Home Stretch and New Coach

Team, we are in the HOME STRETCH!

This week was a very exciting week for the team!  We made great progress on the plot of our silent movie.  The team has been working very hard on the villainous characters and I'm very proud of what they have come up with.  That being said, we do still have a very long, but manageable, list ahead of us, such as:

• Build the Set (Paul has a great idea, we will be looking at prototypes and models next week)
• Make Costumes
• Write the Script 
• Finish the Plot
• Add Subtitles
• Create a Movie Trailer
• Make a Membership Sign
• Construct a Musical Score and Instrument

This looks like a very daunting list, however, this week we also got a very special new coach to help the team!  Mr. Wesley!

Wesley Dudas is a freshman at NC State who happened to see one of the flyers that I put up around campus.  He quickly contacted me to see about helping with our team as he has been apart of the Odyssey of the Mind program for several years.  I immediately said yes as he has not only been apart of Odyssey, he has also been very successful as his team has placed in regionals, states, and worlds! It is truly an honor to have such a experienced coach working with the team!

PARENTS!

You will be receiving an email shortly about the team meeting on two Saturdays or Sundays.  Please respond as quickly as possible as these extra practices will be crucial to our team's success at the tournament on March 7th.  Also, if you are able to come to a Saturday or Sunday practice, please consider 'donating' some space (your house/garage) for the team to work in.  You guys are the best!

Homework and Updates!

Hi all!

Sorry for the long periods of time between posts, as some of you may know, this is my last course-taking semester at NC State and it was a whirlwind.  Next semester I will begin my student teaching at a nearby school.  Hopefully I will have a little more time to keep this blog updated!

Anyway, we have been making huge strides this year and I'm very excited for what next year holds! Over the past several weeks we have talked extensively about SCAMPER and creative thinking skills, we have practiced a wide variety of spontaneous problems as well as have begun working on our long term problem: Silent Movie!  The students have already began brainstorming a villainous character that will play a major role within their performance.  As you may already know, students are assigned two pieces of homework over break.

The First Assignment: Watch silent movies for inspiration!
We showed a snippet of a silent movie at our last practice and the kids loved it! I know they are very excited to have movies as homework.  If you are struggling to find movies (Netflix), there are a lot of really great short silent movie clips on Youtube also.

Second Assignment: Compile 'trash/recyclable' materials to bring in
With each problem that students can solve, there is a max budget.  Ours, for Silent Movie, is $135.  This means that anything that is bought for the completion of the problem has to have a receipt and the team has to document it.  That being said, there are a couple of exceptions.  For instance, there is a list of items that it is assumed any team could easily obtain from a school that are assigned a value, such as desks, chairs, etc.  Many of these items are assigned a value of $10 or less.  Another exception to our budget is exempted items.  One of the biggest items on the exempted list is trash or recyclable items - any items that the team can transform into something else.  Since we are just getting started and the holidays are a great time to find large pieces of cardboard and other miscellaneous items, I thought it would be a great idea to have the team start collecting these items for when we actually start constructing.

A quick note about Outside Assistance:
As you may or may not know, Odyssey of the Mind is a kid-run program.  That being said, I coach the team in learning and developing creative thinking skills, critical thinking skills, arts-dependent skills.  I am not guiding the team in their solution of the problem, I merely help them think through all their options.  Many of the team members were very inspired by the silent films we watched in our last meeting and may wish to start developing characters or prototypes of props/sets.  This is ok! In fact, it's awesome!  However, parents cannot help them in any way.  Yes parents, you may help them by obtaining materials (that they ask for), however you cannot guide their thinking in any way!

I don't want to scare any parents from working on this with your child! You are more than encouraged to have a brainstorming session with them! But, when your child starts drawing/sketching/writing/building you have to sit on your hands and let them do it!

Enjoy your break!

Hitting the Ground Running: Piggy Backing

BRAINSTORMING!

The most used skill in Odyssey of the Mind.

This week, we started brainstorming about brainstorming.  Being able to produce creative, productive ideas from brainstorms sessions is such an important task within this OM season; it's almost all we do! To kick us off on this brainstorming meeting, we started with a spontaneous that required them to use the skill piggy backing (a sub skill within brainstorming). Piggy backing is when you use one of your teammate's ideas to help formulate your own.  In the spontaneous problem the team was tasked to name something heavier than the what the person in front of them said, with the first person naming something heavier than a brick.  During the first round of this problem, they struggled a little bit.  While they didn't have the issue of not listening to one another, they listed heavier items way to fast.

Ex: A brick, a cement block, an elephant, a ship, all the water in the ocean, the earth, the universe...

After completing the spontaneous problem we discussed the ideas of piggy backing and brainstorming in general, we continued brainstorming rules for brainstorming.  Brainstorming is a delicate process; students need to feel safe to come up with as many ideas as possible.

After discussing the rules of brainstorming, I asked the team to revisit the spontaneous problem and think of ways that they could be more successful, specifically using the piggy backing strategy.  The team discussed their strategy and tried the problem again.  They did significantly better after having the ability to discuss it.

Lastly, we did one final brainstorm session on how we, as a team, can be successful. As mentioned earlier, this is important as we want to be as successful as we can be.  We have the unique ability to be able to participate in the competition this year and would love to see how well we can do this year.

Homework:
Students took home two pieces of paper: Video/Photo Release and the Student Team Member Contract.  The Video/Photo Release is just for this blog.  As we continue working, I love to take pictures of the team doing their thing.  As they are minors, I don't want to put these photos/videos online without your consent.
The Team Member Contract is a very basic contract given to us from the Odyssey of the Mind Program.  Please take time to review this before signing it.

Students: please bring these two forms back at the next practice.

LASTLY,
Students please fill out this short survey by next practice!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

A New Year, A New Team

Its that time again...

Time for a new OM team!

Wednesday was our first practice! I am so excited after seeing familiar faces as well as meeting new members.  (Some of you have really had a growth spurt over the summer!) 

First practice went very well.  It will be a little more difficult at the beginning as we have a mix of old and new members, however I am confident that we will be able to get the members up to speed in no time.  At our first practice, we attempted a Spontaneous problem, did a creativity test, filled out a few "Getting to Know You" activities, and began discussing, very generally, what Odyssey of the Mind entails.  

The creativity test we did was the "Incomplete Figure" test.  This test measures a couple of various creative thinking skills such as flexibility, originality, fluency, and elaboration, all of which are very important skills to have and develop through the Odyssey of the Mind program.  As you can see through the students and Mrs. K's incomplete figures, we definitely have several highly creative people on this team!

HOMEWORK!

Please pick two of your favorite problems to work on and perform for OM.  We will have a vote for our problem soon. You can these problem synopses as well as additional information on the Odyssey of the Mind website. 

Problem 1: Runaway 'Train'

The team’s problem is to design, build and operate one or more vehicles that will travel on tracks and make stops at different stations without touching the floor. While traveling between stations, the vehicles must overcome obstacles —moving uphill, towing something, and more. The theme of the performance will explain the vehicle’s difficulties on the track and will include a ‘conductor’ character. Once the vehicle reaches its final destination it will display a flag or banner during a victory lap!

Problem 2: Experiencing Technical Difficulties 

The problem is to design, build, and demonstrate various devices that complete specific tasks. The team will create a theme where technical failures must be resolved through completing the tasks. There will be a list of tasks to choose from including ring a bell, change the wording on something, sound an alarm, move an object, etc. There will also be a mysterious engineer character. Of course, there’s a twist — all of the devices must be powered by rubber bands!

Problem 3: Pandora's Box

In this classics problem, teams will put a video game spin on the story of Pandora’s Box. A gamer character will take on this multi-level game inspired by the Greek myth. The game will include a prologue that depicts the original story of Pandora’s Box, three characters representing different evils that escaped the box, and a power meter that represents the gamer character’s health. To beat the game, the player will advance to the final level where it will release hope into the world.

Problem 4: Lose Your Marbles

This problem requires teams to design, build, and test a structure, made only of balsa wood and glue, that will balance and support as much weight as possible. The structure will also hold five marbles that will be released during weight placement as a result of a team-created device removing a piece of the structure. After the crusher board and one additional weight are placed on top of the structure, the first marble will be released. After the next weight is supported, the team will use its device to release another marble, and so on. The team will incorporate weight placement and “losing your marbles” into the theme of the performance.

Problem 5: Silent Movie

Lights, camera...action! In this problem teams will create and present a performance depicting a Director character that produces and presents a silent movie featuring a humorous villain character that commits three silly acts of “villainy”. Characters that are in the movie may not speak as part of the presentation of the movie. Instead, like classic silent films, the team will use music played on a team-created instrument and creatively displayed subtitles to convey its story to the audience and judges. Also, teams will use a signal to indicate when the movie begins and ends. 

The Script

THE SCRIPT

Rough Plan:

·      Surfing

·      Eaten by a whale

·      Haunted things happen in the whale belly

·      Blow out of blowhole and land on island

·      Party on island

Surfer 1: Emily K.

Surfer 2: O

Narrator: Emily O.

Old Man Bob: P

Agiler Fish: K

Mermaid: T

Special Effects/Party Dancer: C

Surfing in ocean

Emily O: Surfer 1 and surfer 2 were surfing at Myrtle Beach on a nice, sunny day.

Emily K: Whoa this is awesome man!

O: Have you ever been surfing before?

Emily K: Uhh sure?! (looking like he is lying)

Emily O: He has to be lying, look at his face!

Emily K: Nu uh! I totally got this!

Emily K looks away and crashes/falls off surfboard

O: *sigh*  Come on man!

O jumps after Emily K leaving both surfboards behind.

Emily K and O are swimming underwater

Narrator: Surfer 1 and Surfer 2 are now struggling to swim underwater thanks to surfer 1’s ”accident”.

O: Look at all the pretty fish out there!

Emily K: Why is that one fish getting bigger?!

Emily O: They begin to swim towards the pretty fish that was getting bigger.  Little did they know, they were swimming towards a whale.

Dun dun dunnnnnn!!(C)

O: Oh no! We’re in trouble!

Emily K: BIG TROUBLE!

Emily K. and Omee scream as they get eaten by a whale.

Emily O: Surfer 1 should have seriously gotten surfing lessons because now they are trapped in a whale. 

Inside whale belly

O: What do we do now!?!  You crashed and now look where we are!

Emily K: Well you shouldn’t have taken me out surfing in the first place!

Emily O: It wasn’t surfer 2’s fault, if surfer 1 would have told the truth and not have gone surfing they wouldn’t be stuck in the whales belly in the first place!

Emily K (to audience): Don’t listen to him/her! I was perfect!

O: Ok would you please stop arguing so we can figure out how to get out of here!

First illusion= floating fish bones

Emily O: Surfer 1 and 2 were walking around the belly until they saw some floating fish bones near by.

O: Ew! That is soooooooo disgusting!

Emily K: Yeah that is totes gross! How long has that even been here? YUCK!

Emily O: It’s leftovers! Now surfer 1 and 2 kept walking around until they found Old Man Bob, the Zombie of the whale belly.

Old Man Bob walks out

O: Who are you?

Old Man Bob (P) (southern accent): Howdy! My name is Old Man Bob, and I’ve been here for over 1000 years. *in scary voice And you’ll never ever ever find your way out!! Mwahahaha!

Emily K: *gags, Dude you need a shower!

O: Yeah, you smell disgusting!!

P: You know, that’s not a bad idea, I’ve been thinking about that showering thing…with a tub and pipe and water and stuff…

A angler fish swims up behind the group.

P: *screams! Ahh a angler fish!!! *runs away

Surfers turn around and see the angler fish

O: That thing seriously needs to brush it’s teeth!

Emily K: Yeah, there’s somethings that are unknown to science in there!

Emily O: The PL got so mad at what the surfers said, that he angrily swam away.  As the angler fish swam away, a mermaid sneaks up behind the surfers.

Mermaid (T): Sneaks and yells BOO!

Emily K: Oh my gosh, that outfit is so ugly and gross!!

O: Well she’s not that ugly Steps forward toward mermaid She’s just gross!

Emily O: The whale suddenly started making a really weird sound *C makes whale sound * and the surfers are blown out of the whale’s blow hole.

Surfers jump over part of set and land in disco party scene

Emily and O: What is going on!?

P DJ: It’s a party!

Everyone comes on to scene dancing

P DJ: It’s party…

Everyone: TIME!

END

We're Making Progress!

Sorry for the delay everyone! As my college semester winds down, I have been swamped with projects.  HOWEVER, here is an update on the great work that the OMers have been doing.

SPONTANEOUS

To start every meeting, we practice at least one spontaneous problem.  I find it really gets the kids focused and their creative minds going as we transition into working on our solution.  The past few weeks we have been working with the SCAMPER model to help us think more creatively.  Many OMers have really latched on to this idea and are coming up with some really great spontaneous answers.  The past two weeks, I have been challenging them to not only think creatively as an individual, but also as a team.  For instance, in the verbal spontaneous problems, if someone says a really creative answer, how can you use that answer to inspire you to say an equally or more creative response.  I've also been introducing more hands-on problems for the team to tackle.  While the hands-on problems are new for them, it does force them to start thinking about each others ideas and building off each other.

THE NOT-SO-HAUNTED-HOUSE

Brainstorming the Set

I am very proud to say that over the course of the past 2-3 weeks, the team has made MAJOR strides in completing a solution.  Just last week, the team decided on a movable set piece, several illusions to be included in the set, finished writing the script, and assigned roles to the script!  They have been working so hard! To continue this pace, I have been encouraging the team to gather as much cardboard as we can through cheap, dumpster diving methods.  I hope we will have enough by next week to put the set together and start discussing painting options.  Additionally, since they have finished the skit, I want to start running through their lines as often as possible.  For future weeks, I am going to replace spontaneous practice with rehearsal of lines.

How do we make a whale?

I am reaching out to Mr. Douglas in hopes of letting the team perform their solution to at least the fourth grade, if not the entire school.  He seems very eager to make this happen, however, nothing definitive has been made.  However, I feel confident that if the team is willing to stay focused these next few weeks, they will be able to put together a really great performance.

Designing our Solution

This week the students are working very hard in trying to get some decisions made so that we can move on to working on the actual script and scenery (which is the fun part!). Over the past couple of weeks we have been brainstorming potential characters, settings, and reactions to our "haunted house". Last week we came to the conclusion that we were going to try to focus on the reaction "grossed out".  I think this might change as we continue developing our plot, but we'll see what the kids come up with.

To kick off our practice, we started with a simple verbal spontaneous problem.  The team did fairly well working with it.  Several students are really starting to use the SCAMPER technique as well as build off of what the students in front of them said.  The second part is critical, especially as some students start answering with high creative or humorous answers every time!  If my OMers who struggling to say something creative every time can begin to shift their thinking based on what someone in front of them said, I think their ability to give consistently creative answers will increase.  After discussing this idea with the team we re-did the same spontaneous problem.  Using this technique in conjunction with SCAMPER the team was able to double their score! I think by seeing the "payoff" from not only thinking creatively on an individual level, but also as a team, their spontaneous score can really improve.

Once we started working on our longterm problem, the team made a lot of good strides and really started thinking creatively! As a group, we decided that our basic plot was going to be some characters (we haven't completely decided who yet) were going to start off by surfing in the ocean.  As they are surfing, they wreck and end up getting eaten by a whale.  Inside the whale belly is where our "haunted house is going to occur.  Our surprise ending is going to consistent of the characters who were trapped in the whale belly to get shot out of the blow hole and land on an island where a party is taking place.

I personally love their base story so far.  I think the idea of having the "haunted house" take place inside the belly of a whale is genius and it lends the kids lots of different "haunted" things that could take place.  During this practice we also watched a couple of the performances from the teams that competed in the competition.  I can tell that the students really looked critically at each of the skits and tweaked what they saw to go into their own skit.  I'm really excited to see what they come up with once we start script writing and set designing!