Chronic Problems

[KathieK]

Is your team "organized"? By that I mean, does it have structure like an organization would? If you have a large number of students on the team, having organized committees defined (with committee descriptions) may help. Often we find rookie members have no idea what being on the team means. They come onto the team thinking they will build and/or drive the robot. We have a meeting early in the fall which explains the financial and time committments that will be necessary to be on the team. We establish attendance policies. We explain that just like on a sports team, not everyone will drive the robot in competition, but everyone will have a chance to try out if they desire. We meet year-round and hold fundraisers in the summer and fall. We hold workshops in the fall as well as a Teambuilding Weekend.

We have an active mentor group. In previous years the mentors would choose which committees interested them, and the students would do the same. This year the students formed the committees and invited the mentors they wanted to be on their committee. We caution students not to overcommit themselves. Many of our students have found that being on the computer programming committee, or the website committee, meets their interests. One of the advantages to having a larger number of students is that you can expand the team to do a website, or an animation, or have a public relations committee, or a spirit committee, etc.

I would recommend that you do an end of the year assessment - all students on the team will get a chance to say what met their expectations and what didn't. This will help your team plan for next year. In addition, if a team member felt (s)he contributed greatly, but the team does not agree, it opens up a dialogue where expectations can be discussed.