Getting Started with a JFLL team

The JFLL program provides excellent support to the coaches with ideas on how to help the kids to get the most out of the program. There is a coaches pledge and a set of core values which help the coach define the culture for the team.

Even with that great support, it is nice to have a sense from other teams of how they actually do things.
Because this project was driven by my kids we started talking about who might be the right friends to invite to participate in this project with us. From a logistical standpoint we needed to keep the numbers reasonable The first time we did this, even though there were 6 official team members, there were 11 kids in total once we counted all the siblings - a great number for field trips but large for team dynamics unless the parents and kids are all on the same page regarding expectations (which thankfully they were).  Having had that experience, the conversation with my kids about who to invite focused on who we thought we would work well with, knowing that if we worked well together the whole project would be more fun.  I think this step is especially important in a homeschool or afterschool setting.

Then we invited our friends and set up our initial meeting. Our first experience with JFLL taught me how well it worked to structure our get togethers like meetings. I find this project is an excellent tool for teaching the kids all kinds of skills including project planning, participation in meetings, research, sharing learning etc

We used our first meeting as a way to talk through how we would work as a team and how the projectwould come togetehr. We planned out using a calendar what needs to get done, talked about team rules and how to work together, talked about ways to research and how to share that info, talked about how to do a group presentation, etc. We used that at the starting point to figure out team name, colour of t-shirts, what our project would be about, and how we needed to structure our meetings to make things work etc. The kids, with a little guidance, came up with excellent ideas and really worked hard to create a positive team atmosphere. We set up an email loop of the parents, talked about costs and what resources wecould offer, and what the time commitment would be so that we were all on the same page.

Here are some of the nuts and bolts of how our process looked.
Our meeting structure:
1) Opening
~ reminder of our team rules (listen, share, don`t interrupt, build on each others ideas, work like a team)
~ outline of the plan is the for the time together,
~ review our project plan and what we did last week to figure out if we are on track and if we need to adjust our timing
~ discussion of  what did people had learned and done since our last meeting that they want to share? Are there any questions that come out of that which need research etc,
~ discussion of what decisions do we need to make today
~ overview of what the rest of the meeting will include.
2) The Good Stuff
This is where we would do the work, the learning or the building part.
3) Closing meeting (always over snack):
~ how did today go,
~ are we on track,
~ what is the plan for the next meeting,
~ did anything happen today that impacts our schedule,
~ are there any questions that need more research,
~what is our to do list before the next meeting,
~ go around about how we felt the meeting went
4)Free play (we usually keep this short - about 30 minutes - because we want to keep the lego work part of it the focus of the time together and separate it out from regular play dates - I think it gives it some more importance and helps the kids settle into the idea that this is a focused time. We tend to discourage lego play if it would impact the project because frankly some of the kids just want to run around at this point and we want to encourage a team approach for the JFLL activities.

Keeping stuff organized
~ The kids all have notebooks for the paper component (worksheets, drawings, notes, info we print out from the internet, pictures, their question list etc)
~ We do minutes after each meeting (aimed at the kids w a separate to do list for parents) which are circulated via email.
~ We tried to share out the duties between the parents for organization items like buying t-shirts, supplying snack etc so that the kids see their mentors/adults working as a team as well.
~ We didn't (but we should have) set up a spread sheet to track expenses.  With different people contributing different bits, the analysis of the debits and credits and final payments challenged my algebra skills.

The Fun Stuff
One of the most amazing things about JFLL is how many interesting ways there are to research your project and I think this is where the real learning happens. We wanted to use field trips and multi sensory learning activities. This blog was a great way to track them so that we could share with each other and eventually with other audiences.
We took lots of pictures but I wish we had videotaped some of the kids explaining their presentations on April 1st.

Oh and get t-shirts. Ours were simple craft store t-shirts with inkjet transfers run through my computer printer. The kids decorated them however they wished. They make the team feel like and team and become a favourite part of the memories of the day.

I can't say enough about this experience, how much fun we had and how great it was to share it with our friends.