Keeping a Scoutmaster's Log

A couple of years ago on a Venture Canoe trip one of my fellow leaders kept a detailed log of the outing.

Every evening he recorded each participant’s most memorable moment of the day, notes on gear, conditions and possible improvements to our preparations, and a running commentary of the trip. At first I thought this was a little overblown, but it soon became something the crew honestly looked forward to and thought about. His log became a valuable record of our trip and a very important resource for future trips.

I adopted this practice for all of our outings and now maintain a Scoutmasters Log. Now our Patrols keep logs of their outings and this contributes to memory, preparations, and creates an opportunity for awareness on the part of the Scouts. The patrol log is a simple composition book with the following pasted inside the front cover: Patrol Log Date and title each entry Record the following On Outings - Date Outing Location List of Patrol Members in attendance What we did today Most memorable moments Notes on: Preparations; what worked, what didn’t. Gear; repairs needed, things we would bring next time. At Patrol Meetings; Date List of patrol members in attendance What we accomplished What we need to do next