What made your course special?

[BeaverIII]

I'm "borrowing" this topic from Mrs. Eagle 515. As an upcoming course director I would like to know what made your course special and or memorable. I would like to hear from participants and staffers.If you have served on a staff and have something that worked really well, I'd love to hear it.

 

Looking forward to your responses.

 

BeaverIII

[Gonzo1]

BeaverIII,

Welcome,

I attended WB back in '94. Our Scoutmaster (CD) presented some sort of immediate recognition item to one patrol at selected times for something done well. He called it a "warm fuzzy" As it was a red fuzz ball on a leather cord and would be placed on the patrol flag.

 

Gonzo1

[insanescouter]

I went through one of the last of the old courses so, keep that in mind with my responses....

 

I would say the people, working together as a patrol to over come a variety of planned and unplanned challenges

 

Keep in mind by the time I went to woodbadge I had been scouting for over 20 years and had served on district training team for several years... so a lot of the sit there and listen to a lecture was heard, done ... but the action parts were all awesome...

 

In the end I really lied the ticket and working it as well as the mental boost it gave me...

 

Anyway just my wacky 2 cents...

 

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

[Tokala]

I honestly don't recall anything that stood out as a memorable moment. It's been about 20 years, but it's not due to failing memory. I guess for me it was just another Scouting activity.

[GNX Guy]

beaveriii, you did not indicated what course you will be a course director for, Seabadge, Powder Horn, Wood Badge, PTC, etc?

 

For me,

 

Seabadge, contacts & opportunities made available

Powder Horn, Location and contacts

Wood Badge a few contacts

PTC location & contacts

[allangr1024]

I attended the last old syllabus course in our council in 2001. At that time we had a device at our "Gilwell Park" called a weather rock. This was a boulder hung from a lashed tripod. You could read the weather from it. (if it is wet, it is raining. If it is warm, it is sunny, if it is sloshy, it is snowing or sleeting. If it is moving, it is windy.)

 

I did not know this, but it was a tradition in our council that the WB'ers always tried to steal the weather rock. My patrol [da bears, YAH] was made of new scouters so we did not know of this expectation. The staff was supposed to guard the rock, the scouters were to make away with it.

 

One patrol was made of engineers from a mega troop, and came with very sophistocated baggage carts that had hidden hydralic lifts underneth. They would get up in the midst of meetings to "use the bathroom", and make attempts on the rock. The first attempt saw the rock carried to the parking area, but the rock was abandoned in a ditch nearby when the staff started looking for it. A second attempt was made in the dead of night, but was thwarted by a staffer who got up to use the latreen.

 

The third attempt was made during a night session, in the middle of a downpour of rain. Two of the engineers slipped out, got the cart, moved the rock to a pickup truck in the parking area, and then headed to town, where they left the rock on the WB Scoutmasters front lawn (where I believe it lies today still). They then went to the council office and took one of the bolders, a bit smaller than the weather rock, and hauled it back to camp, where they mounted it on the weather rock tripod and then got to bed, although at 5:00 in the morning. We all wondered why these guys where so wiped out, when everyone else seemed rested and ready.

 

I believe that the new course staff nixed the weather rock tradition, sadly, because it added a measure of fun to the course, and will be fondly remembered by me for a long time.

 

 

[Bob White]

I think most the time when an activity is really memorable there are so many elements that interact that to try and replicate that feeling is really impossible.

 

Weather, mood, setting, interpersonal relationships, preparedness, respopnsiveness, all play a role.

 

Everyone sang a lot in our last course and it was great fun. But that doesn't mean if you sing a lot on your couse that it will get the same response.

 

In the previous course we hardly ever sang except for the occasional Gilwell song, but somehow a contest of cap decorating got started between the patrols, and it became a highlight of the week.

 

I don't think it is so much what you do that will make it memorable. It is about how you lead.

 

Is the staff developed into a team prior to the course? Does the staff have a strong sense of the needs and characteristics of each participant? Are you aware of what elements or activities are registering more positively with the participants. Is everyone eating and sleeping well?

 

Is the staff teaching? Are the participants learning?

 

What works well is good leadership, the chemistry will often follow.

[Amandeux2]

Our staff had the ability to laugh at everything. It rained the entire first weekend (10+) inches and everyone's gear had to be taken to local laundry mats to be dried. The second weekend started with rain and flash flood warnings, and the entire day's schedule was shot. Through it all they laughed and joked about which plan they were on. By the time the rain stopped on the 2nd weekend, they made it through alternate plan F or G.

 

The other big thing that was really memorable was the patrol spirit. You never knew when you'd hear something about fearing the tail (Beavers), whisteling from the Foxes, etc.

[LaurieBear]

My course was special for several reasons, the people, the location, the friends I made. However, one of the really nice times we had was the last night at "gilwell". the Staff left us, the patrols were spread out over the camp only a few were close in proximity. We all made plans to meet at a central location after dinner and have a campfire & cracker barrell. After all the songs, skits and talk, Before turning in, we all planned a special bovine surprise for the staff at opening ceremony, we sang the "the song"... we sang it loud enough that the staff, came out of the hall on the other side of the hill and sang it back to us. It was truly a great fellowship evening.

 

[Vigil91]

I think the most memorable (as a participant) was SC437 - Walking Woodbadge at Philmont.

 

The opportunity to participate in a week long course while also traversing one of the most beautifil properties on the face of the planet was ... how best to put it ... most excellent.

 

We even qualified for a 50 miler - service project and all.

 

I'll not forget that Trip to Gilwell.

[gaucho]

The Game of Life was it for me. Enough said. My patrol either won it or didn't however you want to look at it. Changed me in a good way.

[John-in-KC]

1) Absolute commitment of the Troop Guide to the process for us. I remember when we asked him some questions about the intersession, he said "For the next month, I am the Troop. I will give you direct answers to your questions, or get them in 24 hours." That's one example. Another is how he lived the idea of the Ticket.

 

2) The fact that the Eagles had a hunt one morning at Gilwell Field ... and shot the BobWhites.

 

3) One thing that got my dander up to the point I wrote the Course Director and the Scout Executive: The "Scout's Own Service." It was ANATHEMA. Denying the deity of Christ is the same for the Christian as saying "Christ has come" to the Jew, or refusing the Muslim to say "God is Allah and His prophet is Mohammed." Have a real Pastor look at your Scout's Own... look at it in the context of the religious mix of your students and staff. Anathema can happen to any faith stream.

 

4) To close on a humorous point (for us Owls), the CD/PD (SM/SPL) failed to gather student patrol leaders in the intersession and walk the ground of the 2d session weekend area. Our Patrol did. We knew the space we wanted for our Patrol site. Each of us had positions to stake out. When we were released to establish sites, by Golly, we OWLs got the spot we wanted. When the Beavers complained, we told them "pound sand." When the CD/PD intervened, we told them "did you break up the ground in advance? Did you release the troop by Patrols? No. Deal with it." The CD/PD had that "oh, XXXX" look on their faces, and conceded the ground to us.

 

 

[NeilLup]

Hello Beaver III,

 

Congratulations on your appointment and service as a Course Director. You'll have a great time.

 

As someone who has directed twice (28 years apart ) and staffed about a dozen times, please let me suggest that the thing that will make the course very special is if you hold a great Wood Badge course and follow the course guide exactly as written. You don't need to add doo dads and bells and whistles to the course guide. For the participants, it is their first Wood Badge. Whatever you do is new and unique for them and they're the ones that matter. For the first time staffers, staff service is new and unique. If the multiple time staffers are getting bored and start to mess around with the course guide, it may be time for them to retire or to go to work on other training courses.

 

Having said that, on a course this spring, we did something rather interesting. Whether it was special or not, I'll have to leave to the participants. Our SPL was very into silent signals. So a page out of an old Field Book on silent signals was included in the first Gilwell Gazette and there was a lot of silent signalling. The participants picked up on it very well and it saved a lot of voices

 

Remember that you pledged as a course director to follow the course guide. That's your first, second and third priority.

[John-in-KC]

Like hitting the "send" button, eh, Neil???

[NeilLup]

I hit it and nothing happened. So I hit again and nothing happened. Finally, the system responded and put up 5 reps.