Woodbadge for Me

[ParkMan]

12 hours ago, 5thGenTexan said:

A Scout is Trustworthy.... but I might lie next time.  😂

That TDaP vaccine kicked my butt.  I spent the entire week feeling like I was running a fever, and couldnt make it but a few hours without a nap.  It was bad enough I scheduled a Covid test on Thursday evening that came back 'Negative".  I was sure I had something though.  I missed my orientation meeting this morning, still felt pretty weak and tired this morning.  Much better this evening, so I am hoping that is all behind me now.  

Course begins on Oct 9.

Sorry to hear you are not feeling well from the vaccination and missed the orientation.  I am sure that they will be happy to fill you in on what you missed.

Very exciting that it is less than 1 month to go.

[5thGenTexan]

Just a hypothetical question....

Is the training itself worth the time if a person didn't complete the ticket part?

[qwazse]

For me, the training offered a little more than the ticket. I was pretty good at goal setting and project management.

The networking gained through the training pays dividends to this day.

[ParkMan]

5 hours ago, 5thGenTexan said:

Just a hypothetical question....

Is the training itself worth the time if a person didn't complete the ticket part?

Great question!

I look at the weekends of training as having three main aspects:

1. specific content taught in classes
2. building a network among other like minded Scouters and staff
3. having fun & building additional enthusiasm for Scouting

specific content taught in classes

I think this is hit or miss depending on what you know going in.  The Wood Badge material is just about entirely focused around you becoming a stronger leader in your Scouting life.  So, depending on what you know already and what your experience level is in a leadership role you may or may not pick up many new things.  I for example had been through several leadership development programs at work.  I could certainly see similarities in what I do at work vs. what I was being exposed to here.  However, I took away a lot because it was targeted at Scouting.  How to talk to parents.  How do deal with other volunteers.  etc.

I was a Scout for 5 years as a youth and a Cub Scout leader for a year before taking Wood Badge.  In the course, I also learned a lot about other parts of the program I was not familiar with - Venturing for example.

I also picked up some knowledge about more nuts and bolts stuff that I didn't know going in - planning a campfire for example.  But, I think this varies a lot depending on what you do in Scouting.

building a network among other like minded Scouters and staff

I cannot say enough how big a benefit this was for me.  I'm in a mid size council.  I met people from all over the area that I never knew before.  I went from an Asst. Cubmaster who knew people in my pack to a someone who had contacts all over the council.  That was really helpful.

Now, if you're someone who helps out around the council, then perhaps this isn't a big deal.  But if you were like me, it was a big help.

having fun & building additional enthusiasm for Scouting

This was one of my favorite parts.  In my home pack, there was always a sort of a "if we have to" feeling.  People would do things, but they were not quite rushing out to do stuff.  I found the enthusiasm for Scouting in my course was unlike anything I had in our pack.  This was a real help and encouragement to me as a volunteer.  

Disclaimer - don't skip your ticket though.  As much as I enjoyed the course, I'm even more happy that I completed my ticket.  

[Treflienne]

On 9/18/2020 at 7:14 PM, 5thGenTexan said:

Just a hypothetical question....

Is the training itself worth the time if a person didn't complete the ticket part?

 

18 hours ago, ParkMan said:

• building a network among other like minded Scouters and staff
• having fun & building additional enthusiasm for Scouting

My take:

Yes it is worthwhile, even if you don't fully complete your ticket.

The "like minded Scouters" and "enthusiam for Scouting" part was very worthwhile to me.

I found it very encouraging to be among other people who were enthusiastic about the program.  And who were aiming at the goals of scouting "Citizenship, Character, . . ." with confidence in the methods of scoutings ("Patrol Method,  Ideals, etc, etc") as a means to get there.   

This was especially true for me, since it seemed that in my own unit (and in the boys' troop linked with my unit) the adults have been all pulling in different directions.  Some are interested in being an outing club in which kids get to do exciting things which someone else lines up for them to do.  Some are interested in low drag high speed advancement . . .

I am no longer in the role I was in when I attended woodbadge.  And I only completed some but not all of my ticket items - which were chosen to be appropriate to that role.    So I don't know if I'll be able to complete a ticket.  But I am still very glad I attended woodbadge.

[ParkMan]

7 minutes ago, Treflienne said:

I am no longer in the role I was in when I attended woodbadge.  And I only completed some but not all of my ticket items - which were chosen to be appropriate to that role.    So I don't know if I'll be able to complete a ticket.  But I am still very glad I attended woodbadge.

I'd encourage you to talk with your ticket counselor.  Position changes happen all the time during Wood Badge.  I've had several people change positions while I was a ticket counselor- one even changing units.  What's important is adjusting your specific ticket items so that you can still work torwards your vision - if even in a different role

 

[5thGenTexan]

So... if I were to not answer these 20 questions and just go.  Would that be a huge problem?

[ParkMan]

47 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

So... if I were to not answer these 20 questions and just go.  Would that be a huge problem?

The pre-course 20 questions?

In our course, it wouldn't be a deal breaker - but then again, everyone always does it.  Why don't you want to answer them?

[5thGenTexan]

27 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

The pre-course 20 questions?

In our course, it wouldn't be a deal breaker - but then again, everyone always does it.  Why don't you want to answer them?

I don't know how to answer these questions.  My level of self confidence almost prohibits me from answering most of these questions.  i.e. I don't have one strength must less three.

I am sitting here weighing how pissed my wife will be if I don't go and if I do cancel will  I then resign all my positions effective immediately or at least until the committee can figure out what to do.

[ParkMan]

1 minute ago, 5thGenTexan said:

I don't know how to answer these questions.  My level of self confidence almost prohibits me from answering most of these questions.  i.e. I don't have one strength must less three.

I am sitting here weighing how pissed my wife will be if I don't go and if I do cancel will  I then resign all my positions effective immediately or at least until the committee can figure out what to do.

I apologize, I went back and looked at the questions.  If they are the same ones I have, it is stated that no-one will see your answers except for you.

I get the sense you're worrying too much about these questions.   This is simply an exercise to help encourage you to think about yourself in this way.  Yes, for someone with self confidence issues (I assume you meant that you have lower self confidence), I can see why answering questions about yourself might be uncomfortable.  I would encourage you to give yourself the permission to answer these - even if you feel like the answers make you uncomfortable.  Just make a promise to yourself never to show them to anyone.  It's also really OK if your answers are 20 lines of "I'm not comfortable answering that." 

I would certainly not back out of the course, and most definitely I would not feel any reason to quit Scouting.

[BAJ]

7 hours ago, 5thGenTexan said:

I don't know how to answer these questions. 

I had A very similar reaction to some of them before my course a few weeks ago.  I just went to my backpack (just got back from Weekend 2 yesterday) and pulled out my now rumpled version... rumpled because it never left the backpack either in Weekend 1 or 2 and so it was sort of crunched down at the bottom.  

Looking at what I wrote my “answers” to some of them were just a few bullet points.  And I had a real problem answering some of them.  For example, thinking about the question about a leader who had significantly affected my life, many of the “leaders” I have had weren’t very good and some of them significantly affected my life... negatively.  I remember sitting there going “If we discuss this at the course, I am going to really really bad being the guy who talks about how terrible person X was and why their leadership was a bad thing” ... so I sort of picked the most positive example I could find and wrote a half-hearted couple of bullets about him.  But we never had a discussion that referred to the questionnaire at all, and the fact that I had thought that thru — why some of those leaders weren’t good — actually was useful since it sort of brought me into the mindset.

I had some of the issues with some of the strengths questions too.  One of the ones I listed was “follow thru... I finish what I start and say I will get done.”  Seemed pretty lame as something to list as a leadership strength when I had in my head “leadership Strengths” with a capital S like “Inspiration” or “Vision,” but ... even though you will spend (a significant amount) time at the course talking about those sorts of things... having come out the other side and talked to a number of the other participants and thought again about other leaders I know, “Follow Thru” seems like a pretty good thing and might deserve capital letters too.

So having experienced the whole course package at this point, I would say that the 20 questions aren’t about the answers but about the answering.  We didn’t ever reference them in the actual course, but it was a useful exercise for me to think through some of the topics and issues, and it was actually some of the questions that I had the hardest time answering — and looking at my answers now, I don’t think where I ended up on them was all that great — that were most useful to have thought about.

[5thGenTexan]

Answered most of em kinda sorta.  Only 15, not 20.  Weird

 

[5thGenTexan]

Everything is packed.  Hope they don't laugh at me for the size of my gear pile.   I don't own little compact backpacking stuff.  Cub Scout Leader here.  

 

Starts at 7:30 am tomorrow!!!

[BAJ]

If they didn’t laugh at me.... you’re probably good.  Our SPL actually told us not to worry about over packing, since they wanted us to sleep as comfortable as possible so we’d absorb the sessions.  Have fun.  I hope you get great patrol mates... they were really what made the experience fun for me.

[5thGenTexan]

I have one of these.   Tent, sleeping bag, tarp, all gear except my clothes and chair are in there.