Can Someone Explain Woodbadge to Me

[moosetracker]

Well our participants did accuse us of not scheduling enough "nap" time also. Yeah, patrol time can still be filled with planning what your patrol is responsible for. But, you should have had 2-3 of the evenings free from dinner time on and breakfast free. The last few days gave you time for organizing and finishing your project.. I would think a week long would need to work in more time to create a project, and I have no clue what type of materials they are limited in using, while the 2 weekend course we run, may give you almost 2 weeks of prep and freedom of collecting the materials you will need.. Still since everyone is organizing from their own little corner of the council, there needed to be time for everyone to assemble their items, this above and beyond your normal daily patrol time.

 

Then there just seemed to be extra time given.. I know because as a staffer I was expected to get my work done, and be in attendance to all scheduled stuff. Including te presentations as the scribes ran the projector and laptops if powerpoint was used (as well as to show those movie clips & the movie.. I was greatful for the extra breaks in weekend 2 that gave "ME" time to scribble..

 

By the way, as too the original question about the movie.. Yeah, not my favorite part of the course either. We had good presenters before & after the movie that brought out the points that your were to get about leadership styles from the movie.. But.. your right, we could do something better to get the point across.. But, we need to follow the syllabus, so it is just something to suggest to National as to finding a better way to get the point across..

 

I personally don't mind the video clips.. Again part of the syllabus, but short enough that you get the point in a 3 minute clip rather then a 2.5 hour movie.

[juggerwubba]

2-3 evenings free?

 

We even had to turn up a day early for meetings the evening before the course re-started!

Day 4 we had a patrol activity and then troop campfire after dinner. Then at 10pm we had a ridiculously over-the-top cracker barrel with the SPL in a Tux, staff all in white blouses, chocolate fountains, chafing dishes full of cordon blue snacks.......

Day 5 (the overnight) we had scheduled activities from 8.30 until late.

 

 

 

 

[moosetracker]

There was one night the patrol did do a campfire. But they were free before & after it, so yeah an hour out of that night.. The second night the SM & SPL visited briefly to give out something. But the patrols asked if they could have their cracker barrel in the dining hall due to it being rainy and we had to refuse it, but did secure them a little more cozier cabin. That is the night of the STAFF dinner.. We get wined & dined, you don't. But the only dressier bit was we remove our plaid necker for the taupe (finished the WB course) neckers.. Because of the STAFF diner the participants are asked not to come seek out staff unless there is an emergancy..

 

Now for that dinner yep the works.. shrimp appetizers, and chocolate fondue and surf & turf etc. etc.. fire in the fireplace and candles on the table.. And the fanciest of camp dinnerware.. (well it sort of looked like your everyday plates, but you can imagine.) NO PARTICIPANTS ALLOWED..

 

The STAFF needed to be there each Thursday for the Friday to Sunday courses. Not the participants..

 

Your course was messed up!!! I don't think Staff dinner is in the course book, and may be our little local extra.. But the fact that you are left on your own the last night definately is..

 

The first night the Staff who have leadership position in troop 1.. Scout Masters, ASM's, and troop guides camp with the participants, but each patrol and the staff should be camped at different sites, spread out as Kudu always promotes with 300 yards or more between each one, and the troop does get together for a campfire with skits.. The second night a big "to do" is made over you guys being skilled enough to camp on your own, and you are left out there ON YOUR OWN!!!"

 

The split weekend would only give you two nights out camping, but I would imagine the full week with the extra night would give you 3 nights since they have an extra night. If you had to start on a Thursday, that should have meant an extra camping night for your patrol..

 

Maybe your friend who was on staff will not show you the syllabus because he know they did not follow it.. I would see no problem showing the syllabus to someone who has taken the course, because we would have nothing to hide.(This message has been edited by moosetracker)

[juggerwubba]

So should the patrols be separated for the outpost, or all together at one site?

[moosetracker]

I don't quite understand "outpost".. There is the beginning where you camp similar to summer camp style in the canopy tents with bunks.. And yes the patrols are seperated into different campsites, but I am not sure that is defined one way or the other in the course book, as it is suppose to be a new troop with unskilled youth..

 

Then there is the change to backpack style camping using your own gear.. And yes, the patrols are seperated (staff on that first night, when they camp with the patrols. Also seperated.)

 

Traditionally the backpacking is a little further out in the camp, but should not be a 2 hour hike! So I question the term "outpost". We, the scribes could walk around to deliver the mail to the sites in about an hours time from leaving the scribe office to returning..

[desertrat77]

Moosetracker, how is the staff dinner funded? By the staff?

[moosetracker]

Totally! We payed $85 dollars this year to be on staff. That pays for our food during staff training dates, and our food during the course, our T-shirts and our course manuals..

 

We don't pay the full course fees, but we pay our own way..(This message has been edited by moosetracker)

[juggerwubba]

We used two separate campsites in the second weekend.

 

The first was a patrol site using our own tents, isolated from other patrols, but for sleeping only. No staff were visible from our tents. We also had a patrol site where all 8 patrols shared a strip of land nearer the Troop Meeting Room. We were given two picnic benches. We put up a dining fly and our cooking equipment.

 

On day 5 we "hiked" just under a mile to a site which all 8 patrols shared. We used our own backpacking equipment for this campsite. My tent fly overlapped my neighbor. All the tents were that close together.

[moosetracker]

I will take a look at the syllabus to see what it says on camping.. I know they definately have it stated when the staff stays with them, and when they are on thier own.. Being that it is outdoors and you deal with what you have to work with, I don't know if it states you have to hike them out so far..

 

Some of our participants did not even do the backpack part for health reasons. They were put in a single patrol (I think there were 3 of them) and they stayed in a staff cabin and their patrol that was healthy camped next to the cabin, so they stayed in a patrol.

 

But, remember the backpacking is not in this course so much teach scout craft.. This is a leadership course, and since the participants are den leaders, committee members as well as scout master, the intent is not to teach backpacking, and some will maybe never go out camping with the troop.. So the backpacking part is not about a lenthy hike.. it is to simulate the experience for the purpose of how to slowly empower the youth to run their own patrol..

[Jay K]

Wood Badge!

1. You get the beads, and then the bead-heads listen a little better to you. It's cred.

2. The weekends were fun, maybe not totally fun, but fun.

3. They DO get you to look at yourself. That's a good thing.

4. I did get some good lifetime friends out of it.

 

It doesn't have to be anything more that that, does it?

My Dad was a Wood Badge course Director, and he told me all kinds of great stuff about it. That was Wood Badge for the Bronze age. I took Wood Badge for the 21st Century, and comparing what my Dad said to what I experienced, I think that a little bit HAS been lost.

[UCEagle72]

That was Wood Badge for the Bronze age.

 

Yup -- that was my course too ...

 

[BadenP]

Hey Jay

 

More than a just little has been lost from the WoodBadge course with the new watered down,one size fits all programs, management oriented WB21C. I have taken both courses as for WB21C, except for the friendships made, it offered very little in the way of practical ideas to be used in the field. Still it is all scouters have today, just make sure the staff is well trained and experienced with scouting in the field or you will just be wasting your time and money.

[juggerwubba]

I am getting the impression that the course I attended was a 21c wb course with additional material. Some of this material may have been from the "old" woodbadge course. Whether it is good material or bad material, there is not time over two woodbadge weekends to do a course-and-a-half.

 

I still feel that I was asked to play a game, but at no point were the rules ever explained. I know I did not win the game, but I am not really sure if I was having fun. If anyone has a copy of the rules would they please let me know!

[Eagle92]

Stressing, not a Woodbadger, but basing my observation on the old Brownsea 22 course I took, and the JLT course I staffed. Both of which are predecessors to NYLT, and I am told are almost identical to the old WB courses.

 

This is in response to this comment

 

there is not time over two woodbadge weekends to do a course-and-a-half.

 

The courses I mentioned had an expectation that folks had a basic degree of knowledge and skills. For Scouts to attend, you had to be First Class and 13, so you had mastered the basic outdoor Scouting skills, and had at least 1 year (even pre 1989's FCFY program, it was possible, stress POSSIBLE, to get FC in a year, although most folks I know did it in 18-24 months)of Scouting expereince, but more than likely 2 years.

 

The intensity of the old program was designed to hone those outdoor skills to perfection, enabling you to not only do the skills, but teach them.

 

As for the classes, they were designed to introduce the patrol method and running a troop for those whose troops were not doing so, and then perfect it during the week for all. It expanded upon the content learned at the troop level training.

 

So the intensity and the amount of info delivered to the course was deliberate.

[Jay K]

The high points for me were:

1. E.D.G.E.

2. Management styles

3. Leave no Trace

4. Team development.

I've put all these to use in my Troop.

It was worthwhile.

I'm sure that some of the other stuff will come to the fore as the future unfolds.

Our course did show the power and sweep of the Scouting movement, to a degree. We were at Gilwell on the day of the 100th anniversary of the start of the Brownsea experiment.