Information, Observation, and Inspiration for Scouters
Former president Bill Clinton has acquired the title of “Explainer-in-Chief” recently, for his talks and speeches clarifying the current administration’s actions and policies. Mr. Clinton has the ability to relate complex subjects in a manner that can speak to a large audience.
Regardless of how you may personally feel about Mr. Clinton and his messages, there is much to take away from his style of presentation. Continue reading “Put passion in your presentation”
The game of Scouting that we play is indeed a game. We hope that our boys are having fun, and one of the best ways to have fun is to play a game. William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt was the first to describe Scouting as a game with a purpose.
Most games we play have winning as the desired outcome. In order to determine a winner, a metric is needed: the score. Indeed, virtually every game – from sports to darts to cards – has a means of scoring the outcome. The football coach Vince Lombardi was the one who famously pondered:
If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep the score?
The boys playing the game enjoy keeping track of how they’re doing, whether they are playing a sports contest, engaged in a robotics or debate competition, or playing the game of Scouting. Continue reading “Why keep score?”
I’m truly fortunate to have so many readers and followers here on Bobwhite Blather. I get a little kick out of seeing visitor statistics, a new follower on Twitter or a subscriber to the e-mail list. It’s good to know that my fellow Scouters are finding value in what they find here, and keep coming back.
There are many other Scouters who write for the world-wide web. You’ve probably discovered that you can find a lot of information on almost every conceivable Scouting topic.
But how can you tell which ones follow the first point of the Scout Law – trustworthy?
As our disclaimer reads, this blog isn’t to be construed as official information. That can come only from the Boy Scouts of America directly, and their several websites (chiefly scouting.org) provide the canonical reference on all things Scouting.
But many others are reliable sources, interpreting Scouting in line with official policy and traditional methods, and critical of those who would reinvent Scouting to advance their own ideas of what it’s all about. Continue reading “Follow my friends”
It’s the time of year when we look back on our past experiences and accomplishments over the previous twelve months and make resolutions on what we’re going to change and improve in the year ahead.
In Scouting, sometimes our new year’s resolutions arise out of our unit’s performance on our annual Journey to Excellence evaluation. JTE makes it easy to see where we’re doing well and lacking, and can give us some impetus to make changes. (Next year’s evaluation form should make it easier to tell how we’re doing.)
One of the key areas that many units can improve on is leader training. Continue reading “Why aren’t your leaders trained?”
Time for answers to a couple more of your questions.
Why do we recharter in December?
Fall is the time that we recruit for Cub Scouting. Many troops and crews recruit new members in the fall as well. So with all these applications coming in, and with our packs renewing their members for the coming Scouting year, I have been asked why we don’t just renew our charters in September and get it over with, rather than having to go through the roster audit process a few months later.
As a practical matter, that may seem to make sense. Continue reading “Q&A: Why recharter in December; extending youth registration”