I don't recall if anyone ever told me this or not, but our team did introduce themselves as both a team and individually. It just seemed to make sense to do it. I actually like that the kids' presentations are private. I think there is a lot of pressure in other areas, especially the robot table, and having an opportunity to present their research to a panel is a good opportunity. It's kind of like presenting your work at a meeting of colleagues. Sonya Shaver Team 193 Nanobots On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Kathleen Wakeman <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > I too would love it if the teams could see the other projects. I think it > would really spur their creativity and set a mark for excellence for the > next year. Re the introductions: we didn't get a checkmark for that even > though our team did introduce themselves (team, school, town), which made me > wonder: are individual teammember introductions desired? > > Kathy Wakeman > Mindstorm Marauders > On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 9:35 AM, Linda Bangert <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Hi All, >> >> I would like to add the thanks of Team WNANF (We Need A Name Fast) to the >> others who have chimed in about the Newport News tournament. We are a >> rookie team, and had a few surprises in how things were done, but the >> scheduling went very smoothly, the rooms were easy to find and centrally >> located, and folks were gracious and professional. Well done! >> >> I'll pass along the things that surprised us, in the hope it can help >> others. I hope I'm not spilling any secrets. >> >> One of the things our team got feedback on the sheets as a weakness was >> "No introductions to judges." Although our team handed the judge the Team >> Information sheet, no one told us that it was standard procedure to >> introduce themselves as well. Talking to an experienced coach friend, he >> said they forgot to tell this year's team to do that, even though they had >> remembered to tell their previous teams. >> >> The team was also surprised in the robot judging to be asked to run the >> robot while they answered questions. Even though this is a middle school >> team, several members are shy, and had a hard time listening to and coming >> up with coherent answers to the judges' questions while they were also >> trying to run the robot - definitely something we need to practice. >> >> After reading the comments here last week (at 10:30 p.m. the night before >> our tournament) about needing to bring a "code book" with photos of the >> robot with all the attachments and printouts of the programs, I was in a >> panic, particularly since my printer was out of ink. We decided to just >> take our robot and laptop to show the programs. Although bringing our robot >> to the robot judging may seem obvious, it wasn't to this rookie coach, >> particularly after reading about needing to bring photos. Finally, even >> though some team members said, "We can show you in our program what we did," >> the judges didn't want to look at their programs at all. (Glad I didn't go >> on a midnight expedition for printer ink!) >> >> As a final suggestion, I would have liked to have the team see the other >> teams' presentations, in order get ideas on what worked and what didn't. >> This is allowed (with students as young as 3rd grade) in Odyssey of the >> Mind, and the kids learn a lot from each other. The format is very much the >> same - using classrooms for the presentations. When the room is full, >> that's it, so teams would have to be judicious about sending only a couple >> of members to not take up too much space. >> >> Perhaps a "What to Expect" few paragraphs would be helpful, either posted >> on the VA/DC website or e-mailed to the coaches when they register for a >> tournament. This should help new coaches, and also serve as a checklist for >> the experienced coaches. To put everything in perspective, none of these >> things hurt us much, as we did qualify for State, but it was stressful for >> the team members. Even so, they had a great time. Thanks again! >> >> Linda Bangert >> Coach for Team WNANF >> Poquoson Middle School >> >> -- 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. >> > > ------------------------------ > 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. > -- 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. 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