Topic
What it takes to lead a troop week after week. Scoutmasters and assistant Scoutmasters wrote openly about vision, patience, mentoring youth leaders and the occasional rainy campout.
200 posts · 2007–2020
22 posts
The more things change the more they stay the same… I am referring to the new Advancement guide of the BSA. You can download now at the Scouting.org or here is a direct link GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT 2011 . In it you will find much of the same policies and practices that have governed the advancement…
Here's some of the books that have helped me as a Scout leader and outdoorsman. This collection has helped me learn practical skills, history, outdoor lore, the Scouting program and provided inspiration for many years. Wildwoods Wisdom Ellsworth Jaeger was an educator, author and curator.
It is not a secret. Some Boy Scouts get nervous when it is time to do a scoutmaster conference for a rank. As a scoutmaster I do my best to put the Scout at ease and we usually get through it without a problem.
The Junior Assistant Scoutmaster is a youth member of a Boy Scout troop who serves in the capacity of an Assistant Scoutmaster except where legal age and maturity are required. He must be at least 16 years old and not yet 18.
Welcome Back! In this show you will listen in on a class I taught at our Councils Program and Training Conference. This class is on the Scoutmaster Conference. I used the National Supplemental training on the subject and if you would like to follow along with the slides from the class you can download them…
Welcome Back! In this show you will listen in on a class I taught at our Councils Program and Training Conference. This class is on the Scoutmaster Conference. I used the National Supplemental training on the subject and if you would like to follow along with the slides from the class you can download them…
IN THIS PODCAST Scoutmaster panel discussion; three new documents from the B.S.A. Phone-in question: "Where does the Scoutmaster's responsibilities end and the Committee's responsibilities begin? LINKS Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops Guide to Advancement 2011 Evaluating Positions of Responsibility New Eagle Project Workbook Walter's post ‘Changes to the Eagle Process' Troop Committee Challenge online…
EDITORS NOTE: This is an excellent example of carpe minutea or ‘seizing the minute' from contributor Larry Gieger . It also gives us all a look into the thought processes and keen observational skills of a veteran Scouter. What are you seeing when you are out camping with your Scouts?
The Scoutmaster's minute is a tradition for sharing a thought or idea at every troop meeting. There are books and websites replete with lots and lots of minutes ( here's mine ) but I have never really used them all that much.
The troop committee was called to a local restaurant for a special meeting on September 13th. As the troop's assistant scoutmaster I was invited to attend. So was the district executive. The scoutmaster was not informed of the meeting. The troop had a problem.
Our Court of Honor was last Sunday and we honored many Scouts and Scouters and at one point we honored a 8+ volunteer who is leaving the Troop and I said some words about her...I got some feedback from many in the Troop about it...so here it is as best as I can remember it…
The three rules of Scouting leadership are simple: delegate delegate delegate I'm a Scoutmaster so I concentrate on the work I am supposed to be doing. I don't do these jobs: Outdoor Coordinator – he takes care of ALL camping trip logistics, phone calls, online reservations to support the annual plan that the Scouts prepared.
Monday night I had the pleasure of sitting down with a young man and talking with him about his up coming Eagle Board of Review. The Scoutmaster conference went well.. but then again, shouldn't it? After all this is his seventh conference, he has completed all the work and at seventeen years old, the Scout…
Funny how time fly's when you're having fun. This week has been an amazing week of Scouting and thus, I have not been on the computer much at all. The Outdoor channel is currently filming Scouts from my Troop on an amazing adventure for the series Scouting for Adventure .
The following is the speech I gave at my son's Eagle Court of Honor this weekend. As much as I can remember preparing it. The delivered version many have differed slightly as I was suffering from 'allergies' and my eyes might have watered up....
Interview with Mark Ray; author of the Scoutmaster's Other Handbook and The Eagle Court of Honor Book. The Scoutmaster's Other Handbook on Amazon The Eagle Court of Honor Book on Amazon Mark Ray's Website Eagle Court of Honor Backdater Mark's Parenting and Scouting in free PDF format Subscribe to the Scoutmaster Newsletter Call and leave…
A young man sits across from you at a table, he is new to the Troop and seeking that first badge.. the Scout Badge. He sheepishly asked for a Scoutmaster conference, and now he is stepping off on the Trail to Eagle.
Scouters offer a wide range of opinions about term limits. (Photo by Flickr user Tamás Mészáros) Scoutmasters in Troop 1776 serve for three years and then step down. As a Scout growing up in 1776, I assumed that every troop did it that way.
Click to view slideshow. When assistant Scoutmaster Matt Testerman heard that in 2009 his troop visited West Point, he formed a plan. You see, Testerman is a graduate of a different service academy, Annapolis, the U.S. Naval Academy. And in the spirit of the Army-Navy rivarly, he wanted to take the guys of Troop 336…
The position of the Junior Assistant Scoutmaster is one that I find debated frequently. The debate ranges from what rank he needs to be to the age he needs to be and then as to what his job is within the Troop.
Last night I participated in a Scoutmaster Conference for a new Scout. It was obviously his first Scoutmaster Conference as a Boy Scout and he was trying to earn his Scout Badge. Here is why I am posting this... The excitement that he had was over the top and its not just him, but I…
It's traditional in Boy Scouts that the Troop meeting be closed by the Scoutmaster with a Scoutmaster's minute. This is something our Scoutmaster used to do all the time (he told me so) but as the years went on it seems to have fallen out of practice. Last night we brought the tradition back. Before
