Teacher-Mentor Training Workshop Team Organization Overview

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

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

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

Pre-Competition Planning “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

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

Working with Students Pre-Kick Off Recruitment Pre-Kick Off Planning 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

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)

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