When I served as a camp director I got some complaints about our dining hall steward’s attitude towards Scouts setting or clearing the tables. Scouts rotate the responsibility of serving as a waiter at our camp. They go early to set the table, serve the food during the meal and clear up afterwords. At any […]
Understanding Scouts
I Am Scouting
I’ve seen lot’s of promotional videos – this one is the best by a mile.
Interview With My Bully
If we want to end bullying we need to understand it. Author Steve Almond found the boy that bullied him in eighth grade and asked him why. Their conversation helped me appreciate the complexity of bullying from the unusual point of view; that of the bully; Sean Lynden (the bully): ” One other thing I should mention, there are different kinds […]
What’s your favorite Aha! Moment?
The penny drops, the light comes on, eureka!, discovery, enlightenment, revelation. If we watch carefully Scout leaders sometimes get to witness a marvelous happening; when some part of the world opens up for one of our Scouts. Have you seen this happen? Sometimes it is the sudden realization that they can do something they didn’t […]
14 things to do before you turn 14
In a partnership with Discovery Channel UK the Scouts association published this list of 14 things for young people to do before they are 14: 1. Navigate using a map 2. Climb a tree 3. Make and fly a kite 4. Cook a meal 5. Repair a bike 6. Camp outdoors with your friends 7. Build a den (survival hut?) 8. Put up […]
Kids Need to do Less
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the mother of two adolescent kids and a Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. She’s concerned that we may be killing the skills required for innovation by over-programming our children: … The jam packed, highly structured days of elite children are carefully calculated to create Ivy League-worthy resumes. They reinforce […]
Three Alternatives for Helping Scouts
Seth Godin is a muti-talented entrepreneur, thinker and author. Here’s my edit of his thoughts on three ways to help people (or Scouts) realize their potential: … People can be pushed, but the minute you stop, they stop. If the habit you’ve taught is to achieve in order to avoid getting chewed out, once the […]
Earnest Thompson-Seton and Scouts
Earnest Thompson-Seton first published ‘The Birch Bark Roll’ in 1902. His work in establishing the pre-BSA organization, The Woodcraft Indians, was ultimately woven together with the ideas of Baden Powell and Daniel Carter Beard to form the program of the BSA. More than a century later Seton’s ideas remain relevant to our work as Scouters. […]
The Natural Genius of Children
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. has more than thirty years of teaching experience from the primary through the doctoral level. He has authored many books related to learning and human development. His writing on the natural genius of children is an excellent endorsement of Scouting; Essentially, the real meaning of genius is to “give birth to the joy” that […]
Second Chances
Adolescence is an often difficult, unstable time and adolescents tend towards actions and attitudes that we find upsetting. Recent research points out that much of the chaos of adolescence is owing to a period physical brain development we are only now beginning to understand. One can draw the reasonable conclusion that people in their adolescence […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 1 – Why Scouting?
Why and how does Scouting work? What’s our role? How do we best serve our Scouts? I’ll discuss my answers in this first edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast. You can also listen to a story about the first (and last) appearance of the “fire Snake”, instructional methods for Scouts, and some ideas about coaches and […]
Be an Adult, and Be Kind
How do we maintain discipline, require accountability and promote responsibility without resorting to shame or allowing our anger to take over. My answer is twofold – be an adult and be kind. Scouters are supposed to be exemplary adults. We are to bring our experience and compassion to bear on the lives of our Scouts […]
Zero Tolerance, Zero Responsibility
Two Scout-related stories of the application of zero tolerance policies (here and here) have been making the rounds of late so I am taking the opportunity to comment on the concept of zero tolerance. ‘Zero tolerance’ became a familiar term in the 1990’s as an outgrowth of a belief that the inflexible enforcement of minor […]
Amok Time
Scoutmasters see a lot of adolescent angst in our role as Scouters and parents. We need all the help we can get You may recall the episode of the original Star Trek series entitled ‘Amok Time’. It occurs to me that the story line has interesting parallels to how boys experience adolescence. Spock’s behavior has […]
Teaching is Listening, Learning is Talking
Teaching is listening, learning is talking. This wonderful rule of thumb, from the educator and writer, Deborah Meier, reminds us that real learning comes, in large part, from being actively involved in the educational moment. Experiential educators have long known this and frequently advocate for teaching that involves the learner and does not, as Paulo […]
Study Shows Nature Walks Alleiviate ADHD Symptoms
This article from the New York Times reports that children with ADHD benefited from short walks in natural settings. I wonder if there are even greater benefits to a weekend in the woods? A small study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign looked at how the environment influenced a child’s concentration skills. The […]
Einstein The Beast of Prey and Inquiry
IT IS, IN FACT, NOTHING short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake […]
More Troop Rules = More Enforcement
The more rules you have in the classroom, the more time you’ll spend enforcing them. Cookie Ohlson, teacher, Prospect Park Middle School, Pennsylvania Scouters can be tempted to make troop rules, the kind of rules that end with Scouts looking for and exploiting flaws in the rule making like so many lawyers. It’s not too long before the tipping point […]
Process Intelligence
Gather wood, prepare tinder, kindling and fuel. Strike a match (maybe two) and we make fire. Preparing, building, lighting and maintaining a fire involves interdependent skills, knowledge and actions that constitute a process. Comprehending and executing a process requires process intelligence. Process intelligence is a combination of experience, vision, persistence and inspiration; all fundamental leadership […]
Neutralizing “Bad Apple” Behavior
Almost all of us have either had the personal experience of working with someone who displayed bad apple behaviors … When this process starts to unfold at work, it consumes inordinate amounts of time, psychological resources, and emotional energy. … such circumstances underlie many people’s reluctance to fully commit to teams… they offend us, reduce our […]
Social and Emotional Development in Scouting
From an emotion development article at Edutopia: Social and emotional learning can help students successfully resolve conflict, communicate clearly, solve problems, and much more. Whether it’s in the boardroom or the classroom, individuals need the skills to communicate, work in teams, and let go of the personal and family issues that get in the way […]
The Benefits of Benign Neglect
It may be that the most difficult thing to get about Scouting is figuring out what it isn’t. It is not a boys club, a baby sitting service, an academic system, an ideology, or a program of activities. The Scouting movement was born as a simple response to the inherent need of boys to have […]
Teenage Angst
Angst, German for fear or anxiety, is used In English when we speak of intense emotional strife. Wikipedia says; ‘The word Angst has existed since the 8th century, coming from the base-Indoeuropean *anghu-, “restraint” from which Old High German angust develops. It is pre-cognate with the Latin angustia, “tensity, tightness” and angor, “choking, clogging”; compare […]
Bullying, Bullies and the Bullied
Amanda Baggs is an autistic adult who has very eloquently opened the door to her life at Ballstexistenz writes; When I was very young, I didn’t perceive the world the same way other people do, but I did not have a terror of people. My terror of people emerged as bullying got worse and worse. The thing I […]
