Destination ImagiNationTeam Manager Workshop

Dee Urban, Instructor(With help from Bruce Urban &

Ro Jordan)Fall 2000

With grateful acknowledgment to:Victor Tom-MA, Jill Schoonmaker-NH, Cindy Watty-NV

Destination ImagiNationWorkshop Agenda

• Check-in• Video• Warm-up• Destination ImagiNation overview• Team Managers• Questions

Destination ImagiNation

• The most important course in education.

A Small Sample of DI Orgs.

Volunteer organizations all over the US and the world Volunteer organizations all over the US and the world

MAOM

The Heart of Destination ImagiNation

Students learn Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) skills – Brainstorming & Divergent Thinking– Exploring Open-Ended Questions (no single right answer)– Improvisation

Fills the gap between what students learn in school and skills they need in the workplace

Students develop strategic life skills – Teamwork/ Communication– Planning/Budgeting– Research & Experimentation– Presentation & Sales– Organization & Management

Colleges & employers are looking for students who have developed these skills

Kid-Powered & Team-Driven

Team’s solution is generated without interference

• Destination ImagiNation differs from kids’ sports and other student organizations in that it– Provides a supportive environment in which

all ideas are team-generated • Kids have ownership of solution• They make mistakes & learn from them• Students learn strategic life skills

– Adult team managers are only there to manage details of the team – adults do not tell students what to do, how to do it or when to do it

What Business is Saying…

“Destination ImagiNation participants •STAND OUT among our new employees.

• Their presence, confidence and ability to lead • put them YEARS AHEAD of their age and experience.

• Destination ImagiNation is making a difference

• in the high-tech future on a global basis.”• --Roger Garriock, IBM Canada director of e-commerce development

Destination ImagiNation’s outstanding participants

Warm-up Activity

• In teams:• Generate a list of as many types of jobs you

have held throughout your lives in two minutes. The jobs do not have to be PAID employment. Anything goes.

Choose three to five of the most unusual or interesting jobs

• What kinds of collective skills do we have in this room?

• What kinds of things could we create as a large team using all the types of skills that are learned from doing those jobs?

• What kinds of skills would you ideally like to have on a single Destination ImagiNation team?

Destination ImagiNationComponents

• Central Challenge 200 Points

• Side Trips 100 Points

• Instant Challenge 100 Points

• Total 400 Points

IMPROVISATIONA component in ALL

Challenges!• Acting, speaking or devising something

without rehearsal or forethought.– Mime– Improv

• Used in Destination ImagiNation– Instant Challenge– Improv Item in each challenge– Dinamic Improv Challenge

Typical DI Year• Team building exercises• Understanding Challenge• Brainstorming of solutions• Working, refining, and more refining

– Technical elements, props, costumes, script...• Constant practice for instant challenges• Local trips for junk and supplies• Practice dry-run (town presentation)• Tournament time

And lots of snacksAnd lots of snacks

Rough ScheduleINTRO

DIMEETING

SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY

TEAMMANAGERTRAINING

LOCALTOURNAMENTS

STATETOURNAMENT*

GLOBALFINALS*

• Learning to work as a team• Instant challenges• Understanding the main challenge

• Brainstorming ideas • Research & experimentation• Creating the presentation• More instant challenges

• Finalizing, refining solutions• Props, artwork, costumes, scripts• “Crunch” time, rehearse• And more instant challenges

* Top teams advance

Time flies when you’re having fun

FINALIZINGSOLUTION

& PRACTICEINSTANT CHALLENGE

The DI Program has Two Components1."Instant Challenges"

Teams must solve a “surprise” challenge in a short time frame. Points are awarded for successful completion, novel solutions and teamwork. Kids learn creativity skills, divergent and convergent thinking, risk taking, time awareness, cooperation and have FUN!

2."Team Challenges”Teams use research, art, technology, performance, imagination and more as they tackle one of the5 Team Challenges, open to all levels. The solution can take from several weeks to several months to developand refine. Scoring is definedin the challenge and includes addition of animprov item and side trips (special item/skills team defines).

Destination ImagiNation challenges students in many different ways

2000-2001 Central Challenges• Mystery Loves Company• Triplicity• Anonymously Yours• Dinamic Improv• IncreDIble TechEffects

Side Trips

A Side Trip is an extra excursion that adds to the enjoyment, excitement, understanding, and

“wow” factor of the Team Challenge! These are the rules about Side Trips:• Teams must showcase three DIFFERENT Specialties • A Side Trip cannot be an item required in the Central Challenge • A Side Trip cannot be part of an item that is already being scored • More than one side trip CAN be demonstrated at the same time

(example: A team-created song and dance can be scored for both the song and the dance as long as the Appraisers can identify each)

• Each Side Trip must be a single, stand alone item which can be appraised on it’s own merits

See the October 2000 issue of “CreativityNews”

All About Side Trips Issue

DI Challenges for 2001• Mystery Loves Company

– Craft a mystery story– Create a communication device– Conduct a scientific experiment

• Triplicity– Create a 3-part weight-bearing structure constructed from balsa wood, paper, glue – Tell a story of a journey– Design/build 3 separate travel containers

Problems have focus of Performance or Technical or Both Problems have focus of Performance or Technical or Both

DI Challenges for 2001• Anonymously Yours

– Select an anonymous work of art– Research the culture and time period– Create a performance that tells the story of

“Anonymous”, the artwork & the culture– Develop a technical element (uses technology

appropriate in that time period)• DInamic Improv

– Improv problem utilizing research in:• Famous Innovators, Cultural Performers, Important World

Landmarks

Problems have focus of Performance or Technical or Both Problems have focus of Performance or Technical or Both

DI Challenges for 2001

Go to www.destinationimagination.org for full descriptionsGo to www.destinationimagination.org for full descriptions

Challenge Presentations (excluding Challenge Presentations (excluding DIDInamic namic Improv) include an Improv Item and three Improv) include an Improv Item and three side tripsside trips

• IncreDIble TechEffects– Research technology of Special Effects– Create an original tale– Design & incorporate 4 special effects

Learned Skills

• THINKING ON YOUR FEET • ELECTRICAL • ARTWORK• WRITING• COMPOSING• PRESENTING• WELDING• DUCT TAPING• AND MORE . . .

Lifelong skillsLifelong skills

WOOD-WORKING SEWINGMAKE-UP

PLASTERING MECHANICAL DEVICES

Student Eligibility

• All students are eligible & benefit from DI - students need not be identified as gifted

• Student must – want to participate– commit to the team– be willing to take risks & learn from others

• Each student brings a variety of skills and talents to the team

• A part of a team, students will– listen, evaluate and build upon teammates’ ideas (compromise)– construct & refine the solution– present the solution– have fun

Each team needs students with a variety of skills and talents

No formal academic requirements

Building a Team 5 to 7 students form teams (typically in the fall/winter)

They compete in one of these categories:

– Primary Level - Grades K-2 or 5-9 years old

– Elementary Level - Grades K-5 –OR- no student reaching the age of 12 by June 15

– Middle Level - Grades 6-8 -OR- no student reaching the age of 15 by June 15

– Secondary Level - Grades 9-12 –OR- no student reaching the age of 19 by June 15 and not a high school graduate at the time of Affiliate competition

– University/Military Level - All team members must be enrolled full-time in a college/university or on active Military duty.

Each team has one or more adult team managers

Students complete against teams in their age category

The Creative Problem Solving(CPS) Process

• Creative Thinking Phase• Generation of Options

• Critical Thinking Phase• Focusing/Evaluating of Options

HEADLINES!

• 3 minutes• Each team member - Find 1-5 words that

could make a headline that is related in some way to being a team manager

• Share your headline• CREATIVITY is in all of us!

AFTER THE CHALLENGE• What does a good team sound like?• Did anyone on your team come up with

a good idea that you would never have thought of yourself?

• Did your team include people with different personality “styles”?

• Did any of you feel sort of apprehensive or uncomfortable in the first moments of brainstorming?

Rules of Brainstorming

• Rule 1: Withhold Judgment of Ideas– Allow students to conceptualize freely. All

ideas are “good” ideas.• Rule 2: Encourage WILD ideas!

– Encourage team members to be imaginative! Try to make each other

laugh!

Brainstorming

• Rule 3: Quantity counts!– Encourage the team to push itself to come up

with ideas until it runs dry. Encourage team members to not accept the first few ideas.

• Rule 4: Piggyback on the ideas of others!– Encourage team members to use “SCAMPER”

and put a new twist on ideas already given

Creativity is influenced by:

• FLUENCY– The ability to generate a great number of ideas

• FLEXIBILITY– The skill that allows us to produce a variety of ideas

• ORIGINALITY– The talent to think of unusual ideas

• ELABORATION– The process of filling in all the details

• EVALUATION– The process that allows us to select, test, and revise ideas

The SCAMPER Technique for Brainstorming

• S Substitute

• C Combine

• A Adapt

• M Modify• Magnify• Minify

• P Put to Other Uses

• E Eliminate

• R Reverse

A-Lo-U

• A Focusing/Evaluating Tool

• A Advantages• Lo Limitations and How to Overcome

Them• U Unique Features

– (Wouldn’t it be nice if…?)

A-Lo-U Tool ActivityFor Focusing Options

• Sample Option: Our team will use only recycled materials in its solution.

• Advantages

• Limitations and how to overcome them

• Unique Features or Potentials

INTERFERENCE

• Team Manager’s Guide - pages 18-20

• Interference vs Basic Resourse

• Where to go for resources:• www.destinationimagination.org• www.bfn.org/~nyom

SOLVING THE CENTRAL CHALLENGE

READRules of the RoadThe Central ChallengeThe Team Manager’s Guide

RULES OF THE ROAD

• Cannot solve the challenge without the rulebook

• Cannot “appraise” the challenge without the rulebook

TEAM MANAGER GUIDE

• Pages 21-23 Strategies and helpful instructions on working with the team to generate their Challenge solution.

• Team Manager– Positive Points– Time Commitment– No Interference

TEAMWORK

ANDTIME MANAGEMENT

CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS THAT WORK

• Members trust each other• Goals are clear and determined by the members• Members feel as if they belong• There is willingness to hear new ideas and

suggestions• Members identify with each other’s

experiences

GROUPS THAT WORK

• Conflict is recognized and discussed with the intent to resolve it

• Members accept responsibility for group functions• Communication between members is clear and direct• Members use each other a a resource and as support • Members define and understand ground rules

TEAM BUILDING IDEAS

• Help each other be right - not wrong

• Look for ways to make new ideas work - not reasons why they won’t work

• Help each other achieve and take pride in each other’s progress and growth

• Try to maintain a positive mental attitude

• Do everything with enthusiasm - it is contagious

• Whatever you want - give it away!

• Have FUN!

TEAM MEMBERS NEED TIME TO:

• Get to know each other

• Trust each other• Feel they belong• Respect each other’s

strengths and weaknesses

• Learn to make decisions together

• Accept that all their ideas will not the final ones used

• Start to take pride in the team’s solution

FORMS• Tournament Data Form - 5 copies needed

– found on the last page or two of each challenge

– to help Appraisers know what to look for• Declaration of Independence - 2 copies

– One for Performance Judges, one for Instant Challenge Judges

• Expense Report - 2 copies• Clarification Form

Special Awards• DaVinci Award

For outstanding Creativity

• Renaissance AwardFor outstanding skill in

engineering, design, or performance

• Spirit of Discovery & Imagination AwardFor spirit, sportsmanship,

volunteerism, teamwork

Don’t Panic…. You are not alone!• Dee Urban

Phone: 675-7566E-mail: deeurban@adelphia.net

• Our State Websitehttp://www.bfn.org/~nyom

• Our State NewsletterMailed to School DI Coordinator & also on website

• Our International Websitehttp://www.destinationimagination.org

“Imagination is more important

than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited.

-Albert Einstein

Destination ImagiNation develops the most important skill in life