Yesterday I finished up my third First LEGO League season. My goal with the school's First LEGO League (FLL) team has always been to provide students with the opportunities the competition provides. The competition is made up of different components. It can be summed up as two components, a project and the robot missions. The FLL Core Values are used to guide the team and help them complete the competition while having fun. The teams have to present in three different sessions at the competition tournament, project, robot design, and core values. The experience with presenting is a valuable one for the students. The project is also valuable for skills it teaches.
The team this year was all first time participants a team of fourth grade students. The amount of work to be done is difficult to accomplish from late August to early December. Many teams meet multiple times per week including weekends. As a school team, it is difficult to require that significant of a time commitment. However, my goal is to share the opportunity with as many students as possible and not to just strive to win. I want students to develop existing strengths and discover new ones as well. This goal does not require students to give up all their free time or choose FLL over other activities.
Each year my experience with the team has been different, much as classroom dynamics change with each new group of students. I have enjoyed all three years but each year consider not doing it again. At the same time, perhaps oddly enough, I recommend it for both students and coaches. Again, I think the experience for both is invaluable. I have tried each year to improve a different aspect of the school's FLL team to make it work better for students and myself. I always ask coaches that I meet how they organized their team. How often did they meet? How did they design their robot? How did they distribute the work? What I have finally come to realize is that it does not matter how other teams are organized. I have to find what works to help my team achieve our goals. Our goals may not be the same as other teams. As I watched many of the team members literally bouncing with excitement before our last round, I realized I had achieved my goals. The team members and discovered new strengths and developed existing ones. They had found an interest in something they did not know anything about. There was talk of plans for next year's tournament that may or may not come to fruition, but they were there. The team of eight had experienced a brand new opportunity and whether or not they participate again, they have grown from it.
I have grown from my experiences over the last three years as well. I have grown in many professional ways and enjoyed the excitement and youthful enthusiasm of my teams. It is a tough challenge to take on, coaching an FLL team, but well worth the time and effort.
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
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