Jump to content

Eagledad

Members
  • Content Count

    8808
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    127

Everything posted by Eagledad

  1. I've been on a couple forums for about 8 years, I hope you don't mind some ideas from them. -SPL handing out advancment patches to scouts at end of meetings. -SPL introducing scouts to the BOR. -Troop Guide Program -New Scout ASM -Older scout program -Camping without Patrol Boxes. -Night Camporee Barry
  2. Heres the deal, Boy run and the three aims only works when scouts are mature enough to learn from their experience, good or bad. I liken this situation to putting a 12 year old in charge of a mature boy run troop 80 scouts. Nothing good would come out of that because the 12 year old doesn't have the maturity or experience to learn from his performance. Most folks who know me call me a boy run activist, so it's not that I am against boy run and letting the methods work. Truth is the methods work best when there are role models to demonstrate the program. We learn 80 to 90 percent of our b
  3. >>Do you let them list someone they prefer not to be with?
  4. Hi Dan Circumstances are always different, but just last year we had one scout with learning disabilities who was picked on by two boys in his den. His dad requested that his son be placed in a different patrol. They weren't bullies to everyone, but my son was their troop guide and they did seem to focus on this one scout. We found out later that the Den leader encourage the behavior. Just a few weeks ago the dad of the learning disabled scout asked to be an ASM because their experience has been so good in the troop. What was your Ticket item? Barry
  5. Some of the materal sources are mine, but not the Web site. It belongs to a Scoutmaster in Minnesota who ask permission to post stuff I wrote on another Scouting Forum. I'm glad you enjoy it. Barry
  6. Hi Onehour 100% boy led in one year? Admiral goal, but remember in a boy led troop, adults must learn as much as the scouts at a faster rate to keep up and stay out of the way. Your experience here is one example of that. So pace yourself. Everyone gave great ideas for working with these guys. So I will give some ideas on dividing up the scouts. I would like to read what Sir Earnest Shackleton did but we learned the easiest path to building patrols with the least pain in large groups is to ask every scout to name on a sheet of paper one friend they would like in their patrol. Explain t
  7. Good Day all I got a call one late night from a friend. He said our Cub Pack that our wives were Den Leaders in was splitting and if I would Cub Master of one pack, he would take the other and we would work together to make sure we had even split of leaders since neither one of us had any experience. I said no but my wife told him yes. A week later another adult called and said he was the new CM of the other pack and he followed with the list of how the pack split. Out of the ten dens, I got one experienced leader. Of course the story goes that I was dragged kicking and screaming into
  8. Hi All I want to be careful and start out that I am not defending aged balanced patrols over aged based patrols. I'm speaking from our experiences. How ever you choose to run your troop, it should be based from what you want your sons get out of the program. Every mature unit has frustrations of older scouts being led by 12-year-old Patrol Leaders because it requires patience and compassion when the thrill of adventure is just over the hill. But gaining happiness from thrills is usually short lived where self-fulfillment from service to other is long term. It would be rare that a 12 yea
  9. >>The goal of a troop is not to have evenly balanced (except for pure numbers) patrols. I remember when I was seventeen, my idea of a good time was not hanging around with 11 and 12 year old boys.
  10. This is a great question. I've had thoughts of trying something like a Green Bar Patrol. All the SPLs would have a meeting where the Green Bar Patrol leader would be handout the same district information and annoucements that SMs normally receive, and then do a little JLTC leadership development. Then they would meet with the SMs to learn ideas for program. Hope we get more great ideas. Great subject J. Barry
  11. I must admit I have too much time on my hands to reply to this thread. But not to long ago someone asked what does a person do to get re-energized for that one hour a week. For me the uniform in scouting is a tool of pride and discipline for the boys. But it's only a tool. While many struggle with how to wear the uniform because they don't want to be in "violation" of the code, I see the code as a guideline to look uniform. No more or no less than the guideline the scouts have in their handbook. "Violation" seems such a harsh word for the adult who gives fives hours for that one hour a week an
  12. Given a choice of being with friends or going to a better program, nine out of ten boys will choose friends. I've had a few scouts like this and they do fine and actually do better than at school because the scouting program encourages a scouts to grow at his pace, not the expectations of others. When allowed, we humans excel toward what makes us feel good about ourselves. If the adults are willing, he will do fine. I like to tell our adult leaders that we are doing OK when a boy goes home saying "I like myself when I'm with the Troop". I love scouting stuff. Barry
  13. >>I believe what was waged here was that people disliked the ways our troop does things
  14. Cool! Your troop doesn't sound so different from ours. You said that you do JLT type training. How often do you do it? Do you give your Patrol leaders any kind of specail training for their job? If you do, who does the training? I'm guessing you meet once a week. Our basic meeting agenda goes something like this; Opening Patrol Corners Program Game Closeing and SM Minute How does your meeting agenda look? Where are your crews going next? Barry
  15. Hi Again I'm not sure we are to the "lack thereof" place. I'm just trying to learn how your troop can work. A couple questions from your last post: 1.You said you get calls out to the patrol leaders for input, how many patrol leaders do you have? 2.Does the SM help you run the meetings or do you write your own agenda and run it yourself? 3.Who thinks up the activities, just the SM? Do you have an annual planning meeting and who attends that if you do have one? 4.What kind of activities do you all do? Campout every month? Any High Advernture type stuff and wher
  16. Hi Chucklehead. I have to say, you bring to light a different sort of Troop. I know you said there are other troops like yours, but Ive not seen one. If you wouldnt mind, could you tell me a little more about your program? The original design of a troop is actually a group of patrols, not the other way around. The intent was putting a small manageable group of boys together to practice real life lessons of leadership, follow-ship, teamwork, democracy, diplomacy and compassion. One definition of leadership is motivating the group to accomplish a common task. It sounds to me like what yo
  17. It sounds great. We started about the same way several years ago and eventually developed two JLTs, a Patrol Leaders Development and a short Leader Specific training. We do a Patrol leaders Development course once a year for any scout who wants to be a leader in the PLC. This is very much like yours and is planned and ran by the older scouts. The only requirement for this course is firstclass rank and the scouts only take it once. Our other course is a three hour course we do after each election. Every one in the PLC is required to attend. The first hour is a review of the leadership pos
  18. Hi Chucklehead, just wondering what do you think Patrol Method is? You were elected SPL, so you have some form of it. What part of Patrol method do you not like, and why? Barry
  19. I guess I see a different problem here. Where was the support of the committee for these leaders? When it comes to being a leader in the scout program, there will always be the unexpected whether it' skits, off color jokes, scouts not running a meeting correctly or even just the way they cook. When a situation where one adult pulls rank on the leadership to the point of upsetting the program, the unit leaders need to come together quickly to resolve the problem. Even if that adult was right, it brought the wrong results because the situation was handled wrong. If your unit adults don't work as
  20. This sounds to me like the next step going toward those changes you were wanting to make in your District that you talked about a few months ago. I have this strange feeling that this is just the next step in bigger things to come. Best of luck to you. I love this scouting stuff Barry
  21. Hi Many times its the adults that limit change and growth in scouts and program. I've watched our present SM struggling with how to encourage a boy run troop without letting the failure go to far. I believe boy run works best when you can get the scouts to put their dreams into actions. Our culture doesn't allow our youth to dream, much less live them out. But the scouting program is different that if the adults get out of the way, dreams can come true. Your first challenge is to let the scouts know it's OK to come up with some different and wild ideas. Our Troop sent a Venture Patrol to Ala
  22. I have had this and the best answer is feel out the patrol. If the patrol has some mature scouts who are willing to take over for the two months, they may want to do that and give the scout a chance when he gets back. If your patrol is mostly 12 year olds or younger, it's probably best to have another election. It's also important that you go over to the scout's home, or at least call him and explain that we all have priorities in life and this is the best thing for him right now. He will come back and no one will think the worst of him because everyone supports him. At this point, there
  23. Great responce Bob. I few other things I've heard from adults in Eagle mill type programs. Summer Camp and Merit Badge College are part of the Troop advancement program. Either you go or you don't advance. If the scout misses a scout skills class, he has to wait for another class before he can get that skill signed off. If a scout just shows up to a class, he gets signed off or earns the MB without really proving he learned the skill. Good stuff, Have a great week. Barry
  24. I would dump the Venture patrol idea and add a section in the Scoutmaster Specific Class teaching adults how to encourage a program that is challenging and rewarding for all ages and maturities of scouts in their troop. Barry
  25. I believe the JASM should have responsibilities that you would give to an adult, but not necessarily a scout. For example the JASM could help the Advancment Chairman keep up the records, plan the list for scouts going in the BOR. Maybe introduce the Scout to the BOR. He could make sure the SPL get the patches and who they belong too. The JASM could help Grubmasters find recipes, set up monthly cooking themes, train them in proper food health. You could help Life Scouts plan toward Eagle. I trust many of our older scouts more than some of the adults for planning Eagle projects. What ever your r
×
×
  • Create New...