It's amazing how the things you think are easy can become quite complicated. Usually that's because the goal is dependent on other people.

Becoming conversational in any language requires a huge commitment. That includes, among other things, spending time conversing with native speakers. If you have tons of Spanish speaking friends who will welcome you into their community and won't fall back on speaking English with you, you're goal is attainable. Otherwise, not so much.

Don't judge other folks' ticket items. Getting first aid certification or trying out a few new recipes may be a huge challenge for someone. That's why you'll have a ticket counselor to help set reasonable goals.

I thought getting my crew to Seabase would be easy. Turned that there were so many financial hurdles (including a folded airline) that it consumed most of my energy for months when I should have been working my ticket. Why I didn't make the high adventure one of my five goals? At the time I thought it was too "easy" and "routine".

So, don't just think in terms of personal improvement. There may be a few simple things that have just not been getting done around your unit, and you are in a position to do it. You just need a little "fire under the butt.". Those make great items.

Your ticket is personal, you can make it as hard or easy as you want.
You get out of it what you put in to it.

I leave for wood badge in 4 days, and i have a list 10 things that i think will be a good ticket. Each ticket reflect your postion in scouting. I'm a cub master so my tickets needs to be above and beyond what i already do as a cub master. If your a CC then your tickets need to be geared towards that. If your the District QM then a ticket on learning new dishes would be right in line.


Just remember to make all tickets S.M.A.R.T

Specific - Describe this Ticket Goal in enough detail so that you and your ticket counselornow specifically what is to be done; how it is important, or how it will have an impact on theprogram. Is it challenging?

Measurable - Describe how this Ticket Goal is Measurable. How will you know when the
goal has been accomplished?

Attainable - Describe how this Ticket Goal is Attainable. Can it be accomplished?

Relevant Describe how this Ticket Goal is Relevant. How does it relate to your Scoutingjob?

Timely - Describe how this Ticket Goal is Timely. Can it be accomplished in a reasonable
amount of time? A Goal Without a Deadline is Only a Dream!

When you go to camp your troop guide helps you strighten all that out. (i hope)

I think it's unfortunate that people attend Wood Badge with preconceived notions of what a ticket is all about. I think that people tend to see upcoming attentdees as fresh meat, and they convince them to take on district jobs or to tell them what they don't need to know yet. Instead of attending with an open mind, these new patrol members now think they already have it all figured out. I think this is why ticket counselors reject certain ideas ... because the ideas were written before the "rules" were given.
Just a thought. I think patrol members should enter Wood Badge with completely open minds. That way they can particiapte more fully. If they're "tipped off," their attitudes and expectations are too high (or low), and at least tainted.
Leave them alone, and let them make up their own minds and tickets.
BDPT00

Tickets don't get worked in a vacuum. There's no way of avoiding preconceived notions -- even without the Internet to bounce ideas off of!

Harumph!
Bead mills... easy tickets, churning out paper woodbadgers, carried over any rough spots by helicopter chartered org reps.
(This message has been edited by Callooh! Callay!)

Ya gotta love when a person who has never attended woodbadge is giving advice on woodbadge.

I am going to bet he has all of the team building games figured out on how to win them or at least what the expected out come is about...


I think the internet has hurt woodbadge....too much information has leaked out. You have people arriving with their tickets completely worked out.....People with the Woodbadge CD's handbook in a binder with them....Takes any mystery out of the course.

only thing i'm doing is repeating what i learned at my open house. they asked us to come with 10 ideas, try to under stand smart, and tie a woggle. that is the way your suppose to think about your ticket, right?

besides that, all i know about wood bage is that i need to be abel to carry my stuff in 1 trip to my camp site, i know not to bring a radio, or a fishin pole. I know i'm not cooking for my self this week end. i'm pretty sure my cell phone not going to work while i'm there. never has before. The 1 thing i do understand about is my tent , i won't be seeing much of it.


So that everything i know about wood badge, is that to much for me to understand? Will the wisdom be lost on me because i understand the outline on how to do a ticket?

When i look at my post and measure it up to the Boy Scout Law it fits just fine. Can you say the same thing about yours

Hi ScoutWolf, I agree with BDPT00 on going with an open mind. That worked well for me when I went last year. Pre-conceived notions can lead to disappointment if the instructors turn out to be only human :-)

As far as learning Spanish, I too considered it until I was reminded that my time in the Pack will eventually end. If I have learned the language but no other Pack Leaders buy into the learning, or I can't recruit other bi-lingual parents, what happens when I leave? I could get more into it, but then I would spoil your fun!

Enjoy the time with other Scouters. Adult camping can be fun and less stressful than family camping!

I used to be a Buffalo.

Dave - AOL Den Leader

Measures up just fine thank you.....

Wood Badge can be different things for different people.
Kinda like Eagle Scout rank?
People attend for different reasons and get different things from the course.
I have over the years been the Ticket Counselor for a fair number of people.
Back in the day it used to be that the Scoutmaster approved the tickets, this changed with the 21st Century course now the Guide is there and will hopefully help the participant work on coming up with the list of worth while goals.
Rightly or wrongly?? I have tried to where possible help participants come up with goals that will stretch them a little (No they aren't any taller!!)
As others have posted you can't really look at what someone else is doing or not doing as a guide.
What might be easy for me, might be really hard for a Den Leader who is a single mother with two or three kids.
Sure there will be or might be the few that just want to put that much into it. But these few are the people who aren't going to get that much out of it.
At the end of the day who are they cheating? - Only themselves.
There are some who will say that "Easy Tickets" Is all due and all because of the newer course. That's not true.
For what it's worth I think you should attend the course, go and have a good time. It really can be and should be a lot of fun.
Maybe when it comes down to thinking and writing your ticket, think about the things you want to do that will provide the Scouts you work with in whatever position you hold? More fun, more of a challenge and more exciting. Maybe bringing in more kids to enjoy the program isn't a bad idea also?
Welcome to the forum.
There are a good many wise and careful thinkers here who have a real passion for what they do.
They all have different ways of doing things but they will help get your little gray cells working.
Eamonn.

churning out paper woodbadgers ... LOL.

Here are my thoughts. Tickets are personal so what someone else comes up with may not work for you. That's why you talk individually about each ticket one on one with your TG and not as a patrol with the TG. Tickets are a way to apply what you've learned at WB. For example, if my ticket idea was to lose 20 lbs (which I don't recommend because it's really hard to lose 20 lbs), if I could show how it fits with my vision based on the 20 questions I had to answer pre-course, show what's the lasting outcome and how it benefited my pack, and used the lessons taught at WB, my TG would have approved it. I remember going back to my TG at least 3-4 times for the first couple of tickets before I figured out what to write down. I would honestly say that my tickets seemed easy, but I used a lot of project planning concepts (the dreaded WBS) so in the end, I worked my scouting rump off in finishing them. But you get back what you put it. I worked hard on my tickets (which my products are still being used by my pack) and have become comfortable taking on projects for scouting and at work. Don't shortchange yourself and try to get away easy. Do the work and get the most benefit from WB.

I used to be a Buffalo...

Like I said, I wasnt trying to be a jerk, but I have seen how some people on this board and in other places criticize tickets as being too easy. If anything, I learned about wood badge off this site and some of the people who praise and condemn it really got me interested in it. I think when I learned about WB I wanted to help my pack become more organized and efficient for our leaders, parents, and kids.

If the goal is to make those coming to WB not have any expectations or drink the kool aid before they come, it might be a good suggestion to password protect this forum to those who have completed wood badge to prevent muggles like myself from understanding the expectations and items associated with WB.

Im not going into WB all serious or goofing off to play "grown man scouts." I want to have fun and learn, but if I am spending over $200 to help my pack then I would like to know where my hard earned dollars are going, and whats going to be the end result.

I think now I am going to revamp my "ideas" to scale them to more of a den leader ideas versus cubmaster ones where they oversee the entire program.