Beyond the

Blog

news, tips & activities

Oodles of Beyond the Box thinking, all collected into one handy blog!

  • Time to Celebrate!

    Time to Celebrate!

    Congratulations! You and your team did it! As you know by now, just getting your team to the tournament and overcoming all the challenges before, during and after competition is QUITE AN ACCOMPLISHMENT!

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  • Tuesday Tip: Dress Rehearsal & Crisis Management

    Tuesday Tip: Dress Rehearsal & Crisis Management

    A full Dress Rehearsal for families and friends might seem stressful but it has many benefits.

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  • NEW! COU Increases Scholarship Amounts

    NEW! COU Increases Scholarship Amounts

    OMers, you deserve to be rewarded for your creativity, problem-solving skills, and dedication. We are thrilled to announce an increase in scholarships for high school seniors who have participated in Odyssey of the Mind! This year, COU is offering: Odyssey of the Mind Scholarships: What You Need to Know! WHO can apply?This program is open…

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  • Tuesday Tip: Finishing Up Big Items

    Tuesday Tip: Finishing Up Big Items

    At this point, the tournament is quickly approaching and the team still needs to get major parts of their solution completed. Again, this is NORMAL. And with encouragement, the team CAN do it.

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  • Tuesday Tip: Getting Back on Track

    Tuesday Tip: Getting Back on Track

    Happy New Year! Don’t be alarmed if it is January and your team still doesn’t have any costumes, any props, any other major parts of their solution completed This is NORMAL.

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  • Tuesday Tip: Practice Spontaneous

    Tuesday Tip: Practice Spontaneous

    Because the Spontaneous problem is unknown until the day of the tournament, parents and coaches can share what they would do in practice problems without any penalty.

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  • How to Prepare for Spontaneous Competition

    How to Prepare for Spontaneous Competition

    Now that we’re in the thick of the Odyssey Season, it’s time for a few timely reminders and some suggestions to help your team during Spontaneous practices as they prepare for Spontaneous competitions.

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  • Tuesday Tip: Assiging Homework

    Tuesday Tip: Assiging Homework

    As we begin Winter Break, there’s still a lot on the team’s To Do list. You, as the coach, can assign homework or say something like, “We need some committed team members who can work on one or two of these items on the list before our next meeting.”

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  • Tuesday Tip: Something Fun!

    Tuesday Tip: Something Fun!

    In previous tips, you’ve seen the reminder to end with something FUN. And by this point the team might be needing something more than a round of compliments. So here are some ideas of things to try.

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  • Team Tip: Build Sessions

    Team Tip: Build Sessions

    Look at the list of things that need to be completed in order to solve the problem (if you created a list). Which of those things does the team think they can finish in a longer 3-4 hour session?

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