Wood Badge and Cub Scouters

[dancinfox]

Just a question for those who have staffed a 21st Century Wood Badge Course. Did you, or have you found that the Cub Leaders taking the course feel that the course is not completely in tune with them or have you made changes to the presentation of the course to compensate for this.

Dancin

[SR540Beaver]

dancinfox,

 

I have not staffed a Wood Badge course (yet), but I took it last September when I was still working with a Pack. I am now working with a Troop as my son crossed over in February. I found everything presented to be applicable regardless of whether a person is in a Troop, Cubs, Venturing or Varsity. The training is leadership training that can be applied to anything outside of scouting as well.

[dancinfox]

Why I posed this question!

I am the back up course director for our council's Wood Badge course this summer and we have had feedback from our course in 2002 that the Cub Leaders felt like it was a Boy Scout Leader oriented course and not enough time was devoted to Cub Scouting. By this I mean when the participants arrive for the course, they are put into a den and become Boy Scouts around 11:00 am or there abouts. The course is designed to function as a Boy Scout Troop from then on. For the course this year, we have made a few changes, such as giving them name tags with their den number on them until they cross over to the troop, then giving them a name tag with their patrol totem on it. We have also created a song book with the Cub Scout promise, The Oath and Law, and the Venturing promise in the front and also Cub Scout songs, Boy Scout songs and other songs to be sung during different times in the course.

Dancin

[Overtrained]

Dancinfox,

 

I am a troop guide for our course this year, but have not gone through the new course. We have several cub scouters who have and are on staff. This topic did come up in our staff development and they said they did not feel alienated at all. They did sight that when giving examples that using real world stuff ie family situations, sports teams, work and not always using a troop scenario did help.

 

Food for thought

 

 

Overtrained

[LovetoCamp]

Don't forget the Sea Promise.

 

As a Sea Scout I promise to do my best,

 

To Guard against Water accidents,

 

To Know the loacation and proper use of all lifesaving equipment on every boat I board,

 

To BE Prepared to render aid to those in need,

 

To Seek to Preserve the motto of the Sea Women and Children First.

 

Skipper heading to Wood Badge!!!

[fotoscout]

I thought that the transition from CS to BS happened too swiftly! However, I did not feel slighted the overall course structure.

 

There is a tone and lingo to the course that is decidedly BS, and that can be uncomfortable to CS leaders. SPL, Patrol Guides, Patrols? CS leaders aren't in tune with those phrases and it can make the simple task of understanding your place in the larger scheme of things that much more difficult. It also alienates the CS Leaders to some extent.

 

The overall tone of the course is very welcoming to all and in the end no one feels alienated, but some effort could be put into the area of making CS leaders feel more comfortable during the first few days.

 

 

[Eamonn]

Everyone that has taken the course or staffed the course is aware that the course is a leadership course.

While there are certain parts of the course that may need to be "Tweaked.". However if everyone who is in charge of the delivery of the course changes it, there won't be very much left of the material left too tweak.

It is also worth remembering that some participants do not belong in a pack, troop or crew. At the course that we hosted last year we had Commissioners,Council vice-presidents, district volunteers, Council Executive Board members taking the course. Making changes to the course to accommodate or make the course more "Cub Scout Friendly" does nothing for these participants.

We did however make one very slight change. On day one, we had two Gilwell Gazettes. When the participants arrived the Gilwell Gazette they received was the newsletter of Pack 1. This had the Cub Scout Law and Promise as well a the songs that we would be using at the first gathering on Gilwell Field in it.

My feeling is that at present Boy Scouters make up most of the Staff on the courses. In our case we only had five staff members that had taken the old Cub Scout Wood Badge course. While things might be different in other councils, in our council we don't have that many people who took the old Cub Scout Wood Badge. As more non Boy Scouters take the course, the delivery is going to change. We also still have people who still have the old Boy Scout Wood Badge stuck in their mind and while they are willing to try and deliver the new course, they can't help but look back to the old course.

The Course Director does explain in the Course Overview, why the troop setting is used. He or she might also want to explain that this is a Leadership course and is not the place to get specific training and he or she could touch on this when he or she covers the BSA training's.

Sad to report that I didn't do such a good job in this department. Going over the participants course evaluations, they said that they wanted more information about Venturing and Varsity Scouting. We did have one Crew Leader on staff, in fact he is the Dad Of the young Lady who was at that time the Northeast Region Venturing President. We did have handouts on Varsity Scouting, but not having any Varsity units in the Council and never having had one, I will admit that the handouts were about the total of our knowledge.

All programs were covered very well in the Staff project and later in the Patrol projects. In fact I would say that the Patrol Projects were more Cub Scout oriented then Boy Scout.

Eamonn

[Eagledad]

Hi All

 

I was a troop guide for our course two months ago. Four of my six Beavers were cub scouters. They didn't have much problem with the format. In fact I found that the Cub Scouter Staff had more problems with the format then participants. The objectives being taught are not dependent on the type of program. The program types used are just a vehicle to present the material in a manner that all can understand the point.

 

I believe that the better the staff understands the material, the less you would have a problem here because the staff can explain the objectives in all situations. I also believe the Troop Guides need to really understand the material being presented and it wouldn't hurt that they have some experience in at least two of the three scouting programs.

 

Have a great week.

 

Barry

 

[Eamonn]

Barry My Old China,

As you know I tend to agree with you a lot of the time and I really do admire your positive and upbeat view of Scouting.

However I am going to disagree with you on the bit about having experience in two of the three Scouting programs.

I would hope that when a Course Director is selecting a staff he or she would seek out as diverse a staff as possible.

I have served as a Troop Guide on a course outside of my home council and had a very nice chap who was Vice President for Venturing in his council. His ticket had to do with forming committees and making long term plans within his council. I of course knew zip about how things were run in his council. I did know that in my home council we don't have vice-presidents in the program areas. So here I am not only dealing with the program area that is my weak spot, but also dealing with a "Position" that I never knew even existed. Still this Chap used the tools that he was taking from the course to set down his goals.

While Venturing is part of the Wood Badge course there is no presentation that is only for Venturing Vice-presidents.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, the course we hosted last fall had a very mixed bunch as participants. One fellow was and is a super nice guy, again not from my home council. He had been a Scout for a little while about 40 years ago. He had returned to serve as a District Chairman. Of course being that we both served in the same position we just had to compare what he was doing and what I was doing. He made no bones about it. He knew that he had been selected because he was the local dentist in his small town and he was there because of the people that he knew and would bring into Scouting to help serve the district and help the district meet its goals. He had completed the New Leader Essentials and the half day District Training.

Some time back Bob White planted the idea in the area that I call my brain. He was of the opinion that a Training Team, should be selected using their skill at presenting as the benchmark, rather then belonging to a program area.

As it happens I think the Chap who is serving as a District Chairman, would make a first class Wood Badge Staffer. He has a "Presence" He is intelligent. He is 100% for Scouting - But he has little or no experience in one program area let alone two.

Still at the end of the day we both love this Scouting Stuff.

Eamonn