Scoutmaster Musings

I've had a few scouts ask me about blogging, how does it work, is it fun, does anyone read it, what value does it have, ... and so on.

For the most part, blogging is done by women. That doesn't mean it's a good way to meet girls or that guys will think you're a sissy if you blog. It means that most of the blogs are written by women. Women tend to be more open with thoughts and like to share 'stuff' openly. These blogs are most often public diaries of daily happenings, feelings, and the kind of thing that might have been written in a diary not too many years ago.

When men blog, there is usually a theme or niche for their writing. For example, I mostly write about scouting stuff. Other guys have blogs about electronic gadgets, horses, hunting, business management, stay-at-home dad, pretty much any area of interest where they can write and not get into feelings too much.

That's not to say there aren't guys with "diary" type blogs or women with "tech" blogs. It's just what you will generally see.

The reasons scouts blog are varied. Usually, it is because they feel they have a lot to say about a topic or want an avenue to express their thoughts easily and quickly. Recently, blogs have had a very strong impact on web site ranking and have even become money-making experiments.

Starting a blog is very easy, keeping a blog going can be hard work, especially when you've emptied your head of all the ideas you have on that subject.

To start a blog, you need to decide what you will write about, how it will look, what software you will use, and who you will use for your blog hosting.

Picking your topic to write about is completely up to you. It's better to keep it a broad theme in which you have ongoing interest. Writing about "electric lawnmowers" might be too narrow, but "lawn and garden" gives you more room to expand.

There are many choices for software and hosts to use. Most software packages give you a selection of page layouts and color schemes so it's easy to make your blog look the way you want.

Movable Type is a powerful publishing platform for blogs and Movable Type hosting is available through many companies. Wordpress is another blogging software that is very popular.

I happen to be a web developer and created this site before blogging took off so my blog is "home-grown" and does not use a package. I would not recommend anyone do it this way due to the unnecessary work and lack of features. Just find a host, buy a package, and start sharing your thoughts with the world - it just takes an hour to get started.

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So, they tell me there's a bug going around. You think?!?

I've been out of commission for the past few days and am just now catching up on backlogged emails. Some of them have been interesting, but the one yesterday from someone moving their furniture and expecting me to get some Boy Scouts to help them was the best. :-)

Anyway, today's the first sunny day in awhile so I've got to kick the son outside and mow one more time while I work on my link directory and a few other web site updates.

Scout On

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I sat in on a local Pack's meeting last night so I could hand out brochures for our upcoming troop event to the Webelos den leaders. They inducted some new Tiger Cubs and a Bear into the Pack. What a great time!

The Cubmaster introduced the two cheers they'd be using for the night. Either the "horse cheer" when shed held up a horse or the "rooster cheer" when she held up a rooster. The scouts just loved doing these different cheers and the place was full of activity and just plain fun. It was a very impressive and well-planned meeting.

From the minute I arrived, I noticed there were adults everywhere directing scouts on what to do, where to sit, when to stand, ... and so on. It's so much different being a Scoutmaster where I have to ask permission from the SPL just to make an announcement. :-)

The people that make great Cub Scout leaders won't necessarily make great Boy Scout leaders. It is a huge shift in style that is required from being the ringleader to being a roadie, supporting from the sidelines and helping get things organized.
I've seen in our troop where parents have joined with their son and had a difficult time making the adjustment. The best thing to do is have new adults that want to be involved complete the Scoutmaster Specific training as soon as possible. It's also a good idea for the Scoutmaster to have some sessions for new parents where s/he can explain the differences between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. I do these in April and May each year.

Even though the specific job duties of Cubmasters and Scoutmasters are quite different, they have the same general task of being the one person seen as the adult leader of their unit. They also need to be a good team, working together to ensure the transition of Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Do you know your teammate? You should call him or her tonight and find a time to make a transition plan if you don't have one yet.

Scout On

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We've been exceptionally blessed with nice weather for our campouts this year. (Maybe it's that global warming?) The district Camporee this weekend had clear skies and cool temperature with geese flying over and leaves falling from the trees.
We woke up to frost on Saturday morning but no one complained about being too cold at night. We had a 50% chance of rain Sunday morning, but it never came. The next few months will all be cabin and snow hut camping so the tents will be cleaned and packed until spring. I sure hope no patrol forgets to dry their tents before packing them away!

We had the opportunity to host 10 Webelos from a local pack and have them camp and eat with us. It was funny to see the difference a summer of Boy Scout camping makes on scouts. The Webelos, who were used to adults doing all the 'work', just ran around and then came looking for food when they were hungry. I told them that I only had enough food for the adults so they might want to go ask a patrol if they could help with the meal and eat with them. That took a bit of processing to understand, but they all got something to eat.

The Webelos joined us for our reflection and they all seemed to have had a good time. Hopefully, we'll see them at a troop meeting soon. It would be nice to get a few scouts from a new feeder pack.

I got to use a Sparks Fly flint & steel set to start our morning cooking fire - that was a fun success for me.

Scout On

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We're heading out in a couple hours on the last campout of the year for the troop. The November and December outings have us sleeping in cabins so this will be the last use of tents for awhile.
The weather forecast was practically perfect up until this morning when they changed it to be 50% chance of rain Sunday morning. Grrrr! But, that's our norm - packing up camp in the rain. There's a slight chance it might be snow instead of rain, but not likely.

This is the district Camporee with all troops invited, but only a handful participating. Past camporees have been lackluster and the district is trying hard to get them back in place as an outing not to be missed. But, it's hard to get over bad press, especially when it's passed down from scout to scout year after year.

We'll be hosting a handful of Webelos and their parents so they can meet our troop and experience a camporee. This is exciting because they are from a local pack that we've never even dealt with in the past. The two packs that normally feed us are not attending. So, this is a chance for starting a new relationship and having a good time.

I'll let you know how it went when I get home on Sunday.

Scout On

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A scout leader needs to understand how a team develops so he can effectively direct them and modify his leadership style to guide them.

Typically, a new group gathering to perform a task will evolve from being enthusiastic with a low skill level to being confident with a high skill level. But, as a team evolves, the leader has challenges to lead them through the evolution.

There are four stages of team development that usually occur:

• Forming - Team members are excited to be on the team and enthusiastic about being part of the group. They may have very little idea about what they've gotten into and no skills to perform the required tasks. There tends to be lots of indepent initiatives that don't all work toward the team goal. The leadership style most useful here is Explaining.
• Storming - Team members realize that there is work required of the team and and they need to develop their skills to reach their goals. General enthusiasm drops because skills are not adequate. Conflicting ideas and assumptions need to be addressed to focus the team on a common goal. The leadership style to use now is Demonstrating.
• Norming - The skill level of the members begins to rise through practice and they gain confidence. Their enthusiasm rises as their skills grow. Members reach a common direction and have developed their place in the team. Team trust develops. Use of Guiding works here.
• Performing - With developed skills, the team is capable and getting the job done. They have high enthusiasm again because they know they can do it. The team is interdependent but each member is competent and autonomous. The leader just needs to use Enabling leadership now.

Even teams that reach the Performing stage will revert to earlier stages in reaction to changing circumstances. A new leader may cause Storming or a new project may drop us back to Forming.

In Scouts, these stages of development should be expected after every troop election and whenever a group of scouts is tasked with a project. By including this in your troop leader training and reviewing it when a new team is made, it will help the team progress through the stages quicker and smoother.

Scout On

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Have you thought much about how the up and coming engineers and architects are being taught to work through our highly-discussed energy problems? Sure, we have hybrid automobiles starting to show up and windmills popping up on the prairies, but how mainstream is energy efficiency in the education system?

Well, for at least twenty teams from universities and colleges around the world, energy efficiency is the name of the game. The game is also called the BP Solar Decathlon and this year the event happens Oct. 11-17 in Washington, D.C.

These twenty teams are competing against each other to design, build, and operate completely sustainable individual solar homes. Each entry is judged on 10 criteria including style, innovation and efficiency. They've actually been doing the design and building part already but their houses are being displayed in a solar village for the next week on the National Mall.

The teams this year range from far and wide, including California, Colorado, Kansas, Georgia, Spain, Germany, and Canada.

The Solar Decathlon was initiated by the Department of Energy and first held in 2002. It was then held again in 2005. The first two Solar Decathlons were both won by the University of Colorado Buffalos. Maybe they'll make it a threepeat this year.

The contest is sponsored by BP and is a great showcase for alternate energy possibilities. In not too many years, solar power will no longer be a cool thing to check out - it will be a commodity energy source.

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The Order of the Arrow is putting on a huge service project in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service in the summer of 2008. It is ArrowCorps⁵ and will consist of five separate projects on national forest land across the country with about 1,000 participants at each site.

Visit the official ArrowCorps⁵ site for details about each site and registration information.

The five sites are:

• Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri on June 7-14
• Manti-La Sal National Forest in Utah on June 14-21
• George Washington & Jefferson National Forests in Virginia on June 21-28
• Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California on July 12-19
• Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming on July 26-August 2

Councils should be in the process of setting up contingents now. There are some forms due in November and deposits due in February. The cost for each project is $250 plus whatever your travel costs may be.

The only way to participate is by going through your council - no individual registrations are accepted. Councils and Lodges were sent information just a couple weeks ago so this may be all new to them.

There are patches available for each project site and you can order them at OA Trading Post even if you are not a participant.

ArrowCorps⁵ is open for both youth and adult OA members.

View a promotional video:

• Firefox video
• Internet Explorer video

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Our district holds an Eagle Preview each spring and fall. This is a 2 hour meeting for all Life scouts to hear about the process of earning the Eagle rank. The entire list of steps is covered with emphasis placed on the project requirements and advice about how to proceed.

It's amazing how many people attend this event. When you see all the Life scouts together, it makes an impact about how many people are affected by the Scouting program. The age range is also fun to see - a few 13 year olds and a few 17ers, all working toward the same goal.

I think this is a great service that the district offers. It's not very exciting, but it's good information. I'd recommend you check to see if your district or a neighboring district does this and attend if you can. It's a good refresher for adult volunteers, even if you don't have a Life scout in the family.

Scout On

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I noticed a bunch of news stories on Google about Boy Scout troops doing Haunted Houses for fundraising events. Rather than door-to-door selling of popcorn or wreaths, they get the customers to come to them for a big scare - and pay for the priviledge. I thought Goblin Insurance might also be a good fundraiser - folks pay $5.00 and if they get TPed or any other problems on Halloween, the scouts clean up their yard for them the next day.

I'm just looking for halloween costumes for myself when the goblins come by looking for candy. I've always thought it would be fun to get something really scarey, but I'm afraid I might really creep out a little kid and scar him/her for life. So, it's usually something boring.

Our troop is doing a mock first-aid night at the troop meeting just before halloween. That's about as ghoulish as we're getting this year, but I'm looking forward to the few dozen critters that I know will knock on the door.

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In order to evaluate performance and begin to plan new direction, scouts should use Start, Stop, Continue. Other similar evaluation tools are Thorns & Roses, or Highs & Lows. The difference is that those only present the positive and negative reflection of what we've already done. Start, Stop, Continue looks towards the future to take our results and make a new plan.

• Start - What should we start doing to improve? Any new behaviors, activities, or directions to take? What should we do next to continue getting better? Was there anything we could to that would make things more fun or useful?
• Stop - What are we doing that is preventing us from being as successful as possible? Do we have bad habits or behaviors that we need to stop? What didn't work in this activity? Was there something that made it not fun?
• Continue - How were we successful? What went well that we want to keep doing in the future? What did we enjoy about this activity?

Start, Stop, Continue should can be used to reflect after any activity, campout, meeting, or event. It's a good way to promote continual improvement in the troop or patrol.

Scout On

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In a couple months, you'll start seeing all those business christmas cards by the water fountain at work or pinned to the employee bulletin board. They're a nice way for organizations to touch base at the end of the year and thank clients for a year of business.

I think the same is true for troops and packs. The end of the year is a good time to send a card to every family in the troop, the chartered organization representative, maybe the district executive, and others that have helped make the troop's year a success. Including a newsletter of the year's adventures and accomplishments makes the communication more meaningful. You might even mention the coming year's plans and how the program is growing in both offerings and expenses.

Sending cards to other troops and packs in your community wishing them a successful year to come would also be a nice gesture.

Those cards don't just magically appear. Someone has to plan ahead and order them - right about now. The Gallery Collection is a publisher of greeting cards with a wide selection of styles, one of which should suit the scouts in your troop. They are also holding a design contest which could be a way for one scout to help with college.

The contest prize is a $10,000 scholarship for the best designed greeting card. We have a few scouts that are really into computer graphics and I could see one of them having a chance at winning. The contest is open to high school and college students and the criteria are:
1. Overall aesthetic appeal
2. Quality of execution
3. Creativity and Originality
4. Successful incorporation of design elements
5. Appropriateness for use as a greeting card
6. Attractiveness to The Gallery Collection’s corporate and consumer customers
7. Suitability as a design in the Gallery Collection greeting card line

The official rules and entry are available at their web site.

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