Teacher-Mentor Training Workshop Team Organization Overview

1. Teacher-Mentor Training Workshop Team Organization Overview

2. A BEST Team Defined • Organization • Recruitment • more teachers! • students • mentors • Financial • Fundraising • Travel Planning • Safety Teacher Teachers

3. A BEST Team Defined • President/CEO • Team Leaders • Robotics • BEST Award • Webmaster • “Rules Guru” • Fundraisers • Team Members • Robotics • BEST Award Students

4. A BEST Team Defined Mentors • Shop/tool safety!!! • Construction Foreman • Planning & scheduling • Engineering Design Process • Compliance enforcer

5. Pre-Competition Planning • Post-Workshop/“What have I gotten myself into?” • Acceptance vs. Expectation • Accept the fact that BEST is overwhelming the first year • Expect confusion and setbacks • No matter what happens, do not quit; see it through • Quitting is unacceptable. Not having a fully-functioning robot is, however. • Panic vs. Pacing • You won’t panic if you’ll plan your work and work your plan! • Pre-Kick Off • Do fun team-building exercises to get students ready to work • “Failing Forward”—create an environment where all ideas are encouraged and failure leads to success

6. Pre-Competition Planning • Working with Mentors • Recruit from local industry, Rotary, PTO • Mentors do not have to be engineers! • Meet at least a week prior to Kick Off Day for strategizing how to organize, plan, and work with the team • Define duties and expectations – yours vs. theirs • Set up a weekly team work schedule • Working with Other Teachers • Do not do this by yourself! • Enlist other teachers to help with BEST Award • Oral Presentations—Speech & English teachers • Exhibit—Art & Drama teachers • Robotics—Career Tech/Shop/VoTech teachers

7. Working with Students • Pre-Kick OffRecruitment • Host an orientation meeting at least a week before Kick Off • Suggestion: show the videos posted on the BEST website; other videos can be found on YouTube • Go over Robotics and BEST Award (what’s involved) • Sign-up students by interest areas, but don’t let students take on too much (i.e., Robotics and the BEST Award) • Based on turn-out, determine if BEST Award is feasible • Pre-Kick Off Planning • Introduce mentors and define what their role • Go over weekly work schedule • Discuss team member expectations and responsibilities • Plan for team travel to Kick Off Day

8. Organize Your Team(s) • Create an Engineering/Manufacturing Firm • CEO • In charge of meetings, overall team effort • Assists teacher as needed • Suggestion: have mentors/teachers interview and appoint; do not make this by popular vote of the students! • Division Managers • Engineering and BEST Award • Each division has separate and distinct jobs • Other officers • Procurement (materials mgmt.) Human Resources • Compliance (game & kit rules) Fundraising • Webmaster Documentation (Notebook)

9. Organization Chart Example Executive Board (Mentors/Teachers) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) • Webmaster • Procurement • Documentation • Compliance • Fundraising • Human Resources Engineering Division BEST Award Division Director Director Team Leaders CAD, Electrical, Computer Programming, and Mechanical* Team Leaders Oral Presentation, Exhibit, Spirit, and Community Awareness * Some teams organize by chassis, extender arm, gripper, power, which may depend upon interest and number of available students. Breaking down the robot by sub-teams is a good way to get more students actively involved