Virtual School Troubleshooting in the Home.

Weak Signal

 So, you child is learning virtually this fall and you are having technology issues that you just can't figure out. I want to provide some tips when you come across common issues.

Video call has issues connecting and staying connected

This is a common issue especially during peak times where everyone is connecting. There are some troubleshooting techniques I use when my video call is having issues. 

Is there anything else running on your computer?

I have solved many of these issues with simply asking the student to close any unnecessary activity on their computer. Many of the computers given to students are only powerful enough to do their school activities. For instance a video call with their class and the activity document the intructor has them following along with. I have come across tihs on many occasions where the student is playing a video game, streaming music or even streaming a movie while they are in the class. This will significantly affect the experience and they should close these activities in order to give the computer the power it needs to maintain the class activities.

Trouble Shooting

Inevidibly, there will sometimes be a bandwidth issue due to other factors on your home network or in the trunk lines during peak times. I have resolved this issue by turning off my video and hiding the video of anyone that I don't need to be looking at. This can significantly reduce the amount of bandwidth you are using and keeps your connected. Next, you can clear your browser cache by going to the setting in the browser, finding the setting to clear our cache. Finally, You can restablish your connection by restarting your computer. 

My computer isn't connecting to my Internet or my signal is weak?

There could be a couple different things going on here. It could be your signal is weak due to your physical location to the wireless router or it could be a hardware issue.

If you signal is weak, then consider moving closer to the wireless router in your home.This can be affected by distance from the router or the number of walls the signal needs to pass through. There are devices that can be purchased to expand your network coverages such as a Wirless Repeater.

Hardware Failure

It is possible that either your router or computer wireless card is not functioning properly. First, I would eliminate the wireless card on the computer but testing it on another wirless signal. This could be done by opening a hotspot on a phone nearby or heading to another physical location like a neighbor, local restaurant or family members. If the computer connect with their other wireless network then you know it is your router or router confiuration. If it is not working on another wireless access point, then there is an issue with the laptop configuration or the wireless card is bad. I would recommend contacting the school right away to get another device.

Rented Router from ISP

I recommend consumers always rent the wireless router from their internet provider. This usually costs between $3-$5 a month. This comes in really handy if your router were to fail, then you can just contact the service provider and they will swap it out for a new one.

Is the device powerful enough?

So, this is a touchy subject without coming off as recommending a device or criticizing a choice made by a school district. Let's get right down to it. School funding is not where it needs to be. Schools have been forced to purchase products that barely do the job and creates a dependency the system they puchased. 

Companies are offering VERY low prices on devices for something that does not come with an installed operating system. The operating system is actually running in the cloud and not on your local computer. The problem is that if that company experience any sort of issues that take the system down. Millions of students will be affected. 

This device is only powerful to ran the bare minimum of what they need to function in a synchronous environment. The video call and the one activity they are working on is all the computer will handle. Many students will want to stream music, play video games and even try to watch a movie while in class. The device simply can't handle this. 

I would recommend districts consider this when purching devices. A PC builds in this reduncy. If the one system you are using goes down, there is still a local operating system where the students can work outside of that system. 

Student Success Tips to Online Learning

So your school has gone 100% remote this fall and you want to make sure you are successful learning this way. Here are some tips to learning online that I see my students using.

Learning online does work and you need to take it seriously.

Students
There are many reasons students come to take a class online and the sooner they buy into the process the better. The worst thing you can do is get upset and find excuses to not take it seriously. This is the biggest mistake students make right away. 

Serious

Parents

You also need to take it seriously. If you don't take is seriosuly neither will your kids. You may have feelings about this decision but your child needs your support to get up and running. The more you complain that this isn't the education is suppose to work. The harder it is for the teacher to educate your child. 

Put it off and ignore it? Don't ever think about it.

Students
This is common for some students to put it off and ignore the fact they have an online class. Don't be this student. It will catch up with you. Lying to your parents that you have been submitting assignments when you haven't doesn't work. This will catch up with you and quick. The instructor has access to data that tracks when you log in, what pages you click on and you can't fake it. If you don't turn it in, then you will not get credit for it.

Trouble Ahead

Parents
Have your students show you how the class works. Have them show you how they turn in an assignment. Seriously, they can do it. Never drive the computer. Always have them show you. One trick is to have your student cast their computer to the TV so you can see them navigating the course. Do it as a family. This sets up accountability and helps build a better relationship with your child at the same time.

Time Management

Students
So, don't over think this. You don't need your whole day scheduled. Simply plan to work on your classess at the same time every day. Take breaks often for about 5 minutes. 

Time is Precious

Parents
They may need help at first to determine this time and to make this time work for them.

Create a regular study space and stay organized.

Students
I recommend setting up two spots in your home you like to work. One sitting at a desk or table and one standing as a secondary spot. Make sure you have everything you need at your desk space. Here is my list of essentials for my desk space.

1. Headset (Headphones with a mic and noise-canceling)
2. Laptop or desktop (not a tablet or a cell phone)
3. Mouse
4. Webcam
5. Notebook
6. Writing Utensil
7. Second monitor (Optional)

Workspace is crucial

Parents

Help your child's deskspace be a place they want to come to everyday. Hang up some things around the student with their favorite colors and items that make it their space. Similar to decorating a bedroom.

Get rid of distractions

Students

Put your phone on silent and close any unneeded apps or websites. This is not the time play video games, watch a movie or scroll social medias. You can check your social media on your break time. Nothing is that big of an emergency. 

Parents
They will need your help with this. Limit what can be heard where your student is working. If you have multiple children or have a loud house, invest in a good setup of headphones with a mic for your child. Make sure to get noise canceling. A good headset could cost upwards of $200-$250 but if you are going to invest in anything, this is where I would put your money.

Participate

Students
You need to be an active participant in your education. Waiting for someone to explain something to you when you have a question will only hurt you. You need to actively learn how the website works, where to find things, message your teacher when you have questions. If you sit back and wait, you will not be successful.

Parents

The number one thing to watch is that assignments are being turned in. Have them show you that they submitted it. The website will say "submitted", give a number score or give some sort of icon to indicate that it has been submitted. Remember to just have them show you. This creates more accountibility on the students part. You should not have to work harder than them. If you need to email the instructor. Make sure to CC your child in the email. Make sure they know what is going on and the teacher will respond to both of you. Make sure they know you are on the same page as the teacher. 

Calling all parents... Teachers need your help!

Calling all Parents, so school is going virtual and you have a kid that needs to learn online. First, I know it is overwhelming and I am not sure I can solve all issues with this but I can give some tips from my experience as a virtual instructor and training designer. Here are some tips to help your child during the day. I am going to break this down into two categories of virtual learning to know about

Asynchronous learning vs Synchronous Instruction.

Schools will be doing both this school year and it's important to know how to help in both cases.

1. Synchronous Instruction - Students connecting directly with their teacher for live instruction. This is likely done using a video conferencing tool that has been working feverishly to turn themselves into virtual classrooms, such as Teams, Zoom, Meet, Newrow, Etc. These are all great tools and there are definitely many of them out there with different flavors and options.

What can you do to help?

a. Find a place in the house that limits distractions and as quiet as possible.

b. Purchase a headset with a microphone. If you can afford it, grab some with noise-canceling technology. Note: you will get what you pay for here.

c. Ensure their computer being has a webcam. This allows for collaboration.

d. Set them up for success with a computer and a mouse.

e. Ensure they are taking breaks away from the computer between sessions. This means walking away from the computer and doing something that requires them to get their blood flowing like standing up and walking around the room as a minimum.

f. Sit down with them and show interest in what they are doing. Make sure they know that you support the process and never speak negatively about it. The teacher needs your support.

g. You may need to troubleshoot with them at times to make sure that their mic and webcam are working.

h. Encourage them to still use a notebook like they would in school. There are tools online but they are still transitioning and need to be connected physically to what they are used too.

i. Help your student with communications with the teacher. They cannot just walk up to the teacher and ask questions. Help them learn how to send an email and/or message to the teacher. They will learn this better over time but they will need your help at first.

2. Asynchronous Instruction - This is where the teacher is not live with the students and the content is delivered to them by a website then the instructor is there to help remediate with students who are struggling, track their progress and score their work and give feedback, etc.)

a. Keep track of the time they are spending interfacing with the computer. They should be spending a similar amount of time online that they would spend in school. If they are not spending at least 45 minutes a day (per course) you may need to make sure they are keeping up with the classroom pace.

b. Have them print the course pacing guide (or course schedule). Have them hang this up on the wall wherever they are working and use this as a checklist. Meet with them once a week at this document and check off what they completed.

c. Make sure you are tracking their progress and scores in the course. You could even have them write their score on the pacing guide when they get it.

d. You will likely need to help them navigate how to submit assignments. Students struggle with file management and may need your support in figuring this out. If you are both struggling, reach out to the teacher and they can help.

e. Watch out for this - If they say they are submitting their assignments and they don't have any scores, they are likely not submitting the assignment or struggling with how to submit the assignment.

f. Sit down with them and have them show you their scores and what the content looks like. Show interest in what they are learning and be supportive.

I am opening myself up for support for anyone on my friend list. If you are struggling with anything, ping me and I can help you sort it out.

Here is an excellent video to check out

COVID-19 - You want me to do what? Teach Online?

The Covid-19 Crisis has given schools the opportunity to quickly dive into online learning. For educators, I know how scary this is for you. In 2014, I transitioned from the classroom to teaching online 100%. It was very overwhelming and challenging but I will never forget how much fun I had. It has been the best decision I have ever made.

So, as you transition, here are some of my thoughts.

Maintaining Student Relationships

This is going to be the key to your success and the very first thing to consider when planning how to approach the weeks to come. Remind yourself that they are going through this too and you are in it together. 

Response Time - Online schools across the country have strict rules around response time for a reason. They need to feel teacher presence in the course. A good rule of thumb is 24 hours on messages and 72 hours in grading assignments. Now, this guideline is for students knowing they are going online and not being thrust into it quickly. I recommend being very available in the first week of the transition. Setup a way to get text messages from a student not using your phone number. There are services out there that you can set this up for free. 

How to respond - They need to know that you are being authentic in your responses to them. Always respond to a student with a greeting using their name. You could thank them for messaging and/or praise them. This really goes a long way in the relationship. Consider keeping common responses somewhere you can use to copy from.

I cannot stress how important student relationships will get you through this.

Resources

If you haven't done this already, gather ALL of the digital resources you can find from your curriculum. For example, does your textbook come with any digital resources? Does your textbook have a website with links to videos you can utilize? 

If you are using a common textbook, this is good. There is a very good chance that another teacher has recorded an explanation for your lesson. Don't recreate the wheel, you simply don't have time.

Lessons

Remember you are already excellent at teaching and you know what your students need to be successful. So, the biggest advice I can give here is that your chunks of content and assessment may need to be smaller. 

Here are some quick basics

Hook - Get their attention

Explain - what they need to know

Integrate - have them discuss, send you a thoughtful message, launch a discussion board

Assess - Small quiz, assignment and or project

If you get inspired by this, you can dig deeper into this article - https://catlintucker.com/2020/03/designing-an-online-lesson/?fbclid=IwAR2cu9BMDqTnwaaQBhlJcsicHotDJVVudxG2Vkj4j3q2GGlZyhFFXT_ebTs

Projects

Build-in more checkpoints and have them submit as they go through the project to give you updates. Remember that they will likely have a cell phone with a camera with them. Use this to your advantage to have them document as they go. 

Teachers are the best problem solvers in the world and you will get through this. You are amazing and your students will never forget this experience that you get to have with them.

Here are some more great resources as you transition

There has been a great Facebook group set up in Michigan for teachers going through this

https://www.facebook.com/groups/142810840355968/?source_id=80421195027

I recommend joining right away The experts in this space are engaging here and supporting educators.

2016 MACUL Conference

Michigan Virtual University Spring Synergy Session

Kristin Flynn and Student Learning Services Team put together another successful Spring Synergy Session for Michigan Virtual School Instructors. This was a great way to learn from other educators from across the state.

http://www.centennialbulb.org/

Annette Gleason, Michigan Online Teacher of the year, presented about Personalized Student Learning. This helped me to remember to focus on detailed feedback to students. To find a balance between efficiency and good quality feedback is an integral part of being an online teacher. Her presentation reminded me to be caring, honest and committed to a growth mindset with my students.

Jamie Dewitt, Blending Learning Manager, really had a great presentation on the Blended Learning Continuum. The MyBlend program is an excellent resources for educators across the state. They offer free Professional Development as well as coaching to teachers for free across the state. Check out their program at http://myblend.org/

Kristi Peacock, Instructional Designer, presented on Accessibility in the classroom. Her passion for students was very apparent in her presentation as she talked about ensuring ALL students are able to be successful in a course. Accessibility in course design and instruction is essential to success and she reminded me of my obligation to ALL of my learners in my courses. Here are some great resources for screen reader technology.

Ben Ashby, Michigan Online Teacher of the Year, Runner up presented on Hooking Your Students with the Beat! I had a blast learning how using music to help students with memorization. Oh my goodness, I have got to start implementing music in my math courses. This would help students tremendously to remember formulae. I can't wait to implement this in my online courses, RIGHT AWAY! Here is an awesome video for Trigonometry that I can't wait to send to my online students on Monday.

Stephanie Pearsall and Becca Imthurm presented on Creating a Persona in the online classroom. What a great way to "Decorate" your online classroom. By theming your class, adding personal signatures, using colors and images that represent them as an instructor are all great idea. They have changed the way I present my courses already and I have learned a great deal from both of them from this presentation. I can't wait to implement these strategies in my courses. I definitely could use some improvement in this area.

Thursday - MACUL 

Desmos and Geogebra

This was an epic presentation explaining the power behind Desmos and Geogebra. Both of these tool will be instrumental in the both online instructional methods as well as online course tools to use in course curriculum. The power behind these tools for high school age students is unmatched anywhere on the web and will be excellent resources for future online courses.

Build a Chrome App

Another great tool to use to drive students to your classroom website. John Sowash delivers another exiting tool from Google. Though it takes a little file manipulation but there is no coding required to have an app. I can't wait to see what possibilities there are for our students. I plan to reach out to our team to see if this may be a possibility to have a Google Chrome App for our student website. This would help a lot for our students using Google Chromebooks to work on our courses.

Gamification

Todd Beard presents another inspiring session on Passion Based Learning (PBL). To design courses in this manner speaks to the gaming students we have in the classroom. Hacking the classroom in this manner would be tremendous and would engage students in a whole new way. Microsoft was luck to pick up such a passionate educator. He also integrated Coopertition into the classroom from the arena of FIRST Robotics.

Friday - MACUL

#MVUcoffeebreak

The Michigan Virtual University both did an excellent job with their booth this year. The resources from this organization are endless, thoughtful and just plain Awesome. They offer support from online course to blending learning opportunities for Face to Face teachers. The did an excellent job bringing educators to the booth to discuss strategies and the offerings at MVU by setting up a coffee shop. What an awesome idea! I felt bad asking for a cup since I worked there but I loved seeing our staff working as Baristas for the day

Microsoft

With the the growth of Google Apps in Education, I was wondering when Microsoft would get into the game. I got a chance to hang out with Todd Beard, Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow. He is one of the most inspiring educates I have met today. His dedication to inspiring educators to hack the classroom with Gamification was an excellent presentation. I was also able to spend some time eating lunch with him on Friday discussing educational philosophy and how it might be able to enhance my craft as an online educator. I watched multiple educators come up to him and talk about their experiences. I hope we can find a way to get him to present at Collaboration of the Minds in August.

Michigan Virtual University iEducator Digital Learning Corps

These young educators are absolutely wonderful. They exemplify professionalism and Integrity. To watch them present and at the Michigan Virtual University booth was a sight to see. The awesome group of educators will be a tremendous edition to any school district in Michigan. Their attention to detail and connection to students is unmatched. I am proud to work with each and every one of these educators and wish them luck as they pursue their careers beyond Michigan Virtual University. MVU has really put together a stellar program for new educators.

Techsmith

I had an excellent talk with Techsmith about the possibility of some future professional development. I am dying to learn more about the tools we use as a staff. I feel I could expand my knowledge of tools and give my students a more enriched instructional experience. I look forward to working with them more. Their tools are an essential part of my job and I am not sure if I could do my job effectively without their software.

Final Thoughts

The 2016 MACUL conference was a tremendous opportunity afforded me but my employer, Michigan Virtual School. Everything was handled in a professional and thoughtful manner. I look forward to attending again in the future. Every year this conference is the highlight of my year. I always learn more and more. I get to network with some awesome people in education. The hotel I stayed in was tremendous and met all of my needs. My colleagues were all well rested and were able to participate in a positive way each day of the event. Though I would have loved to attend more sessions, there simply was no time. In the future, I look forward to more technology enriched, advanced sessions to help continue my growth as a Tech Savy Educator.

2015 Indiana Robotics Invitational - Where the Egos Come to Play!

Holy Stacks Batman! This weekend was the 2015 Indiana Robotics Invitational at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is an annual event where teams are invited from all over the world to come and compete in a two day robotics event.

 The teams invited have to make it through a application process and officially be invited to attend. Teams submit video footage of their robot competing as a backup and only the best teams in the World are invited to attend. In Attendance this year were teams from the US, Canada and a team even traveled from Israel to attend.

Day 1:  FRC Team 1657, Hamosad, traveled all the way from kibbutz Ein Shemer, near Pardes Hana. Their robot was a creative masterpiece that effectively address the game challenge and challenged all other participants to think outside the box. Here is their robot reveal video from earlier in the season:

This was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend as a coach.To see the ingenuity of this team from another country was just amazing. The little mini robot they deployed was just as entertaining as their factory robot that could keep up with the best stack-ers in the event. This robot was the highlight for my first day at the event. Personally, my team competed very way this day the last two matches we competed in were 280 and 275 points respectively and put us ranked 21st out of this tremendous field of 67 teams. My team was able to compete with some awesome other teams such as FRC Team 179, The Children of the Swamp from Riviera Beach, Florida. We also got to compete with one of my favorite group of students from FRC Team 379, The Robocats. I got to hang out with a few of these kids at the World Championships in St. Louis, Mo, in April. We had a blast making a rainbow of Tshirts at the driver's meeting in the Edward Jones Dome. They are great kids and I look forward to seeing them again next year.

Friday Evening - Geeks Unite and Put on the Nerdiest Talent Show in US History.

At first, I though this would be really lame. So much that the past 5 years of doing FIRST Robotics, I chose not to attend this event. But this year, Andy Baker of AndyMark, Inc, said that there was a special treat for my team. I had to be there to see it. I am so glad he suggested I attend. Geeks can put on an EPIC concert and talent show and I will never miss this again. 

It started with an EPIC lip sync battle from some of the coolest, nerdy mentors in all of FIRST Robotics. ( I am working on video for this, I will post it once I have it.) This was just plain awesome. To see some of the mentors that the kids idolize let loose and have some fun was awesome. Next, we had a Laser Light Show. This was tremendous to have the IRI, FIRST and all of the team's Logos worked into the performance. It really made it personal and really was an awesome performance. We then moved into the Geekiest, Nerdiest rock band I have ever seen in my life, there were referred to as Dean Simmons and the Kamen Brothers. Appropriately named after the famous inventor, Dean Kamen. This band started with a medley of the greatest rock anthems of all team and moved into a set list of parody songs all relating to this year's season and the lyrics included great anecdotes and reference to funny situations from this season. The kids loved this and what was really cool was that the last song in their set list was a Parody of Uptown Funk, by Bruno Mars, where they changed the lyrics to Truck Town Funk. Our team was then asked to come up and stage and dance in front of the entire full auditorium. I could tell my students really loved it and they were really having a blast. I have to give a huge thank you to the band for doing this for us. I really hope that I can get a hold of the lyrics to the song and share it with the rest of my team that couldn't attend the event. After this excellent night of laughs and fun, we all went back to our hotel rooms and passed out for the night. 

Day 2 - History is Made!

My team, Truck Town Thunder, had a great experience on Saturday morning. Another one of my seniors showed up to hangout and was able to help the team out on the field. It was great seeing members of my team stepping up to fill in new roles. I has a senior step up to be the drive coach. It was great seeing him mature over the my years of a coach into a tremendous leader. I even got to experience him coach another student who had never been in a match to be human player on the drive team. It was awesome to see students taking what they learned from the team and applying it to lead other students. I have never been so proud of everyone on my team. The team supported each other and the kids did an excellent job. We were able to get our can stealers working and got to use them in our last match so people could see they were effective and this eventually lead to us getting picked to move into the playoffs. 

We were picked onto the 5th Alliance with FRC Team 195, The Cyber Knights, Southington, Connecticut, FRC Team 33, The Killer Bees, Pontiac, Michigan,  and FRC Team 233, The Pink Team, Rockledge/Cocoa Beach, Florida. We all met, discussed strategies and it was decided that we would sit out the first match. Unfortunately, this did not work in our favor. The match did not go very well and we had an extremely low score. So, we switched up our strategy which allowed for us to enter into the second match. The match started very well, but unfortunately, while traversing one of the platforms on the field, our robot tipped over and we were unable to stack totes. This was very disappointing but the students on my team did an excellent job and left everything out there on the field. I have never been prouder. We all pulled together as a team and had an excellent competition.

We quikly loaded the trailer and took off back to the stands to watch history unfold right in front. We go to see the best robotics teams go head to head and see who the best really is! At the end of the competition, four teams prevailed with the highest score every recorded in Recycle Rush (345 points). 

I would like to congratulate four excellent teams for a great showing and winning this event. It was earned and I will never forget seeing all 10 recycling container in the air under stacks of 6 totes. The winners were FRC Team 1023, Bedford Express, Bedford, Michigan,  FRC Team 2056, OP Robotics, Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, FRC Team 1806, SWAT,  Smithville, Missouri.  and FRC Team 2502, Talon Robotics, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. 

IRI Live Stream - http://livestream.com/FIRSTRobotics/events/4202783

IRI Website - http://www.indianaroboticsinvitational.org/

Truck Town Thunder Website - http://trucktownthunder.com/

FIRST Inner District Play Experience - Take me back to Kokomo

Truck Town Thunder had the opportunity to take advantage of inner district play this year and traveled to the Kokomo District in Indiana. I would like to talk about our experience.

It didn't count for points
This was the key reason we initially decided to travel to do this. Kokomo is only 4.5 hours away from our shop. We did this event first to work out any issues in our design, students got to practice their award work. We do not have space anywhere in our school for a good practice field and could only get to one nearby on one occasion late in the season. It is getting harder and harder every year for teams in Michigan to advance. The competition is really that tough. Not only for robots but for awards as well.

Inspirational
This was a something I didn't expect! I wasn't sure if we would be accepted. I had heard horror stories and had experienced some issues traveling in parts unknown in the past. Indiana FIRST was awesome to us. The first thing they did was include our students as ambassadors.

This was awesome. Our kids got to talk to Indiana kids about what inspires them to be on our team. We got to visit AndyMark. Our kids had a blast. Andy Baker was awesome to us.

Teams there knew our history. They knew about our name change in 2001 and why we had to do it. We got to compete with some of the coolest teams I know. 3940, 71, 135, 1024, just to name a few. There were so many. I joined FIRST after districts were started and never got to experience this. When we go to a competition in Michigan, half of the teams there are Rookie teams and we don't know anyone on many occasions. This was so inspiring for my kids to get to learn about the history of our team. They got to meet some of the great people in Indiana and came back to Michigan with a newly found passion to do more, improve and just be successful. 

Recognition
Our team was able to win two awards at the Kokomo District, UL Safety and KPEA. Awesome! They came back even more motivated to continuously improve and it paid off. We left Kokomo at the end of the event 30/32 and didn't even make the playoffs. We did some improvements to our intake, came out to Centerline and ended up 11th and picked onto the 3rd alliance. We also won the UL Safety and DCA. We then came to Lansing, ended up 2nd, picked onto the #1 alliance and won the event. We also won UL Safety and Quality Award. Yes, we did 3 District Events and won 6 awards! Our kids worked their butts off during this time. They were that inspired from our initial competition in Kokomo. We then went on to the MSC finishing 11th after qualifications. Got picked up by 2137, awesome, and rounded out our alliance with 494. We actually had an alliance that had the capacity to go all the way. It was awesome. We didn't make it out of QF, not a big deal. The kids were on cloud 9! Then we won RCA! That was the icing on the cake. Then we went to Worlds, made the QF, and didn't win any awards. (I am still trying to figure this one out, How do you win awards here?)

Inspiring side note
My safety captain really inspired me this year. From his efforts out our 3 District Events winning safety awards. Every time I looked beside our pit, I saw him sitting there in a conference with a safety captain from another team. It was awesome. Then at the end of the day! The team we mentored the past two years, (2014 was their rookie year), won the MSC Industrial Safety Award, Go Titanium Tigers, FRC Team 5114. It was awesome and it all stemmed from Kokomo!

My point
Inner District Play was perfect. It inspired my team to do more. It inspired them to push themselves. It is perfectly aligned with the values of FIRST and I am begging FIRST not to change it. Let us go to other District models to play.

So, I will leave you with an inspirational video and the point to my thread. Let us go back to Kokomo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWmbLS2_ec