Quote:
Originally Posted by waialua359
This is advice from a teacher who has been involved with FIRST now for our 18th season and one of the founders of our program.
IMO, every team (if school based) should be lead by a teacher.
Ultimately, the lead teacher should be the strongest advocate and overall leader for all aspects of an FRC program, because they are ultimately responsible for what happens with students from a learning and safety perspective.
While our full time mentors are essential to our program successes and teaching students skillsets our school cannot provide, I dont expect them to be fully responsible for team objectives, program management, and ensuring that each team member gets a differentiated learning experience optimal for them.
This approach has allowed our mentors to stay with our program for years because they dont worry about school politics and logistics as much as possible. Instead, the goal is to have a "turn-key" program that allows them to share their expertise without all the noise and distractions that can discourage volunteers to work in a school setting.
My 2 cents.
-Glenn Lee
Lead teacher and coordinator, Waialua Robotics Program
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I definitely support this. I've been with my team since it started, and I know many outside the team think I'm the lead mentor (or whatever other title you want to give)... But I always try to set them straight - we have two faculty advisors on the team (title from the school), and they are the ones responsible for the team. They manage money, permission forms, travel, and all the other logistics of running the team. I just show up, work with the kids as best I can, and order parts as needed (something technical mentors have always done, given that non-technical mentors can find ordering the right stuff challenging). That school connection, and having someone dedicated to logistics and organization really makes it nicer for the rest of the mentors!