Was something left out of WB?

[Stan Riddle]

I took WB when still a Webelos leader. I had a good counselor, who helped me craft a ticket that was relevant to crossing over Webelos, helping guide a 1st year Patrol, and so on.

 

On my honor...it's worth taking. KS was exactly right. If you go, don't stress out tickets and stuff. Go, have fun, and try to picture in your mind what's going on from the perspective of a 12 year old.

[Gags]

In reply to what kwc (I think) asked about what a ticket really is - in my view, it's what separates WB from all the other training courses, and what really makes the course the most useful.

 

In most corporate courses, you come, sit, listen, learn, leave, and quite often, forget. Or leave the course all pumped up with your new conflict resolution or organizational skills, ready to take on the world - until you return to the unread emails and stacks of paper on your desk, and it's back to the same 'ol same 'ol.

 

In a nutshell (which is difficult for me, b/c I wander all over the place in my posts/emails - like now!)- WB says "OK. We just presented you with 8(?11?) topics to help you build a better team, resolve conflict, encourage leadership, etc. Now go back into your units, and put these ideas to work by setting and meeting 5 goals you set for yourself." (redunant sentence, I know...)

 

That's it. In my fairly young and inexperienced mind, THAT's the difference, and THAT's what makes the course successful. It "forces" you to put your new skills to work right away, within a definite time period (18 months). For a major - ok - MAJOR procrastinator like myself, it helps me work towards things I should be trying to accomplish anyway - increase participation in Dist. Camporees (urban district, low turnout), increase troop size (went from 3 boys to 4 last week - how's that for % increase!) - basic stuff that I would want to accomplish anyway, but would not have been as focused on or have a written out plan of attack.

 

So to summarize (oh geez - I think I just used a WB technique!) - the ticket makes you take what you learned, and use it to create and satisfy a list of goals you've set for yourself and/or your unit.

 

I hope that clears up the "Ticket" mystery for some of you.

 

YIS,

 

--Gags

[Mr_Robby]

Gags is exactly right! (Hey! I just encouraged a member of a new team!) In my old and experienced mind, this IS exactly what sets this course apart. I'm a training junkie. I've served on the training staff for years and have been trained in positions I've never even thought of holding. And, like Gags said, if you don't go home and use what you've learned, then there was no sense wasting time learning it. And I'll tell you, I sure enjoyed turning my ideas into reality. Especially the one ticket item I was told could never be done! I learned the skills during the course. But working my ticket I learned that those skills empower me to do things that the Scouters I respect most were never able to do. WB has turned me into a lean, mean, Scout leading machine! Well, maybe not "lean". Too much dutch oven cobbler!

[dsteele]

Gags reminded me of a story. I have lots of stories and hope you'll feel free to steal them and pass them along.

 

This one I heard at the conclusion of People Management level III, the end of a 3 part series for BSA supervisors.

 

It goes like this . . . (condensed)

 

One day, a farmer's son decided to teach his turkeys to fly.

 

He lined them up and had them hop on a tree stump. He convinced them to jump with their wings out, and they drifted to the ground gently.

 

He let them play with that and eventually coaxed them into jumping from the top of a small fence and taught them to flap their wings once. They went farther and drifted to the ground.

 

(add as many different heights as you like as I make a long story short)

 

Eventually, he opened the hay loft door in the barn and let them jump. Some flapped their wings vigorously and flew for a small distance. Others followed suit and they got pretty good at it.

 

Then the farmer's son took them to the peak of the barn's roof. The turkeys jumped off and flapped like mad. Soon they were all flying in circles all around the barn yard. They were ecstatic at learning their new skills.

 

They were sooo excited, it was all they could talk about as they WALKED home . . .

 

 

The moral (for those that need clarification:)

 

It's pretty easy to get pumped up at a training and leave with all kinds of good ideas only to go back to old ways once you return home.

I like the ticket idea as follow up. If those turkeys flew for 18 months after learning, they wouldn't have to walk home.

 

DS

[saltheart]

I attended my first Wood Badge many years ago, when the sun and moon were still brand new...or so it seems. Since then, if there's anything about WB that this four-beader has learned about the course, it's that a well constructed and presented course is just chock full of subtleties. And a learner going through the course looking simply for the questions and answers, the right and wrong, the left and right and up and down, will miss them completely. That is especially true with someone who enters the course with preconcieved notions and misinformation about the course. And knowing a little about the course, rather than starting as an eager blank slate can be starting with misinformation.

 

Folks shouldn't look to deeply or seriously into the realm of Wood Badge and what some call it's mysteries, even when they finally get there and start their own very first day in the course. Tis best just to let it happen, enjoy it, participate fully and enthusiastically, ready and willing to go wherever the course takes them...looking certainly at, but also beyond the obvious. That is where the secrets of Wood Badge lie, and no one can tell you exactly what they are, for they're very different for each and every participant.

 

Just enjoy it.