So, about this ticket thing...

[OldGreyEagle]

Ok, I have signed up for Woodbadge, the deposit is in. All I have received so far is a 20 quesiton sheet and a notice for a class III physical and be sure to pay on time.

 

My question is, I know I have to develop a "ticket" can you guys give me some examples of a ticket worthy thing is? The class doesnt start until late august and I would like to be thinking about it from now till then, any ideas?

[Bob White]

The ticket is a plan for the future. It is a set of personal goals you set for yourself. It is based on the skills you will learn at Wood Badge that you will use to make a difference in your life, your job in scouting and scouting as a whole. Until you experience the lessons of Wood Badge you will not be able to begin. It is not something you want to have predetermined before your instruction.

Have a great time.

 

Bob White

[AdvanceOn]

We started working on our ticket BEFORE course. We were given the 20 questions to think about and also a form to start roughing out what we want to work on. These were reviewed during our 30-day meeting and returned to us that day with comments. During the first weekend we worked on our tickets much more formally and have to have them turned in for approval BEFORE the next weekend of the course.

 

As far as ideas for your ticket -- what is your primarily scouting position? We were told to write our ticket around our primary position. That was a little tough for me 'cuz I really would like to do some for both -- they wouldn't let me

 

[Bob White]

Advance On, as you say the instructions were given to you by your course's staff. OGE and the staff of his course should be allowed the same opportunity. Not every staff delivers the program exacvtly the same and for us to start OGE on his way before his staff has instructed him might not be beneficial. Consider letting his course faculty work with him.

 

Bob

[AdvanceOn]

BobWhite:

 

"Until you experience the lessons of Wood Badge you will not be able to begin. It is not something you want to have predetermined before your instruction."

 

This is what I was responding to. All I was saying was that for my course we did have to get started before the instruction.

 

You're right. Each course director has some leeway in how they run their course. I certainly wasn't trying to divulge anything to OGE, although I have been told that the secrecy of Wood Badge has been removed from the course.

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

While I think I understand what you are talking about Bob, the whole secrecy thing about Woodbadge bothers me. I ask about what it is, and no one will give me a straight answer. I am doing Woodbadge as a unit commissioner for my Venture Crew because I want to really develop this crew and Venturing in the Council. While I dont want anyone to reveal anything that will "ruin" the experience, I do wonder about the concept that there are not supposed to be any secret organizations in scouts and Woodbadgers seem to be as secretive as any group there is.

 

I am doing Woodbage because I have noticed that people wearing beads seem to get "heard" at council and or district meetings while those of us with naked necks are often invisible. If its not proper for me to know more, thats ok.

 

BTW I do know that I will be in a patrol, and you can bet I will not be singing for any lost stuff...(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[dbraxtonw]

First, I must say that some course directors seem to be taking liberties with the Wood Badge Course that are not suggested as alternatives in the Staff Guide. If this is happening in your locale and you are a course participant, keep your head down and go with the flow. If you have completed the course you have every right to call the concern to the attention of the Executive Board member who oversees Wood Badge, or the Council President.

 

The Staff Guide was designed, after extended study, with minimal alternatives to ensure that all leaders throughout the country receive the same training. If the Staff Guide says not to do something, don't do it. If it says to do something in a certain way at a certain time, do it that way at the designated time. Local embellishments are not necessary and may be inappropriate. It is not up to a local course director or staff to change the curriculum of the training, just as it is not up to a Scoutmaster to change rank requirements.

 

More directly related to the original question about writing a ticket, the first weekend of the course includes several sessions that address matters relevant to the ticket development process. After you have seen those presentations, you will be in a better position to write a ticket incorporating appropriate goals and using the appropriate process.

 

While the attempt to have participants begin ticket writing before the course begins may be well intended, perhaps theoretically to give them more time to work on the ticket, the necessary tools are not yet in place. It seems to me that it would be like trying to open a can without a can opener. You could work at it hard and long with much frustration; the result, if successful at all, is likely to be crude. If you wait until you have the right tool, you can do the job easily and efficiently with little frustration.

 

Secrecy is not an appropriate part of the Wood Badge program. A newsletter with the daily schedule of activities and learning sessions will be distributed to course participants each morning. However, course participants who try to "read ahead" may miss the point of some parts of the course if they are too focused on what they think is supposed to happen next rather than what is happening in real time.

 

If you are a course participant, follow the instructions of your staff; if you are a staff member, follow the Staff Guide.

[Bob White]

I certainly don't mean to promote secrecy. I have no trouble dicussing the leadership skills taught in Wood Badge with anyone willing to learn. My concern is that we don't play Wood Badge staff to someone about to begin the program. He paid his money he should be allowed the experience of his own course.

 

Bob

[OldGreyEagle]

Ok, I may have gotten off track here. What I am looking for are examples of what are ticket worthy items. What qualifies, one blood drive or ten?

 

Organize a campboree for the district or council, what is the scope of the items, thats what I am talking about

[dbraxtonw]

Your Troop Guide for the Wood Badge Course will be able to give you guidance regarding the depth and scope of your Wood Badge ticket goals. In very general terms, your ticket should be written in terms of your primary job in Scouting (which I understand to be Unit Commissioner for Venturing) in such a way that it will include challenging but attainable goals for you that will have maximum inpact for the youth within the scope of your position.

 

Your Troop Guide has learned, or will learn, about the details of ticket development as a part of Wood Badge Staff Development preceding your course and will be prepared to answer your question more fully as it applies to you and your situation. There are designated points during the course at which this should occur. That does not mean that anything is a secret; it just means that you have not yet participated in the learning sessions that are considered a foundation for ticket development.

 

I understand your eagerness to apply what you will learn in Wood Badge and it is a good thing. For now, be patient, "go with the flow" and follow the guidance of the course staff. The answer to your specific question WILL fall into place!(This message has been edited by dbraxtonw)

[OldGreyEagle]

OK, I give up, lets just drop the whole issue, I will take the classes, I will do the work, all will be revealed to me in "due time". I just dont understand why this whole thing has to be such a secretive deal.

 

I have a Master of Public Administration Degree, and they laid out what the goals and objectives were before we started, expectations of what would be expected. I guess I am just bewildered why I cant get the same information for Woodbadge.

 

So, like I said, I will go, I will particpate but the last time I got sucked into something like this where information was hard to come concerning the agenda, it turned out to be an Amway meeting.

[FScouter]

I got suckered into an Amway meeting once. I was quite annoyed at the friend that hooked me because I specifically told him I was not interested in selling any product.

 

My wife did Woodbadge and has told me everything I wanted to know. (I have not done Woodbadge.) There isn't anything secret about it. She says it's difficult to describe exactly how it is. You have to be there to really know what it is about.

 

The ticket thing is part of the program, but the program does not center around ticket items. It's the unstructured part of the training that you do on your own, after the scheduled training is over.

 

She did five ticket items. They all related to scouting, becoming a better scout leader, and to helping boys become better leaders. She struggled to decide on her ticket goals. The staff worked a lot with her to help her define what she wanted to do. Before going, she had some ideas of what to do, but wound up doing completely different things.

 

One of the tickets she decided on was to serve as a unit commissioner. She decided that one not by thinking up what the district needed done, but by thinking how she could help other units struggling to deliver a good program to the boys. Another item was to serve on staff at the Cub Scout Pow Wow. The goal there was not to fill a slot, but to how to deliver her particular skill to boys. In this case the method was to teach Cub leaders how to teach the skill to their boys.

 

Each item should be specific, attainable, relevant, timely, and measurable. They should all be completed within 18 months.

 

You might look at www.woodbadge.org for info.

 

[EagleWB]

OGE-- You will have to do 5, I think, things within 18 months of finishing your course useing the 11 skills of leadership. (I'm not up on all the things in the course now.) These should be in the area of what your registration is (comish & venturing.)Some things done under BS and Cub Scouter are run a camporee, run a pow-wow, serve on training staffs, etc. You might have ideas you would like to implement as unit comish. You say you would like to develope venturing in your Council, got to be ideas there. Just don't get too overburdened. I don't think that it's so much a secret, it's just hard to explain without the whole presentation.

When I took my WB I had ideas on my 9 items all ready to go, although we didn't really learn about how a ticket was suppose to work until half way thru the course. If you have been around WB's you know when they are doing a ticket item. Talk to people in your distric or council, I don't know anybody who wouldn't show you their ticket binder, although they will tell you the items should be personal to you.

FScouter is right on it about going in with ideas and then doing all different things. This happens a lot.

If you are taking Minsi's course, I have heard there are some good people involved. Pat, one of your quartermasters, is from my council. Keep me informed, maybe I can drop in your last night there.

I don't know if this helps, but keep asking and I'll try to fill in some of the blanks.(This message has been edited by EagleWB)

[jmcquillan]

OGE,

 

Don't let the secrecy thing become a discouragement to the course. Look at it this way...

 

No matter how much education or experience we've had in our private, public, and professional lives, the experience of Woodbadge is one that wants you to enter fresh and ready to go, with no preconceived notions about agendas or skills. If you enter the course with an open mind, ready to learn new things, ready to let things you might already know be put into a new order for you, ready to see how many things you've always taken for granted as a skill you know can be put to new use, in a new way, with folks you don't know but are going to get to know pretty quick, then you'll get the most out of the course.

 

It's easy for those who have been through the course to say "all will be revealed", making it sound, oh sooooo secret, but all will be revealed, at the appropriate time in the cirriculum. Any good teacher knows that there's a sequence to presenting information, to best instill it in the student. And that's part of WB...the timing. It may seem secret, but many adults tend to enter these things with a "I've been a SM for 10 years, and I know it all" type of attitude (I did). And that won't serve them, or their patrol mates well. So...just let it happen, and in good time, the information, the program, your patrol, and your ticket will happen. And you'll be happier that you followed the trail, rather than trying to get to the finish first.

 

Good luck. Enjoy.

[OldGreyEagle]

Thanks Jm, I think I understand what you mean and I'll just calm down. I wasnr trying to finish first, just be thinking about things, but from yours and others postings, I see that isnt the process and I want to do this right. So, thank you all and I'll be letting you know about my experience.

 

Now, about this patrol thing...