Training
Teaching the Scouting Way
As ever, Clarke Green brings us another lesson from Lord Baden-Powell’s writings. This time a wonderful lesson in how to teach without a lesson plan.
B-P makes some comments on the type of volunteers he seeks in scouters. He then starts talking about an impressive schoolmaster (note the term’s similarity to “scoutmaster”):
Yesterday I was talking with our village schoolmaster, a true educationist, by the way. He was explaining some of his methods which had rather raised the hair of an old-time school inspector, but which, in principle, are much in accord with our methods in Scout training.
Take one of his cases as an example. A girl was hopeless at arithmetic, so he had a talk with her, and asked her which of the school subjects she liked best. “Oh, cooking.” And which she liked least. “Arithmetic.”
“Well,”– very confidentially– “don’t tell anyone, but it is just the same with me. I don’t like arithmetic, either. And now, talking of cooking, how would it be if instead of the arithmetic lesson today you cooked a tea for two, with some good scones and a cake, and we can have it together. You order the necessary ingredients, but don’t make it too expensive.” This idea she joyfully carried out. The following day he said– “That tea was a huge success. Can you manage to cook another, on a larger scale, say for five, to which we can ask some pals?” It was duly and enthusiastically done.
The result was that in working out her quantities, prices, etc., the girl had all unconsciously had her arithmetic lesson. Interested in her job, and proud of being trusted with the responsibility put upon her, she was not only learning arithmetic but was realising its practical use at the same time.
It is on this same principle that the Scoutmaster, through the medium of Scouting items which interest the boy, inculcates such qualities as he wants. He educates the boy by encouraging his self — expression instead of disciplining him by police methods of repression.
Too many times, I see scoutmasters that wish to offer classes or push Merit Badge Universities. I teach at such classes. Even so, I try to emphasize the role of the boy in talking. I try to ask questions so that the boys become the lecturers. When I teach on different types of countries, their governments, and economies, the boys talk about their previously researched countries. I ask questions to encourage them to compare the different governments.
But what lessons can we teach our scouts that are more like the schoolmaster in B-P’s story?
Problems accessing online Troop Committee Challenge?
Since the BSA is migrating its online training to a new vendor, following the old web links land you on the new training vendor’s BSA LearnCenter.
BSA LearnCenter, the online component of Scouting U, is fully operational for Cub Scout leaders. 
It is not operational for scout or venturing leaders and will not be into 2016.
According to Crossroads of America Council Training Director Jay Soucy, scouters seeking online training for scouts and venturing can still access the legacy online courses. They will need to use their my.scouting.org account to do it.
- Log into my.scouting.org.
- Click “Home” in the upper lefthand corner.
- On the menu that appears, click “My Dashboard.” You should land on “My Training.”
- In the center of the title bar for the Dashboard, click “Requirements.”
- For any position you hold and that online training is available and needed, you can click on “Take Course” to start the online training.
We hope this removes some confusion during this transition period.
Report from 2015 Fall Camporee
We survived the Zombie Apocalypse!
Thank you to District Camporee Chair Stu Bowes for a warmly received and joyful Camporee. We heard many rave reviews. The weather was delightful (especially given fresh memories of the Spring Camporee’s deluge).
We were warned about the coming Zombie Apocalypse by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
We even had Troop 358 do a solid rendition of Heywood Bank’s Famous “Toast!”
Our Assistant Camporee Chair Rick Akers broke out his stage make up to dress the victims to make the drill even more realistic.
We 18 adults trained in matters ranging from Youth Protection Training, Chartered Org Rep Training, District Committee Training.
Most importantly for training, the District would like to thank Troop 73’s Scoutmaster Vince Hernly and Troop 56’s Committee Chair Sandy McNutt for serving as lead instructors, respectively, for Scoutmaster Specific Training and Troop Committee Challenge. Thank you, too, to Troop 56’s Assistant Scoutmaster Don Bievenour for assisting Vince with the Scoutmaster Specific Training.
We have heard many thanks from scouters for reviving training at Camporee’s. Look for more in the future, including Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (and Crews?) targeted at current and future Senior Patrol Leaders.
Online Training Modules: Tips & Tricks
As part of Rechartering season, North Star District is making a hard push to move the District to 100% Trained.
For online training, this is easy. Login at the newer my.scouting.org (not the older myscouting.scouting.org). If you have never used the website, try to login with your user name and password from the older site. It may ask you to register. That is fine. When registration is done, it may take as long as 30 minutes for the websites to port your information from the older site to the newer site. The best idea is try to login & register then walk away for a meal or other activity. When you come back, try to log in.
Please do not try to register multiple times. Each time it registers a new user, it generates a new BSA Membership ID Number. If you have more than one number associated with your name, it will cause the ScoutNet database to function incorrectly. Just be patient after the first login. This patience pays off.
For Cub Scout leaders, all of their basic training is online, albeit with a new website.
For Scout leaders, many are online. Scoutmasters primarily have required in-person classes. (Chartered Org Rep training is primarily in-person, too, but Crossroads Council does have some online options. See the website’s training page for more information.)
All scouting programs are moving to increased online training, too, over the next year.
I have heard several reports in the past month about problems with the new training system. Many of these problems relate to the system relying on Adobe’s Flash software. If you have not recently updated your Flash software, this will prevent the online training from occurring. Do the update first.
Similarly, I have heard that the scouting training had many problems in the past month. I have just tested several scouting training classes online. I had no problems. However, I know that my Flash software is up-to-date.
Please make sure that your Pack and Troop Committee Members take the Committee Challenge for their program before rechartering.
Camporee: Friday night live YPT
We will be offering a live YPT session Friday night. All scout leaders are welcome to attend, even if their unit is not participating in Camporee (such as Cub Scout Packs).
Check in will be at the Scout Cabin north of the football filed at the Indiana School for the Blind, on northeast corner of 75th and College Ave, a mile north of Broad Ripple.
Please register to make sure we have sufficient space for interested persons.
Encourage all scout leaders attending Camporee and having their YPT expiring before March 1, 2016 to attend.
Camporee: 4 Days – RSVPs
Camporee opens this Friday evening. Please make sure that you get your RSVPs in for attendance at the Camporee generally and the adult education, especially Scoutmaster specific training.
Committee Chairs and Chartered Organization Representatives can help this by taking head counts, especially of adults attending training. Putting it on the district reservation system is helpful.
Some of the classes require handouts and small group work, so we need head counts to assist in planning. Walk-ins will be accepted but we are begging for estimates from troops.
How to train youth leaders
Troops and crews often face problems of teaching youth how to become leaders. Some scoutmasters rely on resources like scoutmasterCG.com. Some rely on official BSA training courses.
The unofficial resources do a good job of giving a fresh perspective of the problems that you run into with youth training. They tend to focus on training within the troop. The emphasis is on informality, effectiveness, practicality, and fun.
The official resources allow youth to continue to follow official BSA training continuum. Most important part of the BSA training regimen is the ability for senior youth leaders to have an opportunity to learn with their peers. Senior patrol leaders have an opportunity to go learn with and from other senior patrol leaders. The emphasis is a broader understanding of the BSA program.
The BSA youth leadership training continuum begins with Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops. This should be taught by council. Once a senior patrol leader has taken the course, he is expected to offer the course at his own troop. The preferred time for the training is immediately before the new youth elections. This allows the new candidates to better understand the positions they are looking to take on. This course is required, in theory, before a scout moves on to National Youth Leadership Training. Locally we refer to this as White Stag. This takes place in two sessions in June and July at Camp Redwing. Graduates can then become camp staffers in following years.
Graduates of White Stag then can pursue training at Philmont, and the other national centers, called National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience. Here they will put NYLT lessons to use.
Are your youth leaders looking to have leadership challenges beyond this? Look into the Kodiak Challenge. It can be offered at the unit, district, or council level, with Council’s Training Department approval.
You want to keep your older scouts engaged? Promote this leadership training continuum and watch how boys refuse to leave scouting.
Camporee: Final Checklist
UPDATE 10/8/15 at 10:05 AM: Retitled.
As of Monday, September 28, 2015, we had 12 days until the Fall Camporee! [As of October 8th, we are down to one day!]
Make sure that your troop has kept up-to-date on their task list:
- confirmed your reservation with District Camporee Chair Stu Bowes, including a headcount;
- communicated the event that your Troop plans on offering during the Camporee (and considered whether one or two Firecrafter or OA members could run the event rather than an adult, to better serve the Aims of Scouting), including some troop meeting dry runs;
- considered your Troop’s contribution to the Friday night campfire, including some troop meeting rehearsals;
- identified your scouters who are eligible for receiving the North Star Red Cap;
- reviewed the criteria for the coveted Willy Award with your Senior Patrol Leader (or the acting Senior Patrol Leader for the Camporee) and determine what the patrols’ contribution to your campsite theme will be;
- reviewed the criteria for the new Commissioner’s Awards with your Senior Patrol Leader (or acting SPL) and determine how it will affect your patrols’ preparations for the Camporee;
- contacted your scouters who have received their Wood Badge or current candidates to advise them that District Chair Steve James is interested in rebuilding the District’s Wood Badge Association known as the “Willy Gillies,” and there will likely be a discussion at or after Cracker Barrel on Saturday night about the Willy Gillies;
- talked to your newer or untrained scouters (whether they are camping out or not) about the long list of trainings that will be offered at Camporee that will be necessary for Rechartering, including
- Youth Protection Training – Friday night
- District Committee Training – Saturday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
- Troop Committee Challenge – Saturday 9:00 am to 11:30 am
- Training the Chartered Organization Representative – Saturday 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
- Scoutmaster-Specific Training – Saturday for 4 hours (2 segments: 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm and 6:00 to 8:00 pm).
This will be a busy and wonderful Camporee. With the theme being interesting to the boys and amount of training offered, we will likely need an unusually high number of adults present to be able to run the programs and serve the boys simultaneously.
In any case, we look forward to the camaraderie of scouting in North Star!
Camporee: Scoutmaster Specific Training (for ASM’s, too!)
North Star District Training Subcommittee and the Commissioner’s Service is happy to announce that we have confirmed that we will be offering Scoutmaster Specific Training on Saturday, October 10, 2015 by Troop 73 (St Paul’s Episcopal) Scoutmaster Vince Hernly.
Vince is an experienced scoutmaster, teacher, and outdoorsman. He received his Wood Badge in 2011. He has been on Council’s beloved Voyageur (canoeing training) staff at Camp Belzer for a number of years and is a regular visitor to the Boundary Waters and other interesting outdoor locales. He teaches karate as part of his professional life.
Due to conflicting Camporee events and trainings, Vince will be teaching this 4-hour class in two 2-hour segments. He will offer the first segment from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. The second segment will be from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (which will conflict with the dinner time, so plan accordingly by eating early or bringing a brown bag). I will join him to team teach the evening segment.
Please bring notebook paper and writing utensil.
Old Scoutmasters Handbook or new Troop Leader Guidebook or both. SMs & ASMs should seriously consider owning their own copy of at least one of these. The new book is in two volumes and only volume 1 is available at this time.
If you have one, a copy of each of the following:
- Boy Scout Manual (Appendix available in PDF)
- Program features (old or new) (Available in PDF)
- Guide to advancement (Available in PDF)
- Troop Committee Guidebook (Available in PDF)
Please let your assistant scoutmasters know that this training is being offered so that they can get it on their schedule.
For assistant scoutmasters who need the Introduction to Outdoor Leadership skills, this will not be offered by North Star that day; however, Del-Mi will be offering OLS the same day at Camp Krichtenstein. OLS will then be offered at University of Scouting in January 2016 and by Del-Mi at each of its next Camporees. (North Star is considering offering it at Winter Camporee, too, if sufficient interest exists.)
Training Offered at Camporee
North Star District will be offering several training sessions at the Fall Camporee.
- District Committee Training will be offered Saturday morning. Tentative start time 9:00 am. This class is required to be certified as “Trained” as a District Committee Member. Very few of our District Committee have this training. There will be break out sessions for the various subcommittees. This training is open to all current District Committee members and any persons interested in serving on District Committee in the future.
- Train the Chartered Organization Representative will be offered in Saturday afternoon. Tentative start time is 1:00 pm (subject to change due to conflicts with camporee schedule). This is different than the online Fast Start Chartered Organization Representative Training. This training is available online but only from the Crossroads of America Council’s website. Please encourage your Chartered Organization Representative to take this particular training session since it will be a reason for the Chartered Organization Representative to see your troop in action and participate in the camaraderie at a camporee, just down the street from home — for many of us.
- Live Youth Protection Training will be offered on Friday evening (approximately 8:30 pm) before Scoutmaster and SPL General Meeting and again after dinner on Saturday, if demand warrants.
- Under consideration: Troop Committee Challenge may be offered during Saturday morning if I can recruit an instructor. Volunteers may contact Jeff Heck. This is a required training for troop committee members and will be required to recharter. This training is offered online, too, and would take less time. However, like the Chartered Organization Representative, this is an opportunity for witnessing your troop in action and participating in the camaraderie at a camporee.
Since the Camporee will be at the Blind School, scouters who will not be able to camp out with us should feel free to stop in and participate in the training sessions.
Please make sure to sign up for the sessions so that we can plan for the appropriate number of handouts. Walk-ins will be gladly accepted but may not have handouts.
Several of these trainings are required for rechartering, so encourage your scouters to attend.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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