How do other methods support the Patrol Method?

[CNYScouter]

I am still learning about the complexities of the Methods of Scouting.

I understand that they are not stand-alone concepts and are all inter-related.

If you only focus on certain methods, it decreases the effectiveness of the other parts of the program.

From what I have read is correct if you see that your program is lacking in one method you use the other methods to bring it up.

 

I am looking for ways the other methods support the Patrol Method to show the relationships between the methods.

 

I can easily see where the patrol method and leadership method are linked, but I am having trouble seeing some of the other relationships.

 

This is for a report that I am putting together for our Troop to improve in the patrol method.

 

I am finding that this concept and the relationships between the methods is very hard for some leaders to understand.

I think that if more time was spent in SM training or a course added to show the practical application of these methods would go a long way to see an overall improvement in units to follow the program

 

[EagleInKY]

Great question CNY! I (and I'm sure others) would love to see what you write. Maybe you can post it when you're done?

 

Leadership - You hit that one. Most of the boy's early leadership experiences are going to be in the patrol environment. The patrol method is where he demonstrates the skills necessary for positions of greater responsibility, such as SPL, ASPL, Troop Guide or Den Chief.

 

Outdoor Program - This is where the Patrol method comes alive! In meetings and games, the patrol method has only limited success. But in the outdoors, when these guys live, cook, eat, sleep, breathe, together as a patrol... that is where they really see it in action.

 

Advancement - Loose ties in the early ranks, pointing the scout at recognizing their patrol. Personally, I'd like to see a little more emphasis - such as a requirement to participate in a patrol activity.

 

Ideals - Some loose ties here as well. Boys get exposure to holding each other accountable first in the patrol setting. A PL has to make sure his patrol members pull their load. They also have to deal with behavior issues often at a patrol level first.

 

Personal Growth, is more an outcome of a great patrol program. A scout will experience growth in maturity, dedication to others and teamwork by working in an effective patrol setting.

 

Uniform, in my opinion, is part of all aspects of scouting. The patrol working together in uniform, seeing themselves as a team more than a group of individuals, is key. That patrol emblem on the sleeve identifies them with the group.

 

Association with adults doesn't apply as well since the patrol method is primarily about the boys.

[bbng]

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/index.html

 

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/18-800/index.html

 

The Honor Patrol Award might be helpful too, but I couldn't find the requirements.

 

The way this troop works, patrol leaders gather ideas from their patrols when it's time for the annual planning. Then Green Bar meets to draft a proposed calendar. It is submitted to the SM, who then submits it to the committee for approval (as he says, "I'd like to know I have your backing, that you back the boys' plans"). There is a patrol coach or advisor who is an asst SM for each patrol. This is where I see the adult association in play the most. Also, the patrol had to secure adults to go on a patrol camping trip, so again, they interact, though for the most part the adults aren't noticeably involved with the boys. My son told me there are a a bunch of leaders who don't do anything, and I know these leaders and how hard they work at "doing nothing"

 

I'm not very involved in a troop; my focus is on Cub Scouting. But I knew National had some info on the site, so I hope the above helps. Good luck and have fun in your new role working with patrols.

[Bob White]

Hi CNY

 

I think EagleInKY gave some good points. I would add a few things.

 

Ideals

The characteristics exemplified in the Oath and Law are practiced and tested within the interactions of the scouts in the patrol. The Slogan and motto are practiced as patrol activities are planned and patrols choose and carry out their own good turn activities.

 

Outdoor Activities

The outdoor goals for scouting is an outdoor activity a month. Too often this is done only as a troop under adult supervision. Patrols can and should easily obtain a level of ability to where all members have the skills and attitude to be able to do activities on their own as a patrol without adult supervision. This the point when Scouts mature the fastest and gain real knowledge and ability.

 

Advancement

There are 4 steps to advancement

A scout Learns

A Scout is Tested

A Scout is Reviewed

And A Scout is recognized.

 

Three of the four steps can take place using Patrol activities and Patrol resources. Let Patrols be responsible for teaching skills. Train the PL on how to teast advancement and give him the responsibility to approve approprite requirements. Make Patrol Leaders responsible for motivating others in the Patrol to seek advancement opportunities. Make sure that PL understand their responsibilities set goals and achieve them in the leaedership role so that they can have a quality advancement experience.

 

Personal Growth

Good Turns Good Turns good Turns. Patrols need to do learn to 'help other people at all times and any load is lighter when shared with friends. Patrols can do an owful lot of growing by using the strength and resources or the Patrol to learn to serve others.

 

Leadership Development

The patrol is the best place to teach the basics of good leadership and to practice those skills on a regular basis. Whether as a Troop Guide, PL, APL, or as a patrol librarian, scribe, QM, grubmaster, cheermaster etc. This is where good adult leaders spend their time. not in making artificial rules and bylaws to "run" the troop with, but by standing back and observing scouts in action within patrol functions and guiding and mentoring scouts as they develop.

 

Uniform

Patrol pride and a sense of belonging can be enhanced by the proper use of the BSA uniform. It can also be altered within the BSA regulations to reflect the unique character and identity of the patrol.

 

Adult Association

The best way for this to work is to stand back and guide from afar. The more the scouts feel independent the faster they will develop independence.

 

Set good examples as leaders and as people and the patrol will follow. Boys see and absorb far more adult behavior than most adults give them credit for. It is very noticable from some of the posts shared on this board for example that many of the behavior problems that some leaders complain about were in fact modeled for the boys by the leaders themselves.

 

Hope this helps.

 

BW

 

 

[Kahuna]

You've had some good input and I can't add much to it, but I will offer these comments:

 

The Patrol Method is the CORE of everything. All the other parts of the program revolve around it. If you don't make it work, you are wasting your time (well, not altogether, but you get my drift).

 

The best way to improve the patrol method in your troop is a hard one, but quite effective. Find a summer camp where the boys must prepare at least 2 meals a day in their campsite and live by patrols. I've done this twice in my Scouting career and both times it made a patrol method troop out of one which was not. It will be the most miserable week of your life, unless you went to Paris Island for boot camp, but it WILL pay off.

 

The patrol method requires great discipline on the part of the adults. Takes a fine hand to stay out of patrol affairs until murder or mayhem is about to take place. But in the end, it pays off and you can truly be an armchair Scoutmaster (again, not really, but it's closer than you think).

 

Good luck!

[Beavah]

I wouldn't worry too much about the relationship between methods, CNY. Those kinda take care of themselves. Your goal it seems is to build the patrol method in your unit.

 

1) Make sure the patrols are big enough to be viable on all campouts, even when some members don't show.

 

2) Make the patrols mixed-age, so that older boys can serve as mentors/leaders, and so patrol competitions of different kinds can be fair.

 

3) Take Kahuna's advice and blow up your regular summer camp plans. Regular BSA camps with dining halls encourage Personal Growth and individual Advancement, but aren't very good at all on the Patrol Method. Take the boys somewhere where they camp by patrol, cook by patrol, and spend at least half of the day together doing activities by patrol.

 

4) During #3, and more generally, adopt some form of "patrol points" system... kinda like the Harry Potter books. Start posting patrol points. No need to offer prizes. No need for adult commentary. Just post the points. The rest will take care of itself.

 

5) At least once per quarter, every patrol should plan its own campout or trip, without the rest of the troop.

 

6) Use the Adult Association method. Have the adult(s) associated with a patrol get to know the boys interests and strengths, and build on them. Each patrol will then get "really good" at different things based on their interests/strengths, and will develop its own personality and role in the bigger troop. Yeah, the Flaming Tomcats are awesome cooks... they always do the best meals, but the Barney Hunters are the fastest hikers and best at orienteering...

 

7) Bring duct tape to deal with any adult who ever suggests anything like combining patrols for an outing, or planning food as a "whole troop." Leave them taped up in the woods with some honey spread round to attract da bears. Or give 'em to da Flaming Tomcats for a scouter roast.

 

Boston Beavah

[Bob White]

1) Make patrols small enough to be boy lead, follow the program so that scouts attend events. Since that is not within your responsibility as an ASM you may not have much say in this.

 

2) Follow the BSA program. 3 patrol types each with their own age and skill specific program. Since that is not within your responsibility as an ASM you may not have much say in this.

 

3) Go to a long term camp. I prefer jambo style cooking to dining hal but I also understand that meal time is only a small part of the successes that can come from a long term camp experience. Since that is not within your responsibility as an ASM you may not have much say in this.

 

4) The BSA program already has a patrol recognition program called the National Honor Patrol Award. There is no need to create a new wheel when you can use the one we tell the boys about in their handbook.

 

5)Patrols should have their own activities based on their skills and abilities. What they do will be dependent on the individual characteristics of each patrol. Only the Scoutmaster can approve these activities and since that is not within your responsibility as an ASM you may not have much say in this.

 

6) That is not what the adult association method means.

 

7) Cute but impractical and unusable.

 

BW

[Eagledad]

>>It will be the most miserable week of your life, unless you went to Paris Island for boot camp,

[madkins007]

Re: Beavah and Bob White (Hmm, maybe I should be going by Antelope (Loper?)

 

1.) I've seen units make the traditional size (6-8) work, and I've been in a troop where I believe 10-12 would have worked better because of weak attendence (for several reasons). I think the traditional BSA guideline should be followed unless you have a strong reason for change.

 

2.) I've worked with both kinds of troops here as well, and I am far more in favor of mixed patrols (with other options for older Scouts) than in the New Scout Patrol. I feel the older-style mixed patrols better embody Patrol Method in terms of advancement, leadership development, etc. than a New Socut Patrol does- but I have also seen many units have roaring success with NSP's, so again, I think whatever works for your needs (within the guidelines).

 

3.) I don't think I would build my summer camp plans around dining style, although poor food quality is certainly a consideration!

 

4.) While I use the National Patrol Honor Award to encourage a stronger patrol structure, at events I have often used a point system successfully. My system is generally to have a 'pass/fail' cut off point, and any patrol under the line has to stay behind or use personal time to redo things. Top ranked patrols (there are often ties) earn some sort of award- sometimes food, sometimes a flag ribbon, sometimes a totem to wear, etc.

 

 

[Bob White]

Please elaborate on #4 I am not sure what you mean.

[madkins007]

At events we came up (with input from the adult and youth leadership) a checklist for things like camp hygiene, food safety, patrol management, etc.

 

Each item on the list can be ranked with 0, 1, or 2 points, depending on how well it is done (not at all, done OK, done very well). A simple checklist would have done the same thing, but we wanted to recognize extra effort.

 

The total possible score was 40. You had to get over 20 to pass, AND you had to get a 1 on some key issues (camp and food safety issues mostly) to be allowed to proceed to the next event or to have free time, depending on the structure of the camp.

 

We presented and used this as a learning tool, aiming at the reward more than the penalty. We worked with the patrol leader or Scout in charge of a task to help them understand what the expectation is and how to get there, and we tried to give them a chance to correct things on the spot whenever possible.

 

OK, so when we get everyone up above the cut-off point (not hard to do!), we focused on rewarding the extra effort demonstrated. Most of the time, we offered rewards at the 35+ point range- and on most campouts, everyone hit it.

 

Some of the inspection points included things like:

- Patrol cooking gear properly cleaned and stowed

- Patrol food stored properly for sanitation

- Food stored safe from critters

- Patrol job list posted and followed

- Patrol area cleaned up

- Patrol flags displayed in patrol area

- Patrol uniform inspection before assembly

- etc.

 

Some were added for summer camp, others used for camporees, others for other purposes.