Youth Leadership Training - Youth Leader Input

[rpushies]

Fellow Scouts and Scouters,

 

I have taken on a new assignment in my council (Los Padres, #53) that focuses on all the youth leadership training national provides. My job will be to make sure the training happens. I need some help with a web site I am putting together to support my efforts. Now before you start telling me all about youth leadership training, let me explain something. I want the web site to focus on helping boys, youth, Scouts with what they need to be better leaders. What information can I put on the site that will interest youth leaders. It seems most Scouting web sites are focused on adults. I want the site I am developing to focus on the needs of youth leaders.

 

The web site is located at: http://lpcylt.org/ It is not finished but you can get an idea of where I'm headed. I have also started a Yahoo group devoted to youth leadership training that is linked to this site. I especially would like to hear from Scouts and leaders that have good positive input.

 

My new favorite quote is, "Every boy deserves to be trained as a leader." If you can, help me do a better job for our Scouts.

 

Yours Truly in Scouting,

Rick Pushies

Los Padres Council

[Bob White]

Hi Rick,

I think it looks great so far! The next step I think will depend on what you want the purpose of the site to be. Is this to be a training tool in itself, or is it to be an informational site to motivate scouts to attend and to inform of training dates and locations distribute registration forms etc.?

[rpushies]

Hi Bob White,

 

Yes, all the above. But my vision of the site revolves around a support site. One where a Scout (and adults) can go to look up information, find resources, and be directed to other leadership related sites that would be of value to a youth leader.

 

As an example. I plan on taking the PDF file of the unit meeting plan, #34425 and making it into a form that can be filled out on the leader's computer and then printed. This may then end up being used by the senior patrol leader or he may have his troop scribe use the form. It is something that the staff of our National Youth Leadership Training course this summer thought would be worthwhile. I hope to have lots and lots of resource material, BSA forms, program ideas, skits, songs, opening ceremonies, links to places to go, etc. Make it kind of a clearing house of resource information. There is so much information out there, it is hard to sift through it all to find what you want. So I want to bring together leadership related information for youth leaders to use.

 

There is a whole bunch of stuff from the Den Chief's handbook that could be presented this way. The Venturing leadership training is the area where I have the least knowledge. But I'm learning.

 

So I hope this helps explain my vision. I don't know if you went to the Yahoo group. I have started a database of training materials. Most of it is linked to the NYLT course because of my recent experience. But I hope to expand the database to included Cub Scouting (Den Chief) and Venturing information. Sometimes it is hard to find all the national supply numbers for training materials. I know this is more an adult concern, but my youth staff did have an interest in what types of things were available for the NYLT course.

 

 

Yours Truly in Scouting,

Rick

 

[wWw_Dan]

You could get a phpBB forum up relating specifically to the YLT and related courses. Staff on the programs could communicate to one another methods and stuff.

 

Your server would need PHP support and you'd need access to a (preferably) MySQL database.

[rpushies]

Hi wWw Dan,

 

Thanks for the post. The Yahoo groups gives me the ability a bulletin board in php would give for the staff communicate. So I don't need to just thru the hoops of setting up a separate php driven program.

 

I am more interested in what you, wWw Dan as a Senior Patrol Leader, would like to have available to help you in your leadership responsibilities. Are there specific documents you would like posted, more specific information on things like how to delegate effectively, new team building activities, etc. What would you and your other troop leaders like to have available? Give it some thought, kick the topic around and send me some ideas. I like ideas that I can use to help others do good things!

 

Yours Truly in Scouting,

Rick Pushies

[FScouter]

"I plan on taking the PDF file of the unit meeting plan, #34425 and making it into a form that can be filled out on the leader's computer and then printed."

 

I duplicated the form as an Excel spreadsheet. Input the activity description, person responsible, etc. The spreadsheet calculates the start time for each activity based on the meeting start time and # of minutes. I'll e-mail it to anyone that wants a look. Send me a PM.

[Eamonn]

Hi Rick,

Just by way of a change, I'm with Bob White and agree that what you have so far looks great.

As yet I have not seen the new Youth Leadership Training course.

Our Council presented it for the first time this summer. Sadly not many Lads signed up for it.

I tried really hard to get the Scouts and their parents of the Scouts who were attending the Jamboree to visit and use the Jamboree web site. It just didn't happen. Things worked fine if I used handouts or copied the material from the site, but they just wouldn't use it.

Hope you have better luck than I had.

Eamonn.

[rpushies]

Hi Eamonn,

 

Thanks for your post. I find it interesting that our Scouts know so little about using the world wide web. During our National Youth Leadership Training this summer, it became very clear that the staff just did not know that much about how to use the Internet. They can play games, mind you. Several even had difficulty with email. That attaching thing just was really difficult for them. But the Yahoo group I set up for staff communication forced them to improve their skills.

 

The NYLT course is awesome. It is much better than the old JLT with it's 11 skill of leadership that had to be memorized and applied like a cookie cutter. The new course give boys more of chance to think through problems and develop their own solutions. It is powerful stuff. Now that the course if over and I am starting to get feedback from participants, parents and Scoutmasters, I am certain that this new course is a real winner.

 

As for the jamboree, we developed a page on our council web site that was very quickly ignored by many Scouts and parents. That is until Jamboree contingent left on the journey and we started posting pictures of the boys that were being emailed to me. We had one Scout take a napkin and print "Hi Mom!" on it then held it up in front of himself. It just cracked me up! Now that is Scout that knows the importance of effective communication! Then the parents became VERY interested in the web site. They wanted to see their boy. It was a good thing for everyone. Although a few did not understand why I would not put up a picture of their son? I sent them and email and let them know that if they send me a picture I will post it on the site. Never heard back from those parents. One of our photo album pages received well over 2500 hits. This is compared to the normal traffic on our web site of about 100 hits a day.

 

Yours Truly in Scouting,

Rick Pushies

[Eamonn]

Hi Rick,

Talk about not seeing things for what they are!!

I was so busy noticing what didn't work, that I failed to notice what did.

You have hit the nail on the head.

The Parents of the Scouts at the Jamboree did check the web site along with other web sites while their son was at the Jamboree. Some even phoned to let us know who the "Celebrity of the day was!!"

Maybe next time I want people to use a web site I will have to see about adding a photos of the Scouts and making it more Scout /Parent friendly.

While there are a few people in our Council who are very knowledgeable about computers and this "New Fangled" stuff, there are many more who are still trying to understand why homing pigeons come home? Our SE is still very much in the dark ages when it comes to computers and the like. If anything good will come out of the financial crisis that we are now facing, it will be that our Council Newspaper which never comes out when it should and only comes out five or six times a year, with dates that have either been long past or are so far in the future that no one takes any notice, will be replaced with a decent web page. The savings will be substantial.

One big problem that I have with non BSA web sites is that they seem to start off with the right information and then rather than just leaving it be, someone has to add his or her 2 cents. Which might be all well and good if they explained that this was just what they thought or did, but they add it in and some people tend to think just because it was on the web it has to be true.

Hey I like to think that I know a lot about this game and how it is played, but I have posted things here in this forum that I have been wrong about.

I like http://www.greenbar.ws/index.cfm

Maybe because I tend to agree with the thinking behind it? There are some nice charts and things which are useful .

Eamonn.