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ParkMan

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Everything posted by ParkMan

  1. Blood circle sounds way cooler. I get that it's not what we want to encourage, but my scouts were much more impressed when we said blood circle. I'd have filed & forgotten safety circle. Blood circle - that I'd remember.
  2. Three things that come to mind. 1) Hold a pack workday or two. At the workday have help for designing cars and have sufficient tools on hand for cutting out cars and doing some basic sanding. That will help level out access to tools. 2) Have a conversation about what you expect parents to do and what you expect Scouts to do. In the age of bandsaws we saw most parents use one to cut out the car. Then, once cut out, the Scout did the sanding and finishing. The band saw is the right tool for the job - but there is no way you're going to have a Cub Scout operate it. 3) Knowle
  3. Understood. It brings me back to the conclusion that the right remedy here is to drive for quality at the district and council level. Both in terms of things like merit badge colleges and also in things like training. The challenge I don't know how to address yet is how to get the really high quality unit level volunteers to help.
  4. I do volunteer at the district level. I know it's a very big challenge. I'll admit to being fairly daunted by the enormity of the task. It just seems like in topic after topic, we come back to there is a problem at the district/council level. I agree - we won't make much headway if we don't try.
  5. Sure - taking a Merit Badge in a class setting like this reduces and perhaps even eliminates the benefit from the adult interaction. If every merit badge earned at an event like this was replaced by a one-on-one experience with a counsellor I'd full agree with you. However, I'd expect that for the preponderance of Scouts the lack of programs like these would instead result in fewer merit badges attempted and earned. The net result would be fewer experiences for the Scouts. So - instead of not doing these, should we instead push to do these with better quality? I know you tried and
  6. This is the problem with these things. Half the folks make this out to be a hard deadline- the other half say "no big deal if it's not done." As a movement, we undermine ourselves to the point where many simply do what they want.
  7. That's my biggest concern with this format of merit badges - quality of learning by the Scouts and engagement with the counselor. I just think this is bad delivery by the staff of these events when it happens. I know it's very hard to recruit counsellors/instructors for these. I suspect that in many cases - they get the best instructors they can and hope it works out.
  8. I suspect national saw the same reports we all did. Direct contact leader training numbers were very low. I watched our district training team try - but it was like pushing rope. So, national came up with the "solution" of online training. I value live training, so I don't think I'd have made the same decision- but at least they tried something. I still think the thing to address is changing the culture in the units to one where training is required by the Scoutmasters and Cubmasters. Not sure how to do that though. In the interim, the district folks need to focus on training qu
  9. On the topic of troop size, I'd ask a very different question. question: What limitation do you feel you face in your troop? follow up to others: How do you address the kind of limitation in your troop. On the topic of size - we all see size differently. Rather than saying 30 is too big, too small, or just right, I think I'd be most interested in learning of ways different troops addressed the challenge. BTW - We attend local merit badge colleges. AdvanceCamp sounds like a really big MBC. If we had something similar locally, we'd probably send a group. If a Scout if go
  10. That's a shame. Around here, no-one would confuse round table for a clique. I greatly appreciate that despite all that history, you are still willing to not have the bad eggs not taint the overall program. All my best and I hope that things turn around. If not, we'd love to have your experience in our council. All the best!
  11. There must be some really awful Wood Badge folks out there. In my council, they've all be very friendly and accommodating. They're at times prone to songs, critter talk, and trying to recruit for the next course - but that's about as far as I've seen it go. I've never once heard someone with their beads look down on someone who did not. I guess we're just lucky on our council. It saddens me to no end that there are awful Wood Badgers out there. Sorry
  12. I'm not partial to the format - I'd have no objection to either being the venue for the training. In terms of content, I was thinking of something more in depth than a 1 hour UoS course or a 30 minute Roundtable session.
  13. Right. Spelling error. I'd like the ASM training to focus on the nuts and bolts of being an ASM. Outdoor skills, advancement, working with youth, basic troop operations, etc. I'd like the SM trainging to start from there and build. Working the SPL, guiding the scouts towards an exciting program, high adventure, making boy led work, developing older youth leaders, in depth patrol method, etc. It's not that I don't want the ASMs to know this. It's a recognition that 1) they probably don't need it at the same depth and 2) that being Scoutmaster brings new challenges. Of
  14. Sigh... Scout skills would be covered in spades: 2) In depth position training for each position. Seperate ASM training from SM training. In depth means in depth. T-2-1 would certainly be covered 3) Mentoring program for new leaders. Team experienced Scouters up with new Scouters. New does not mean new to Scouting. It means new to your role. Hey Tom - you're a new ASM and have never been camping - why don't you come along on our troop's trip so we can walk you through things. 4) Ongoing specialty trainings for experienced Scouters. Backpacking
  15. For what it's worth. Our troop is currently at 85 scouts. We have no bylaws and very few process documents. Really all that we do that is different is that our adults team is more structured than a smaller troop. For example - we have a leader who just schedules boards of review. He knows which boys are probably going to need one each week and can work with the parents to have enough representation. We don't have shenanigans at our BOR because the leader who organizes them knows his stuff. We don't have problems getting a board together because our adults know they'll be needed. We
  16. I don't think new leader training is really the problem. Yeah, we could improve the content somewhat. But, we don't lose Scouts because a leader can't identify a tree The training i think we need the most is the training to explain the fine details to the leaders. I do really think leaders need to understand things like patrol method & boy led. I'd like to agree that this could be done by other experienced scouters in the unit. However, we see post after post here about how troops are not really embracing scout led or the patrol method. My sense is that trying to tell someo
  17. At the end of the day, the Scouts in our troop need trained leaders. Our Scouts need Scouters who attend trainings given by well qualified instructors. When Scouters don't get trained, they lose out on all that valuable knowledge and wisdom. If folks don't like their council - then I'd suggest finding another way to attend the classes. If Scouters don't want to help train in their council - then I'd simply encourage them to find another way or location to impart the same knowedge
  18. I volunteer in my troop so that we can bring Scouting to the boys in our community. It brings value to our Scouts to have the best trained leaders possible. To that end, we budget money each year to pay for Scouter training. We expect to pay for equipment and we expect to pay for training. I'm quite ok that it works that way. Frankly, for us it amounts to about $5 per Scout each year to pay for Scouter training. Would it be nice if it were free - sure, but so would lots of things. So, I don't begrudge a fee for training.
  19. Yes When I'm out of town, I pay a neighbor $40 to mow my lawn. Why not $35 for a day of training?
  20. I've got a different view here. If I'm a volunteer - say an ASM in a troop. I'm going to devote a few hours a week, camp with the troop four times a year, probably help out at a few events too. I'll probably devote 100-200 hours a year into Scouting. I'll admit - our district training team says the same thing $15 is too much. To me, $15 to take a training course from a live, experienced, knowledgeable instructor seems like a bargain. I think we underestimate the value of experience here.
  21. For what it's worth - I don't really think folks need to be a district or council level volunteer. If you don't like your district or council folks - that's your call. I just think there's a ton of experience our there that newer Scouters miss out on. I'd love to see that experience tapped to teach and guide newer Scouters. Folks to serve as trainers at courses and roundtable - that kind of thing.
  22. This is why I'm hoping to see more Scouters start getting involved outside their packs & troops. With fewer volunteers, we're seeing fewer trainings, roundtables, etc. I think it's resulted in less institutional knowledge passed from experienced leaders to newer leaders. Myself, I think that's a part of what we see. I think it's a shame that we're loosing that - especially in this period where we'll hopefully see an increase in membership and leaders. I'm hopeful that some folks will recognize that and start to engage more.
  23. That's a shame. This is something I'm concerned about happening longer term in my area too. While it's certainly very possible for units to survive without a district - I worry about the smaller units who benefit most from the programming, training, and encouragement the district provides. Hopefully we'll start to see more outreach to experienced Scouters and we'll see the districts grow again.
  24. Hi @Treflienne, Here are some of the nuggets that I've learned and come back to often: 1) Never do for a Scout what a Scout can do for himself or herself - In whatever the task is, ask yourself if a Scout could do it instead. If so, then try to make that happen 2) EDGE (Explain Demonstrate Guide Enable) - EDGE is the method we use for teaching new skills. First you Explain the task, next you demonstrate how to do the task, then you guide the scout as they do the task, last you step back and enable the Scout to do it on their own. EDGE is useful for all kinds of things from t
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