Any tips for conducting an ILST?

[SubSM]

I started providing ILST to the PLC a couple of years ago as an ASM, and continued to do so once I was appointed SM. I tried to schedule it as soon as possible following SPL/PL elections (usually the first Saturday after the elections).

This year I discussed with the SPL about moving the training out a couple of weeks (we will be at camp for one of those weeks) in order to give him and the ASPL time to prepare, because I am wanting them to give the training this time around. I am certain it will be rough and disjointed, but it's important for them to step into the role of troop leader.

I will report back when we are done to let you all know how it went.

Mike

[Eagledad]

There have been some good discussions of ILST lately, I'm not sure the best way to find those discussions (mods?). They are pretty good, but with a lot of content, so starting the discussion over is difficult. I'll just say (repeat in short) that I think ILST is a good way to start team development for a new program, but looses it's effectiveness quickly because the syllabus content does not mature with the troops program growth. 

Youth this age don't enjoy training, especially when they have seen it before. They learn best by watching their older scout role models repeating the lessons learned. If you feel ILST is needed to improve the program, then why didn't the older scouts learn it last year? A habit is developed in practice, not training. 

I'm not saying don't do it, use it if you can see value in it. But, don't just do it because it's there to do or something to keep scouts busy. Instead, work your program for continued growth in the troop and patrol activities. 

Barry

[Jackdaws]

25 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

There have been some good discussions of ILST lately, I'm not sure the best way to find those discussions (mods?). They are pretty good, but with a lot of content, so starting the discussion over is difficult. I'll just say (repeat in short) that I think ILST is a good way to start team development for a new program, but looses it's effectiveness quickly because the syllabus content does not mature with the troops program growth. 

Youth this age don't enjoy training, especially when they have seen it before. They learn best by watching their older scout role models repeating the lessons learned. If you feel ILST is needed to improve the program, then why didn't the older scouts learn it last year? A habit is developed in practice, not training. 

I'm not saying don't do it, use it if you can see value in it. But, don't just do it because it's there to do or something to keep scouts busy. Instead, work your program for continued growth in the troop and patrol activities. 

Barry

I definitely see what you are saying in reading thru the syllabus.   We are essentially going to be like a new troop.   If we can get the boys to start running the troop and progressing, they should be able to naturally incorporate their own experiences and ideas into future trainings for the new boys. 

[RememberSchiff]

19 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

There have been some good discussions of ILST lately, I'm not sure the best way to find those discussions (mods?).

In right margin use Search by clicking on Magnifying glass icon, the Search the Community page appears. Select Content Search tab.

Search Term: ILST

Content Type: click All Content or Topics

If Topics selected a Forums  selection box appears and you can search a specific forum, e.g., Patrol Method or Open Discussion

Find results in: click Content titles and body

Date Created:  recommend click Any as old topics regarding ILST may have been revived, but experiment.

Find results that contain: click All

Last Updated:  selected an appropriate "lately" timeframe

Filter by number of ... replies or views,  up to you.

Search Content: click and links with underlined "ILST" will appear

Hope this helps,

[Eagledad]

2 minutes ago, Jackdaws said:

I definitely see what you are saying in reading thru the syllabus.   We are essentially going to be like a new troop.   If we can get the boys to start running the troop and progressing, they should be able to naturally incorporate their own experiences and ideas into future trainings for the new boys. 

Yes exactly. ILST is a great starting place for inexperienced troops. But, training should only be used where participants need information to grow in performance. A troop is free to change the syllabus so that it applies to real deficiencies of performance. This was the first guideline I preached to District trainers when I was the Council Junior Leadership Training Chairman.  

New troops need to use standardized training syllabuses because all their scouts are starting from the same place of knowledge, experience and maturity. But, as those scouts practice the lessons of the basic courses and grow in maturity and experience, their actions become the main teacher for scouts with less experience and maturity (younger scouts).

By focusing on continued growth of the older scouts, the younger scouts will learn the same skills without as much of the training. We eventually reduced training to just a few hours a year for basically "need to know" information specific to each Position of Responsibility (POS). If we found the patrols lacking in a general skill, we would create a lesson activity for that skill. And see that as a red flag of something lacking in our program. But, that kind of program requires experience and understanding of the skills scouts need to work toward growth. So, units need to start slow with actitities like ILST, but understand that growth requires change to keep up with the maturity of the scouts. A troop shouldn't need to repeat all of last years syllabus, something should be taken out, and something added for the expectation of raising the bar for maturity. 

Barry

[TAHAWK]

if you want to educate in the patrol method, you might review the ILST  materials.  They are overwhelmingly, as the title suggest, about the "troop method, " unlike the long-gone district-level Junior Leader Orientation Workshop, killed off in 2001 without explanation.  JLOW began with 'Welcome to Scouting's Toughest job," and that referred to Patrol Leader, being based on actual Boy Scouting.

Some Councils fight the good fight by offering JLOW despite BSA's abandonment of training outside the troop short of NYLT . 

Some volunteers offer JLOW independently of their councils

e.g. http://www.chuh.net/troop22/resources/JLOW-02.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 being pushed by many at BSA.

[fred8033]

 

On 7/10/2019 at 3:22 PM, Jackdaws said:

I have the syllabus and am about to start going thru it.  Since our older scouts are next to non existent and are probably going to be absent, it will be an adult led course.  

I absolutely disagree that adults need to lead the course.  IMHO, one of the best teaching methods is having scouts work with scouts. 

Our troop hasn't done ISLT recently.  But when we did ...

• SM coached the SPL (who ran the course).  The coaching was not hours and hours.  It was more to familize with the materials ... 15 minutes at a time.  Over a few weeks.
• The night before the course, the SPL and SM (and another adult) prep'ed the training and the materials.
• The training itself was a combination of 10 to 15 minute segments of 
  • BSA produced VHS tapes specifically for ISLT … with "now pause the tape"
  • Games
  • Exercises
  • Reflections and discussion
  • Scoutmaster comments / thoughts … really short comments and thoughts

It was all run by the SPL for the scouts. 

One of my favorite parts was lunch.  Paper bag lunches.  One bag had bread.  One had cheese.  One had meat.  Chips.  The scout that really was happy was the scout who had all the deserts in their lunch bag.  It was interesting to see if it was immediate or 30 seconds ot 60 seconds before they realized they had to share and work together to have a good lunch. … But the kid with the deserts always had a big smile on his face.  

Edited July 20, 2019 by fred8033

[mrkstvns]

On 7/19/2019 at 2:23 PM, TAHAWK said:

if you want to educate in the patrol method, you might review the ILST  materials.  They are overwhelmingly, as the title suggest, about the "troop method, " unlike the long-gone district-level Junior Leader Orientation Workshop, killed off in 2001 without explanation.  JLOW began with 'Welcome to Scouting's Toughest job," and that referred to Patrol Leader, being based on actual Boy Scouting.

Some Councils fight the good fight by offering JLOW despite BSA's abandonment of training outside the troop short of NYLT . 

Some volunteers offer JLOW independently of their councils

e.g. http://www.chuh.net/troop22/resources/JLOW-02.pdf

Interesting stuff!!  I haven't come across the JLOW course before and found the PDF you referenced to be interesting reading.  I think I might pull some of the patrol method materials from here, but will combine with some of the material from the standard ILST curriculum. For example, I really like the concept of "servant leader" that is in the current ILST, but that I don't see in JLOW.  Mix & match the best, most useful concepts from each.