should confirm that.
Certainly none of us should be trading intel on strategies or solutions
to this year's Transportation missions (except for an occasional "is my
kids' solution legal?" question), and stuff like that should also be
withheld from the DVD and from training sessions. It is good for coaches to arm
themselves with a variety of building and programming skills, in order that
they may mentor and "ladder" the kids. But the solutions
themselves--specific to how to tackle the Transportation missions--should come
entirely from the creative minds of the children. When I am coaching I am
very careful (and this is the hardest part of coaching!) to NOT point the kids
toward specific solutions. My job is to mentor, not to guide, and it would be a
hollow victory if my team did well at tournament using solutions that had been
encouraged by me, or using skills beyond the ones they truly possess.
That being said, there's lots a coach can legitimately do. In the
off-season or pre-season I may show my team selected YouTube videos or web
photos, to illustrate techniques that they might find compelling. Over the
summer or early in the fall season I do take the time to hold brief training
sessions on generic topics, building a suite of skills that they may later draw
on when they are designing their robot or brainstorming solutions. For example,
I have held sessions on various ways that a robot may turn a corner, or how
does line-following work, or calculating distances using the wheel diameter, or
creating MyBlocks. But those are never done on the mission table, and any
connections made to the current missions come from their fertile brains, not my
aged one. It takes diligence and restraint for a coach to not cross that line,
and this is one of the hardest yet most important aspects to coaching FLL, in
my opinion.
Mike
Jin,
This is all great information that you are giving out but I
think you should be doing this during the "off-season". It is
very disheartening as a coach to see my team struggle to figure out a solution
and the next week see you offer that solution to whoever wants to take it.
Lisa Savage
Team 0697
From: First Lego
League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jin Ye
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
9:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special
offer to your team - a free 2 hour FLL robot design / programming clinic at
your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01
Oops.
My mailing (home) address is
Jin Ye
4520 Willet Drive ,
Annandale , VA
22003
--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Michael Blanpied <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
From: Michael Blanpied <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 hour FLL robot
design / programming clinic at your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays
11/01
To: "Jin Ye" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 9:23 AM
Dear Jin,
Sounds like a great collection of information!
What is your mailing address?
Thanks,
Mike
Dear VADCFLLers:
I have a FLL INFO DVD for the attendees of the workshop, including in
1 - Robot designs examples and mission programs of the previous
challenges from the teams hat I have coached or mentored, and from the material
geruosly provided by "Configurators" - our
Virginia 's own BEST team ever in my opinion.
2 - Other NXT robots building instruction which can be an
excellent initial study/example models for FLL robots, mostly from
Internet
3 - Showcase FLL Challenge robot game performance video from some
national and international renown teams and from our award-winning
Virginia teams (Team
Configurators, Team Tiki, Team Robot Activators, Team MaJJEECKS, Team SMALL,
Team Sea Monsters, and Team Mission Plausible)
4 - In-depth Discussions on various FLL Challenge related topics
from previous years FLL Forums
5 - A "Video on 2007 Rules" including many illustrations of
the previous missions.
I'm making it available to VADCFLL list. If you mail me a
self-addressed and pre-stamped enverlope, I'll do my best to send it to you
ASAP - don't worry about the cost of the DVD media and please please dont' send
cash with the enverlope.
Jin
--- On Wed, 10/21/09, Debbie Harris <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
From: Debbie Harris <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] A special offer to your team - a free 2 hour FLL robot
design / programming clinic at your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays
11/01
To: "Jin Ye" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 12:11 AM
I am in Botetourt
County . Would you
consider creating a video of one of your workshops and making it available to
teams not in your area?
On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:45 AM, Jin Ye <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
Dear FLLers:
I, a WOULD-BE of FLL "mentor-on-the-run" offer the NVA local
teams a "home-service-call": a free 2 hour FLL robot design /
programming clinic at your place between Friday, 10/16 to Sundays 11/01 (only
evenings at the weekends).
The "NVA local teams" is defined as
1 - Any teams based at home within 20-mile radius to zip-codes 20151
(my work place in Chantilly) or 22003 (my home in
Annandale )
2 - Any teams based at school within 35-mile radius to the same
zip-codes indicated above.
Of cause, As always I do this on totally volunteer-basis. Actually I am
quite busy at work to bring up an information database system to comply a DOD
security standard / requirement. Therefore, any personal time-off should be
planned ahead.
If your team wants me to come at weekday daytime, you have to let me
know ASAP.
What I will offer to you at the clinic -
Simply put, if currently your team expects to score 150 to 200 points
at the robot game, you may gain 50 to 100 more points if you implement the
robot design / programming tips that I will go through at the clinic. And the
teams will enjoy a lot more in this Challenge because they will feel that THEY
KNOW HOW TO MAKE THE ROBOT TO PLAY THE GAME!
Certainly the meeting will be interactive - I strongly encourage and
welcome your questions at the clinic.
I prefer to work with team's builders and programmers only (plus
coaches / mentors) so the meeting can be more effective.
I'll have some 2009 game mission execution demos used for explain the
tips. The original NXT mission script is from Liam Bishop and his teammates of
FLL 2009 Team 8404. The robot that I'll use for the demo is from award-winning
FLL 2007 Team 945, built by Jason Ye and his teammates.
I cannot reveal the awesome secret of Team 8404's robot. But I can't
help to tell you the robot carries a "missile".
If you are interested in the offer, please reply back to me only (not
to the list). The deadline is Saturday, 10/17. If the number of teams that
asked me is more than that I can service during the period, I'll give priority
to the school teams first, and then the teams with the majority of the kids who
never did the FLL challengers before, and so on.
Jin Ye
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