JLT ideas

[bugle344]

I'm looking for your input. We're doing Junior Leader Training soon. My challenge is to make it interesting and valuable to the older Scouts. Some have already been through this 3-4 times.

 

I'm looking for some meat - things that will apply to their lives, even as adults and future Scoutmasters.

 

I've picked a theme: "Servant Leadership" and am very interested in using the Bible as the main resource.

 

Talk to me!

[OldGreyEagle]

I dont think you can go wrong by looking at the 11 points of leadership the regular JLTC teaches and introduce these concepts to the group. It may not be the actual thing, but at least it introduces them to terms they will hear later when they go to JLTC and revive memories of those who have been

[KoreaScouter]

Amen to Bugle344! I have several Scouts who've been through JLT at various levels multiple times. They've figured out the 9 magazine trick, they can lip-sync along with the video, and I can't fool them with the lunch-bag trick any more. I'd do backflips if I could get a "next level" Troop JLT. I could always come up with speakers, tours, and whatnot, but I've always got the ghost of Bob White whispering in my ear: "...follow the program or else...". Just kidding, Bob. I've got to do JLT again in March after troop elections, and I'm wide open to suggestions, too...

 

KS

[OldGreyEagle]

Like I said, follow the 11 points of leadership discussed at JLTS. You say your guys know the stuff by heart, that they are bored with the presentation and you want to bring it up to the next level. I have a suggestion.

 

Outline the 11 points, and then open it up to the boys, ask them to point out specific troop events where they used one of the 11 points. Ask them to identify a troop event where the 11 points were not used as well as they might. Have them talk about what it would take to make the 11 points as ingrained in the troop as reciting the Scout law and wearing the uniform. Let them see the connection between what is taught on PLC training week ends and how it is to be used during a meeting or event. Start now talking about these issues and have your own list to pique discussion if they dont have their own topics you can get it rolling. Have them design a troop activity that will provide a reason to use the points. See if you can get them to add these points to every event. Don't make it different, that sends the message what we told you last year didnt work, so we are trying this. Reinforce what they have seen and stick with it. Just an idea(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[Eagle74]

Here are some suggestions from my "value added" JLT weekend campout. The weekend was open to anyone in the troop, since they are all potential leaders if not already holding leadership positions. Yes, we did use the BSA material (games need to change from year to year). As mentioned above though, this gets old by the third or fourth time around.

 

Friday Night at the Movies (snacks provided by the troop) - The group watched "Remember the Titans". Good movie with leadership, teamwork, and diversity themes. Boys told not to watch the movie just for fun, but to notice and analyze leadership/teamwork situations. These were discussed on Saturday.

 

Saturday JLT - started at 8:30 ran till 5:30 and nobody was bored (regular short breaks are critical). Used the BSA JLT curriculum, corny video and all. Enhanced the program with short video clips from "Karate Kid", "First Knight", "Hoosiers" (excellant leadership analysis movie), "Patton" and a couple (carefully edited) from "Glory". Each short clip was followed by a short five to ten minute discussion of observations - what style of leadership was shown, was it effective, pros, cons. Further enhanced with expansion into situational leadership at the end. The base curriculum outline was done in Powerpoint.

 

Saturday Night at the Movies - (snacks provided by the troop) watched "Cool Running", movie about Jamaican bobsled team. A purposely light movie to end the day, but still with leadership/teamwork themes.

 

The boys were taught and discussed some advanced leadership/teamwork concepts such as situational leadership, managers vs leaders, formal vs informal leaders, etc. They were genuinely receptive and interested, and showed a remarkable level of understanding - especially compared to some adult audiences to whom I have taught or facilitated leadership training.

[Eagle74]

For those wondering how this was done on a "campout", I forgot to mention that the training weekend was held at the local council scout camp. Boys tent-camped, patrol-cooked, etc. Training was conducted in a nearby large open-sided shelter with electric for the computer, multimedia projector, etc.

[KoreaScouter]

Great ideas all, and I appreciate them. What I hear you saying, though, is that you came up with these on your own. Unlike the progressive leadership training for adults (Fast Start, NLE, Fundamentals, Wood Badge), there is but a single national-level curriculum for youth at the unit level, and they're going to get the same one from age 11 to 17 unless we unit level Scouters make up advanced JLT curriculum on personal initiative. Can this be true?

 

As a career military guy, I've had enough leadership classes, training, and practical lessons to design a JLT course as a follow-on to the BSA one, but I guess I'm wondering why I have to. In our ongoing effort to improve adult training, have we collectively left youth training out of the mix?

 

KS

[Mike F]

Excellent ideas on ways to enhance the program in different ways! (I especially liked Eagle 74s ideas -- teaches them to observe leadership while watching the movies they love anyway. I'm sure they see the movies in a different light when you flip the switch for them.)

In a slightly different twist, I have a presentation on the early Antarctic explorers, like Shackelton, that goes over very well. Shows the guys how leadership made the difference between life and death in real situations. Its easy to relate back to the 11 points and gets them thinking.

 

[buffalo2]

This is a great thread and the sort of stuff that we're all looking for!

To offer a different flavor, consider inviting a local prominent SM from another Troop in exchange to helping with his next JLT session - new faces and ideas can help a lot.

In our Troop we go to some trouble to remind the boys that we appreciate the value of their committment and time investment to JLT. We usually make an overnight out of it and ask our Committee members to come and help with cooking something pretty special (gets them some good exposure as well) We're able to get a couple of sessions under our belt on Friday evening and plant a few seeds before kicking back with a movie. Saturday we continue on and usually have things wrapped up before dinner.

We've had occasions where working in some handy COPE elements really brought the point home as well. Our Troop also opens up the invitation list some but we deliberately don't encourage al the Scouts to attend.

To deviate a bit, I believe that there is a place for a District-level JLT that might fit between the Troop level and the weeklong Council offering. What are some of the group's thoughts here - or is this worth a new thread?

Has anyone got a good syllabus for something like this? Perhaps make it a much easier sell at the District/Council level?(This message has been edited by buffalo2)

[rlculver415]

Perhaps I am ignorant, but I thought uniform referred to apparel not training.

 

I teach Sunday School teachers how to teach. One of the main points of this training is to adapt the lesson to the needs of the learners. Naturally, this doesn't mean change the facts or the basic program - just the presentation so that the targeted learners not only absorb the information but apply it to their daily lives. Eagle74's plan is a marvellous example.

 

As with Sunday School classes, troops are each individual entities. The best one can do for one's troop is to adapt the training sessions to fit the needs of the Scouts. How do most of your boys mainly learn - by seeing, hearing or doing? Adjust the presentation to their learning preferences. Do have frequent breaks, or mobile activities. If the games are now over-used, use new games. Bookstores, libraries, church youth ministries all have books on team-building exercises, for example. If the basic material is getting trite, use a new approach or add sparks of interest. Historical events and sporting events, to name a couple would be good sources for this. Bugle344, does your church have a Bible-study series on servant leadership that you can use? And can you use it without pressing your religious views on the boys?

 

The big no-no's are changing any facts, the program or the order of the presentation. In other words, add to what is already there. Don't be nervous about adapting training to fit your troop: 1) It really isn't difficult to do, and 2) Anything you do to add interest and fun is going to be greatly appreciated. Your caring is seen more clearly than any other part of what's going on, even if no-one mentions it.

 

Most teaching situations have three basic components: a hook, which is an attention-grabbing exercise - with youth make this something that gets them actively involved; a look, which is the body of the session's information with the added sparks that make the program most adapted to your troop; and finally make sure the session took, which is often activity-oriented also - like case studies, role plays, practice scenarios, etc. Each of these components can be adapted to fit the learners' needs. While most adults can be content with passive exercises even if they are not passive by nature, youth will not, so be sure to mix active exercises with the brain work. Active does not necessarily means running about, but does include the total involvement of the youth.

 

I hope this is of some help to you. Trust me, you can present a JLT that will interest and involve the older boys as well as the younger.

[KoreaScouter]

Agree wholeheartedly, and anyone who's smart enough to find and log onto this forum is also smart enough to re-do their Troop JLT. However, this is a little more complicated than merely "tailoring" the existing BSA Troop JLT lesson plan. Because the video and the games/activities are linked to each other, it's kind of "all or nothing". It would be almost like skipping the bridge building in New Leader Essentials -- the bridge building is all over the slides, so you have to do it.

 

I guess my question's getting lost in the flood of great ideas to enhance Troop JLT (many of which I'm going to use, I might add). Doesn't the fact that there are so many troop-level mods to JLT suggest that there's something missing in our youth training architecture? The situation's different with the youth than it is with the adults. Over the course of 7 years, those Scouts may undergo the same JLT course as many as 14 times depending on their positions and how often their troop holds elections. Don't you find it curious that over 92 years, we haven't developed a "modular" approach to JLT that accounts for the realities we all know to be true, and incorporates some of the advances that are in WB21, NLE, etc., such as movie sequences as reinforcement, powerpoint slides, and so on? I suppose what I'm looking at is something similar to the flexibility allowed in program planning, and designed by National in Troop Program Resources with the 36 monthly themes, recommended activities, and troop meeting plans that you select from to build your annual program. Why not a similar effort to produce "Troop Youth Training Resources", a similar "smorgasbord" of training events, supporting materials, themes, and so on. Some would be suitable for post-event reflections, some for PLC training sessions, and some to build a modular (there's that word again) Troop JLT lesson plan based on the experience/maturity and needs of your youth leaders. Have any of you seen or heard of anything like this?

 

Maybe those BSA resources are out there somewhere; I'm just not aware of them. I do know that I can't run the BSA JLT lesson plan again after we conduct troop elections in March. If I did, they may not catch me when I do the "trust fall" near the end of the lesson!

 

KS

[sctmom]

Eagle74's ideas of movies would work well with adults too! Stories (movies) are always a good way to get a point across.

 

 

[Eagle74]

Great stuff here! This is why I keep coming back to the forum. Only wish that all threads were this productive. There is a basketful of good ideas here that I will pursue further for our JLTs.

 

KoreaScouter - my feelings exactly. I am not aware of any such material from BSA and that's why I did a value-added program. We did follow the JLT handbook, though. I think JLT should be a modular, progressive endeavor. All boys go through the initial, basic JLT and then can move on to more advanced and in-depth training.

 

The whole idea afterall is to mold and prepare our leaders of the future. As the boys grow in age, rank, and responsibility, their leadership/teamwork understanding and abilities should grow with them through continually challenging material.

[KoreaScouter]

Well, we all seem to be in violent agreement here. Now, how do we "unwashed volunteers" get a concern like this in front of whoever's got the authority to do something about it? I'm a long way from Irving, and the way BSA National makes decisions seems just a little more mysterious than electing a Pope...

 

KS

[captnkirk]

Unfortunately, in our council JLTC and youth training seem to be overlooked in favor of adult programs like Wood Badge and the training formerly known as Scoutmaster Fundamentals. As a result, very few units in our council actually do Troop JLT sessions, and the most training a boy is likely to receive is a week at JLTC. Even in my own troop, while I've proposed the idea before, the other adults say it's a good idea, but they never put their full support behind it, and many of the boys, especially the older ones, don't realize the need for it. I'm lucky if I can get anyone to attend the council's course.

Several of the adults invovled with JLTC have proposed doing a JLT program just among several troops based in nearby towns. This seems to come close to this idea of a district level youth training program. I personally am unfamiliar with the current program laid out for Troop JLT programs, but since those involved have been involved at the council level for years, I imagine it would be primarily based on the 11 leadership skills presented there. I'd be happy to keep in contact with anyone interested in our program, as this thread probably won't be active when the program actually happens, which will probably be either in the spring or the early part of the summer before summer camp.