Newsletters are a great source of information. They will usually be monthly September through December and then March, April and June. Newsletters will be sent to the school’s membership coordinator and should be copied for each Team Ma nager in the school. Our NY Website (www.bfn.org/~nyom) is updated almost daily, as is the National Website at:

(www.destinationimagination.org)

How to Join DI — Step-by-Step

In order to get a membership packet, including the 2000-2001 Team Challenges, Rulebook and Team Managers Guide all you need do is log on to the National website and print these materials. In order to compet e, and attend trainings you must join Destination Imagination (National). I have included a copy of the 2000-01 Membership Application for your use.

To compete in New York State you must also become a member of Destination Imagination of New York. A membership application is included with this newsletter. Your NY State membership entitles you to participate in our activities includi ng Team Manager Training, Instant Challenge Training, Improv Workshop, borrowing from books and videos from our Lending Library, presentations for faculty, staff, boards, parents and students, along with demonstration lessons using the DI curricula in the regular classroom.

Your region may have an additional fee to cover the costs of regional training and of course, the regional Tournament.

 

Special Feature:

The Team Managers Role

Excerpted from the VOMBO Team Manager Handbook

The “fundamental principal” of DI is that the kids are the SOLE force behind the ideas and construction of everything associated with the Team Challenge.  In some ways, this makes the Team Manager’s job easier:

You don’t have to be able to solve the Challenge. (Some would say not knowing how to

solve the Challenge actually makes one MORE suitable to be a manage a team.).

You don’t have to be skilled at anything the kids need to know to solve the challenge.  Again, since you CAN’T tell the kids how things should be done, it is often preferable to bring in outsiders (who don’t know what challenge the kids are trying to solve) to help develop any skills the kids might need. You don’t even have to like the solution the kids come up with. However, in many ways the DI Team Manager job is unique and especially challenging:

Kids, especially young kids, will naturally turn to an adult to give them direction and advice when they are having a bit of trouble solving a difficult problem.  One of the biggest challenges of a DI Team Manager is to help the ki ds learn to depend on each other for this kind of support.

Praising and encouraging the kids is natural, but a TM must be careful they don’t use “selective praise” as a kind of indirect control of the direction the kids take in developing their solutions. If you praise everything, the kids will have to decide for themselves which direction to go.

There will be times when the kids will appear to flounder — or their progress will seem painfully slow and you will want to step in and help get them back on “the Right Track”.  One of the great benefits of DI is for kids to learn methods to evaluate what is getting them stuck and find ways around it.  Teaching them the process of brainstorming, matrix methods of evaluating alternatives, etc. is a general skill that a TM can reasonably share.  Moreover, acting as the “fa cilitator” for these sessions is entirely appropriate.

Your job as manager is to help the kids determine their goals for the DI season.

1.  Help them to take the time to think about which Challenge would be the most fun to work on.  There can be a tendency to make this decision quickly.  Allowing enough discussion and “acceptance time” before the final decision is made will help the kids to feel comfortable with the decision.  This is an excellent time to introduce systematic approaches to decision making.  Be sure the kids determine what is drawing them to each of the challenges.

2.  Have them spend the time to discuss and agree to the level of effort they are willing to commit to.  It is often a good idea to involve parents in this decision.  This should include a discussion as to what will happen when other activi ties (like sports) begin.

3.  DI is about the process of preparing the solution — not the result of a competition.  Consequently, it is generally counter-productive to try to set goals like “winning the Regional Competition”.  Instead,  verify that the kids ar e interested in solving all the scored elements well — and get them to set goals for solving each scored element with a high degree of creativity, style and competence.  This way, the kids can feel they have met their objectives for the year regardl ess of the outcome of the competition.

4.  It is often useful for an adult to over-see each group to keep them focused on the task at hand and supplied with materials.  Everyone who works with an DI team must understand the goals of DI and Interference rule.  Getting Parents inv olved by setting up Instant Challenges, providing snacks, doing skills workshops, taking the kids on Field Trips, etc. –  helps to spread the workload and will make the Parents more appreciative of what DI is accomplishing for their kids.  With some additional adult to help out with younger teams.  With young kids, it is often useful to break them into groups working on small enough elements of the over-all Challenge that decisions can be made and implemented in a single meeting.  7 yo ung kids will almost never agree on anything. It is a good idea to find aspects of the over-all problem that interest each of kids and allow them to focus on that aspect.  Having a “prop committee”, “script committee”, “costume committee”, etc. allow s smaller groups of kids to “own” elements of the solution and to push the solution as far as they can without the need for constant discussion parents, it will be important to define the limits of their role — namely that the TM has the final word on ho w the Team should be run.

5.  Set up a regular meeting schedule and give a written copy to all the parents.  Personally, I find a fixed, weekly schedule to work the best once the season is in full swing.  We often supplement these with “committee meetings” of less t han the full team who are working on aspects of the solution that don’t require the whole team to be there.

6.  Team building is important.  It is difficult to be creative “on schedule”.  Sometimes, just letting the kids have some fun together will allow them to develop better communication and respect — which will lead to smoother progress when work resumes.

7.  Respect for Teammates is important.  It is a good idea to create Team Rules such as “Team members can disagree with a proposed idea, but should never call each other names”.  The process of creating these rules can be a nice “team build ing” exercise.

8.  Time management, dividing tasks between team members, prioritizing tasks and allowing time for practicing, problem solving and integration of all the elements into a consistent whole are all areas kids will likely over-look.  It is entirely appropriate for a coach to assist in high-level time management and task prioritization.  Kids can become caught-up in one element of a problem to the exclusion of all others.  Helping the kids to create a plan that will allow all the elements t o be completed to a level they can feel proud is an important part of the TM’s job.

9.  While it is appropriate for the TM to act as the facilitator in brainstorming sessions, they must be VERY CAREFUL to not take control of the creative process.

10. Risk assessment is critical.  Some scoring elements don’t have to function perfectly to receive a score (i.e. those scored on creativity or artistry).  However, other scoring elements are purely a measure of whether a task is completed.  ; For the task-oriented aspects of a problem, the Team should spend a fair amount of time considering what might go wrong, how they can guard against these events and what they might do to recover from them.  One of the most empowering feelings a Tea m can have is to overcome some minor catastrophe.  One of the most deflating can be to have something pop up that leaves them “dead in the water” in the middle of their presentation.  Even if nothing goes wrong, having contingency plans to allow the “show to go on” in spite of equipment failures will help a Team to feel that much more confident.

If the Team is drawn to a solution that solves the problem particularly well (when it works) — or solves it with a unique style they enjoy — the Team can choose to go with that solution KNOWING that it might not work! DI encourages kids to take risks an d generally tries to reward sensible risk taking.  Be sure the team lets the Judges know (through the team data form, talking to the Prep Area Judge and in post-presentation discussions with the Judges) when the Team has elected to go with an elegant solution in spite of the risk.  For many Teams, the pride of creating an elegant solution is more important than whether it is guaranteed to work at a specific competition.  Encourage them to make these decisions explicitly and help them to fee l proud of what they’ve done BEFORE they go into the competition.

As a general rule, the Team should start by looking at the criterion the Judges will use to measure a given aspect of the problem. They should then balance how likely a solution is to work, how well it will work and it’s “Wow factor” wh en choosing between alternative approaches.  Sensible risk taking includes assessing risk vs. reward.

11. Thoroughly understand the objectives, rules and scoring criterion for the Team Challenge.  Help the kids to understand the Challenge as thoroughly as you do.  It will generally take several readings (and occasionally clarification requests) before the problem can be completely understood.

12. Be sure kids get all published clarifications.  Otherwise, the problem they solve might be different than the one the judges measure at the competition!

13. Help the kids to feel comfortable sending in clarifications. Encourage them to send in for a clarification whenever there is any doubt about whether their solution conforms to the rules. Some of the “best” solutions will sit on the edge of what is leg al and what is not.   A formal clarification is the ONLY method to be sure that a given solution is considered acceptably within the perameters of the Challenge. Clarifications will generally be answered within a week.  Encourage the kids t o specify all their assumptions, give plenty of details and phrase the questions to accommodate simple answers.

14. Recognize that all rules, deadlines, etc. that are specified by DI  are inflexible.  A limit of 8 inches does not mean that 8.1 inches will probably be OK.  In some cases, missing a critical dimension can mean that the kids will either have to modify the offending item or not be able to use it in the competition.  This can be VERY stressful for the kids if they discover it at the competition.

Brain Storming

The focus of Brain Storming is to generate as many potential solution as possible before trying to select the best ones:

1.  Clearly state the problem to be solved.  For complex problems, it is best to try to break them down into smaller, independent problems and solve them separately.

2.  Generate as many potential solutions as possible WITHOUT judging whether they are good, bad or meet all known constraints.  It is VERY important that ideas NOT be judged during this idea generation phase as that will tend to stifle additional ideas.

3.  Test generated ideas to determine if they are possible.  Prune (or modify) ideas that do not meet known constraints.  Critical constraints include the resources of available time, finances and skills.

4.  Evaluate the ideas to determine which are the most promising.

5.  Conduct experiments or “feasibility studies” to validate assumptions of analysis.

6.  Focus energy on “best few” approaches, refining to “best one” with time.

Instant Challenges

Be sure to spend plenty of time practicing as many different kinds of, Instant Challenges as you can find.  It is entirely appropriate to show kids alternative methods to approach spontaneous problems.

The most important thing in practicing Instant Challege is that the kids are successful.  It is MUCH preferable to stop the team while they are in the middle of a IC practice and help to stabilize how they go about assigning roles, setting priorities , etc — than it is to try to do this after they’ve failed to solve the challenge.

Solving ICs are as much about time and task management as it is about creativity.  The best solution in the world will score no points if sufficient time hasn’t been left to complete it in the allowed time.

Here are a few ideas to help prepare a team for IC:

— Have each Team Member act as a judge while the others perform an IC.  This will give them additional insights into the process and what needs to be done to score the most points.

— Have the kids write down all their ideas for solving an IC — and then discuss ways to broaden the responses, organize them and remember them.

— Have them practice “piggy backing” answers.  This technique is a terrific way to come up with responses when their own well has run a bit dry.

— Even Instant Challenges designated as Verbal and Hands-on can be further broken down into sub-classes of challenges.  For example, “building something that supports weight” is one “class” of hands-on challenge, while “directing a team member witho ut verbal communication” is another.  Understanding these broad classes can help to develop generic approaches and can save a great deal of time during a competition.  Moreover, even if the challenge presented at a competition is different than anything  they’ve seen before, understanding how to interpret the “crux” of a challenge will help the Team to respond quickly and confidently.

— Experiment with different techniques for creating and recalling responses.  It is VERY difficult to think of new ideas while listening to other Team Members responses.  Having some mechanism to generate ideas and retain them in spite of this distraction is critical to avoid “drawing a blank” when their turn comes

them in spite of this distraction is critical to avoid “drawing a blank” when their turn comes

The DI Philosophy

Team Effort

A team effort is probably the strongest principle in the Destination Imagination competitions. All competitive activities are performed as a team – including the Team Challenge, Instant Challenge, and Side Trip categories. This is particularly evident in the Instant Challenge competition where, generally, each team member must participate. All DI challenges score for teamwork.

Divergent thinking is rewarded

Judges are instructed to be on the alert for unusual ideas evidenced in all presentations. Adult intereference is prohibited.

Financial support is relatively unimportant

Cost limits for Team Challenge solutions are low thereby putting all teams on even terms and eliminating the influence of extra funds. The most significant financial assistance needed is for the annual memb ership fee and for travel costs and entry fees for the competitions.

Making new friends is encouraged

At every phase of competition students are encouraged to meet and interact with students from other teams. Students often share ideas and solutions and offer help to each other.

Encourages the development of individual creative skills

Everyone has some creative potential, but many do not see it in themselves. Participation in Destination Imagination provides an avenue to open the door to the potential in each student. This in turn can bu ild self-confidence and encourage student-initiated inquiry. Experimentation is encouraged and even negative results can become part of the learning process without embarrassment.

It’s fun while learning

A DI event features an innovative teaching technique. It is said that creative problem solving is the wave of the future in teaching. It is no longer enough to teach solely content; we need to teach student s to think. Many of the Team Challegens foster a better understanding of subjects which might have seemed too academic in the classroom. Subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, history, literature, creative writing and foreign languages can easi ly be encountered in problem solving. Art, music, drama and costume design are also part of some problems and may be learned in seeking Side Trip points. Side Trips are based on the widely accepted Multiple Integlligences Theory. Positive reinforcement is stressed. Training of teams normally includes brainstorming exercises in which any idea is acceptable; nothing is criticized. All students who enter are treated as champions, which in fact, they are.

Competitions are by age OR grade

Your membership decides which critera works best for you! Sometimes a team of students all in 5th grade includes one child who has exceeded the age limit — in DI this is no problem! You school simply makes level decisions based on grade instead of age allowing all 5th graders to be on one team regardless of their age!

Youthful energies are channeled in positive directions

It is natural for young people to exert their energies in some direction. DI provides complex Challenges that have no stereotypic answers; the field is wide open to whatever direction the students want to t ake, but the goal is constructive and their efforts are rewarded through community and peer recognition.

Academic achievement is not essential to participate

There might be a tendency to feel that most creative students are those who have the highest academic achievement and highest IQ scores. Creativity does not necessarily correlate with academic achievement; thus, DI gives an opportunity to all students who show creative skills.

Creativity is fun

The predominant spirit in DI competitions is fun and humor. Finding new and different ways of doing things or looking at questions is an enjoyable experience.

About the curriculum materials…

With the generous support of the National Dairy Council, DI provides curriculum materials to our members around the world. The materials combine elements of competition and teamwork, theory and applicat ion, serious inquiry and fun. The activities encourage academic risk-taking, decision-making, goal setting, and, of course, divergent thinking. These are not intended to be Destination Imagination team-training materials, but are to introduce the enthusia sm and creativity of the DI program to the regular classroom. Each activity has a reference to one or more standard curriculum content areas. Inservice for classroom teachers, including demonstration lessons, can be arranged through the Stat e Affiliate Director

.

To contact the Affiliate Director:

Dee Urban

Telephone (716) 675-7566

E-mail: [email protected]

 

 

About Destination Imagination Regions In New York

Destination Imagination in New York is currently divided into three geographic regions – Eastern, Central and Western. It is the belief of those coordinating the program that Regional Tournaments, since they service the largest numbers of teams, should be a true celebration of every teams creativity. Requests to participate in a different region will be taken on a case by case basis.

The State Finals Tournament is smaller and therefore less expensive to operate.

As our membership grows more regions will be added for the convenience of our memberships.

Please contact your regional director for more information about the program in your area:

Western Regional Director Dee Urban 73 Minden Drive Orchard Park, NY 14127 Tel. 716-675-7566 e-mail: [email protected]

Central Regional Directors Gail Hunt & Tami Rigling Gail Hunt  e-mail: [email protected] 7121 Thorntree Hill Dr. Fayetteville, NY 13066 Phone: 315-637-5182  (day and evening) Tami Rigling 5039 Highbridge Street Fayetteville, New York 13066 home phone: (315)637-2364 work phone: (315)852-3405 e-mail: [email protected]

Eastern Regional Director Brenda Luck BOCES Cesar BOCES Drive Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 Tel. (w) 914-245-2700  x 378 (h) 914-279-2386 e-mail: [email protected]

 

 

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Destination Imagination

2000-2001 REGISTRATION FORM

One state membership must be purchased for each national membership in order to compete at any level. National (and state) memberships are defined according to the following categories.

A. Individual Schools: Public, private, parochial or chartered school

B. Small School District or Multiple school campus: total enrollment of 500 students or less

C. Certified Home School Program

D. Community Organization: Non-profit organizations or groups that sponsor education activities for youth.

E. University/College/Military

Please check the National Membership Form for the definition of competitive levels.

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Complete one form for each membership copy this form as needed:

School District:_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Membership Category:______________________ Grades in Building________________________________

 

Membership Name:___________________________________________________________________________

 

Address:______________________________________________________________________________________

 

City__________________________________________Zip code:__________________ County_______________

 

NY Region (check one) ÿ EAST ÿ CENTRAL ÿ WEST

 

Work phone: ________________________________ Home phone:_____________________________________

 

E-mail address:_________________________________________________________________________________

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A check for $45.00 per membership should be made payable to BOCES 2 and is due by January 15, 2001. No memberships will be accepted or processed after February 15, 2001.

Mail to:
Dee Urban, Affiliate Director

Destination Imagination of New York

73 Minden Drive

Orchard Park, New York 14127