21st Century Wood Badge Participants- Reflection

[Eamonn]

The new course is not so new anymore and it will undergo a few changes in 2006 / 2007. Some of this is just moving things around a little. Diversity will move to the first part of the course. The license to use the Ken Blanchard material runs out, so there will be new terminology and graphics.

I think the course has served us well. The transition from what we had to what we now have went far better and a lot easier than I thought it would.

Wood Badge is still a very special place, I am sure it always will be.

While joining a Patrol and living together, working together as part of a team will always be the best part and for a lot of people (Not all) the writing of the Ticket is the worst. What part of the course did you enjoy the most?

What part of the course did you not enjoy?

What part of the course do you find yourself using the most?

To get the ball rolling.

I really thought that the camp fire material was great. I of course can't say which story or I might ruin it for the participants yet to come.

I am not keen on the win all you can.

Of all the good stuff that I took home and there was plenty, the thing I now find myself thinking about and using the most is listening. It really has changed me a lot, I now really try to look for the message and listen to understand. It goes without saying that OJ would disagree, but as ever he is wrong!!

There are no right or wrong answers. Think of this as an on line reflection.

Eamonn

[theysawyoucomin']

Win all you can was confusing for me. We just teamed up and the competition was quite keen, our teamlosing badly because we were honest. We even started some payback deceitfulness.In the end we learned from it though.

Is "october Sky" part of everybod's course I thought that went well. Finding resources, forming & storming.

 

We collected many props as the Weather Patrol. a broken umbrella, a 3 1/2' diam. plywood sun that the next patrol had to carry around. great fun.

Good communication exercises.

[Its Me]

Least favorite parts I would have to say I did not see the value in either movie, October Sky or Mr Holland's Opus. I am not sure that movies belong in this course.

 

I liked that concept of forming patrols and seeing the issues as a youth would see them. For this reason, I liked the Win All You Can game.

 

The first weekend had twice the benefit of the second weekend. By the second weekend the project has been completed, the meal plan is done and you either have developed a patrol or not.

 

Our patrol guide was great. Out of the eight patrols, I would say that 7 looked like they were a real asset.

 

 

 

 

 

[EagleInKY]

Great question E.

 

I guess, for me, the weakest part was the "management traiing" (for lack of a better phrase). I've been trained on all of that many times in my professional career, so I got little out of it. However, some of the folks in my patrol were in blue collar positions or have less professional experience, so it was valuable to them. I think, for it to be valuable to the variety of people, they should keep it (in some fashion), but put more effort in applying it to scouting situations.

 

The most valuable time was when we did just that - put it in the context of scouting. Whether it was the teamwork games or some of the role-playing, these activities were a lot more interesting. I also enjoyed the "down time" in the patrol campsite, where we talked about everything we were learning and our units back home.

 

What have I used the most? I guess it's the ticket. I crafted my ticket around things that I knew needed to be done in my unit. Putting it in my ticket has given me the extra incentive to get it done, versus putting it off until next year.

[lynncc]

I have only done weekend one. I really like the patrol setting. This has helped me from a cub standpoint understand the boy scout thing. The listening exerc, was great.it really opened my eyes? on how to listen so that people feel comfortable telling you things and giving more info as needed etc...

 

The win all you can thing was strange. out of the 3 student patrols on our side of the room. 2 of us figured it out. The other the BEARS did not and they were not happy. How did they get all the type A personalities in the patrol and our patrol got all the type B's. Great for us. We work great together. anywayy..

 

We only saw October Sky. Good movie but by sunday our butts were getting sore from sitting on those metal chairs.

 

I used to be a fox

 

lynn

 

[Eamonn]

While I think that the course works better over the 2X3 Days. The October Sky presentation seemed to work better on a six day course.

EagleInKY, a number of people on our course who had taken management training said much the same as you have, I don't think there is very much that can be done. In the UK the Scout Association is making money selling their course to corporations British Airways and BT are sending their managers to Gilwell to take the course.

lynn, I made our Council buy new padded chairs for our course I heard about one council that used wooden benches, the ones they used in their dinning hall!! That must have been hard in all the wrong places. I know that my back couldn't have made it.

One participant got so upset during the Game of Life that he armed himself with a big black marker and put a line through the first Scout Law that was written on a flip chart. Things got really intense. Maybe a little too much so for me.

Eamonn.

 

[orennoah]

Best: Getting to know the people in my patrol and working through the whole team building process. I truly marvel at the way the course has multiple levels of teaching the same thing. Learning theory of team buiding, while team building is a great method.

 

Game of Life: I enjoyed it. I discussed this with a guy from National. He explained that it's the most controversial part of the syllabus, but that he thinks the reactions are mostly tied to the skill of the person running the game and on the post-game discussion. In my case, the patrols were broken up and we were teamed with people from throughout the course. This led to a breakdown of the team spirit and to a more mercenary approach. From my college econ. game theory background, I quickly saw the aim of the game, resolved to "do the right thing," even though I knew the probable outcome, and watched the reactions of others. One of my patrol members was outraged at the game, largely because of the behaviors he witnessed. One of my ASMs "won," but at a price he immediately realized was too high. (I still give him a rough time, "true colors" and all that. :-) )

 

Worst aspect: Losing two of my patrol members during the ticket process. No. They didn't die. One had a change of military assignment that prevented him from having any time to work his ticket and one simply stopped communicating to us. She won't return phone calls or emails. Very, very strange.

 

Best gain for me: The ticket items really stretched my capabilities and have given me a lot of confidence. But equally important are the relationships with high quality people from throughout our two Council cluster that I gained. There are some truly remarkable people around here. I'm very honored to have them consider me a friend.

 

- Oren

"I used to be a Bear . . . ."

WE3-41-03

I'll be the QM

WE3-41-05

[fotoscout]

The showing of October Sky was I think the most emotionally effective bit of choreography that Ive ever been a part of. As they say, timing is everything, and the timing of this movie in the program was outstanding. Especially for those who had not previously seen the movie. It reduced a room of 52 grown men and women to mush.

 

Win All You Can was another story. Most of us just didnt get it. Maybe it was the way it was presented, or maybe it was the game itself. In the previous years WB, this game almost caused a fight. Im told that it got VERY ugly. So, yes I think that this part of the program could use some work.

 

[Backpacker]

This has been great input for me as I have been selected to serve on the next Wood Badge training team in my council and want the experience to be as meaningful as possible for the scouters attending. Your comments have been placed in my notebook to discuss with the team.

[Its Me]

Here is why I like the Win All You Can game.

 

The game tourments the poor soles behind the card flasher who must decide to whose allegence he will subscribe. What a great parallel to what a youth must go through every day. Unlike adults, a child's identity is not yet solidified. So he/she is torn by things like "do I go with this group or that group? Do I hold strong to my beliefs, or do as my peers/patrol wants? The men and women who play the game are torn. One from my patrol almost walked out and left the program. An argument between the patrols even erupted.

 

Why did I like all this? Because it was essential for me (us) to recognize that a youth is in unchartered waters. I could have read five books and come to the same conclusion that the game taught me in 30 minutes. I know its a tough lesson to learn, but I'll be darned if that leeson wasn't a life changing lesson.

 

So many things in Wood Badge look like one thing when in facty they are another.

 

 

(This message has been edited by Its Me)

[Sandyt888]

was on staff for our course which finished Sunday. When the Win-All-You-Can game was first presented in our council 4 yrs ago, it caused quite alot of hard feelings. Those participants still have hard feelings. Since then we have presented it in a "game" atmosphere and there haven't been hard feelings. This yr the presenter was ready to have to do a major debrief, but the participants figured out how to play the game within the first 2 rounds.

This was my first time to be part of an AWESOME staff and i look forward to the opportunity again.

 

Used to be a bear SR517

Used to be a troop guide for bobwhites SR707

[eagle-pete]

The best part for me was the camaraderie and brotherhood of Wood Badge. Anywhere I go in scouting, no matter if I am part of that particular council, district, or on online forums - I am part of a brotherhood. I was at a roundtable recently and we were in a room with several Woodbadgers, some from different courses and various locations. In uniform, wearing our regalia, discussion invariably went to Wood Badge topics. Even though none of us were at the same WB course, we all were very familiar with the jokes, activities, concepts, and memories of Wood Badge.

 

Something that happened, at least in my patrol, was soon after the course we became disunited or disjoined as a patrol. Very little effort was made by any member of my patrol (including myself) to stay together on ticket progress or even to maintain contact with one another. I am not even sure to this day if we have all received our beads.

 

As I understand it, the old WB course (prior to WB for the 21st Century) was much more focused on scouting skills and also promoted more patrol teamwork and patrol unification, whereas the current course leans slightly toward individual development of leadership and how to make a positive impact on others neither of which concept is better than the other just a little different.

 

The trade-off, as I see it, is that the skills I learned during the course were focused on the individual instead of on a team. It is perhaps more accurate to say I got a lot out of Wood Badge rather than We got a lot out of Wood Badge

 

I am sure that many patrols in the WB course today experience that awesome unity and bond. All I am saying is that my patrol did not. This is probably the only real negative that I came away with if I had to come up with one.

 

Overall, the course and the ticket completion process was one of the best things I have ever done and I dont regret one iota of the experience.

 

Eagle-Pete

[Aardvark]

My 3 or 4 cents:

 

Game of Life/WIn all you can. I'm one of those dense types; couldn't understand what the Heck was going on. Got realy upset, almost walked out when I couldn't get a staright anwser to what was going on. Still don't completly understand! To have a "Game" which, to me, goes completly against the Scout LAw amazes me!

 

The manangement techiques were a rehash for me (I'm a 20 year Military Veteran-got these taught (or beat into me) during my career). Still, probaly useful to those who haven't been so exposed.

 

The movies were wasted on me. Seen them before (and they are good!) but "October Sky" was shown on Sunday afternoon on a wet, hot Georgia day, in a room with little ventliation, after a long weekend. WHay happens then, especially if your'e tired and just had Lunch. Yep, Naptime!

 

The comradeship is what made the weekend for me. Meeting and getting to other Scouters, getting exposed to new ideas and thinking.

 

Final stages of my ticket-hoping to receive Beads at Troops next Court of Honour.

 

SR-542

IS there a Beaver in the House?

 

 

[fgoodwin]

I went through WB21C in course SR552, back in the spring of '03 (finished my ticket in summer of '04).

 

The one complaint I have is that, despite pre-course assurances that the course would be of benefit to Scouters at all program levels, I saw very little benefit to Cub Scouters like me.

 

Within minutes on the first day of the first weekend, we "crossed-over" into Boy Scouts and formed patrols. We kept our patrols for the duration of the course (there might have been a final crossover into Venturing; my memory of it is kinda fuzzy).

 

All of the coursework was focused on how we help our boys reach their leadership potential. Which is a "good thing" for Boy Scout leaders, but since Cubs have very little in the way of boys forming their own teams to accomplish goals, the relevance to Cub leaders was lost on me.

 

Although I am a Cub Scout leader, I wrote my ticket so as to benefit youth and units at all levels, Council-wide. So the course was ultimately of great benefit to me.

 

Maybe I mis-understood the point of the training. When I left the course, I was thinking what I had just been taught was not how I should plan, organize & run a high-performing team, but I was taught how to teach boys so THEY can plan, organize & run high performing teams.

 

Was I wrong on that? Because if I'm right, how do I apply that to Cub Scouts? If it can't be applied to Cub Scouts, then I think Cub leaders are being misled when they are recruited to attend WB21C.

 

Fred Goodwin

Alamo Area Council

 

 

[Bolo]

I went through the WB course in 2002, SR-456,

when I was a Cubmaster. (I think I was the only cub leader there, and one of four females.) Looking back, it probably would have been a better choice to wait a few years, at least until I was in a troop setting. Everything was new to me, and being the only female in my patrol, not wanting to 'embarrass' all the SMs, I was petrified on that first weekend!

As it turned out, a good many of the scouters who took the course have become my best friends and invaluable resources. All in my patrol completed their ticket and we each went to the others' beading ceremony.

I have since taken many training courses but look back on WB as the best...experience gained, comraderie, life lessons learned...a truly memorable time.

Oh, I didn't really like/understand the "Win All You Can" game so that's probably the least memorable. The WB song...well, I'm still singing it!

"I used to be a fox...."