Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Spontaneous!

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“<strong>Spontaneous</strong> Rules 1) Listen! Pay close attention to the judges as they read the problem. 2) Expect the unexpected. Train for the unusual! 3) Evaluate Quality vs. Quantity for responses and do the math for scoring 4) Scoring is critical. Make sure you understand it. “Verbal problems seem to have been evolving with limiting conditions as matter of necessity for the Judge’s sake. If you want to know why, try scoring a fast verbal problem and keeping up with the kids! With a well coached team you don't get much time to decide if it’s a common or creative response. My experience as a judge is limited to just a few years and can tell you this change is very welcome. What this means is that speed is not as important as creativity. While I don't claim to know what the best method for developing creativity might be, I do know that teaching the kids to not jump into answers is very important. When you practice with your team, ask them to read the problem carefully and figure out what limits the responses. Is it cards to flip over? Is it something they pass around? “They should also be careful to follow the instructions. For instance, if the verbal problem specifically says that “the next team member must wait to turn over the next card until the last response was given” the team needs to be very careful. Judges will notice if this rule is ignored and they will stop the team and make them go back. This will cost the team time, and time can often be the determining factor in the number of responses the team may give.” “Penalties (as in point reductions for breaking a rule) are not imposed in spontaneous. However, any intervention by the judges that uses up some of the team’s response time is reducing the time available for the team to score. While not as obvious as a written penalty in long term the result can be just as significant. This is a very common problem for inexperienced teams when they are given a verbal problem to solve. This is because any inappropriate or repeated responses will require the judges to ask the team member to give another response. If the judges can’t hear or understand the response the judges will ask the team member to repeat the response.” Here are the three standard interventions that Judges will use on VERBAL SPONTANEOUS problems. Don’t forget to use these phrases when practicing verbal spontaneous. This will get the team prepared to hear these same phrases in competition and thus save them precious TIME!… “Unclear….. “Inappropriate…. “Duplicate…. Say again” Clarify or give another response” Give another response” Separate scores for creativity and teamwork are sometimes used in spontaneous hands on problems and / or verbal - hands on problems. It is critical that the team understands what these terms mean and how these aspects may be scored. This is a very important part of the total spontaneous score and it could well be that the additional scoring for the creativity or teamwork involved in the teams performance could be the deciding factor in determining the top scores. When the score for the technical part of the teams solution depends on how long or how tall what they create is the score received by several teams may be very close. The following two pages were developed and revised over the last 9 years and are intended to clarify this part of scoring.
<strong>Spontaneous</strong> Creativity notes for Coaches In spontaneous “Hands On” or “Verbal / Hands On” problems, scoring for creativity is sometimes used. The creative aspect of the solution is not necessarily the skill in the presentation, or even how well the solution may actually work. Since most teams will be successful in creating some sort of solution to the problem, deciding which team has been more creative than another will be the subjective opinion of the judges. Judges are very open-minded; we try to score for the creativity in what was attempted, successful or not! Does it work? The more creative solutions can sometimes fail to solve the technical part of the problem, especially when the team is focused on getting a specific problem resolved. So if the problem includes scoring for creativity this method will give the team credit for the creativity they used even if the solution does not work well. The scoring criteria for most problems will be such that the raw score for a lack of a working solution will be reflected only in that portion of the scoring. EXAMPLES OF SCORING CREATIVITY SCORE RANGE 1-10 1-15 1-20 1-25 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 3-4 4-6 5-8 6-10 5-6 7-9 9-12 11-15 7-8 10-12 13-16 16-20 9-10 13-15 17-20 21-25 Common solution with very minimum creativity. Little or no enhancement added and the teams solution was lacking inspiration, creativity or imagination. Risks were not taken or even avoided deliberately. Fair solution with some creative elements that were of little importance to the team’s solution. There was some enhancement added but the teams solution showed only a little inspiration and imagination. Little or no risks were considered or taken. Good solution and creative elements tied into the team’s solution. The enhancements that were added helped express the teams’ use of creative elements to enhance solution. Moderate imagination and creativity. Few or minor risks taken. Very good solution. Team worked hard on adding enhancements. Creative thought process was important to the way the solution was developed and team members used initiative and took moderate risks. Outstanding imagination and enhancements used in truly inspired solution. Creativity was paramount in the team’s unique solution. Big risks were taken and unusual twists were used to solve the problem. Although rare, any team worthy of the top score could even be considered for nomination for the Ranatra Fusca award. Zero is not an option. IE: If the range is 1 to 10, the lowest score will be 1.
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Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Spontaneous!

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