Are any other Mudcatter's involved in Destination Imagination or it's predecessor Odyssey of the Mind?
I'm a Team Manager of a 4th and 5th Grade "Once Improve A Time" team here in Maryland. They took second in their Region (Maryland West Central) and the State Tournament is Saturday. That's why I haven't been around the Mudcat Lately. But I just had to boast a little because I'm real proud of what they have done.
For those of you that don't know DI is a program that helps kids develop creative thinking and team building skills. It goes from 1st grade all the way up to college level. The kids have to perform one "Central Challenge" and one "Instant Challenge" in each tournament. My Team chose the improv central challenge where they preselected 2 characters and 2 events from 6 classic fairy tales. In the challenge they have 30 minutes to prepare a 6 minute skit that incorporates 1 of the characters and 1 the events (randomly chosen so that they are not from the same story) and a surprise setting that is provided to them by the judges. The skit must include a humerous lesson learned and show off one improvisational technique. They must alsoo make a unique functional object out of newspaper and tape that changes size or moves, and can only use newspaper and tape for costumes, props, and scenary. Nothing can be pre-made. It truly is amazing what the kids can come up with.
In the instant challenge they have from 4 to 6 minutes to tackle a surpise problem that can vary from composing a song to building a tower as high as possible out of newspaper and tape that can hold as much weight as possible.
In both they are judged on creativity and teamwork.
So wish us luck, and hope to see some other 'catters in Globals in Knoxville in late May.