Skill Instruction

How do you share knowledge or skills with more than one person? If it’s just three or four people we get them together and tell them. Easy, right? What if it’s ten or twenty people? How about thirty? When numbers grow we start thinking in terms of economy. The classroom is an economical model of instruction, we are all familiar with classrooms, so we’ll probably employ that model. We stand in front, our students to sit still, pay attention, and we teach, we evaluate the knowledge we have shared with assignments and tests....

Scouts endure demands for their attention. In a classroom we listen for things that sound like they’ll be on the test, and strain out the rest. If someone asks a question everyone groans, because that makes the lesson longer. We learn not to interrupt, to run out the hour, and let the teacher talk. When it’s “time for instruction” do your Scouts switch into classroom mode and start looking for chairs?...

What are Scouting Skills? Can you throw some things in a pack, step off the road into the woods and live comfortably for a few days without getting lost? Can you build a fire, lash a tripod together, set up a shelter, cook your food, stay warm and dry and leave no trace of your presence when you leave? If the answer is yes then you possess what I would call some basic ‘Scouting Skills’....

Third in a series of articles about the four steps to Scout Advancement. (Click on the titles above to read the articles) … the standard of proficiency is purposely left undefined. Our standard for Badge earning is not the attainment of a certain level of quality of knowledge or skill, but the AMOUNT OF EFFORT THE BOY HAS PUT INTO ACQUIRE SUCH KNOWLEDGE OR SKILL. If he is a trier, no matter how clumsy, his examiner can accord him his Badge, and this generally inspires the boy to go on trying till he wins further Badges and becomes normally capable....

Second in a series of articles about the four steps to Scout Advancement. Articles will be published each Tuesday beginning November 20, 2012 “… It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy spirit 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....

Scouts and whittling evokes a vivid boyhood memory of sitting on the back porch steps whittling a green stick with a steak knife purloined from my mother’s kitchen. Since then I have always had one kind of pocket knife or another and whittled when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes it’s nothing more than reducing a stick to a pile of chips, sometimes it’s carefully shaping the links of a chain out of a single piece of wood....

Scoutmaster Podcast 5 In This Podcast Webelos Den Leader to Scoutmaster [2:47] Hiking story [10:01] 5th in the series Instructional Methods for Scouts [14:17] Scoutmaster Minute; Founder’s Day [21:21] Podcast Notes Ask AndyDownload Instructional Methods for Scouts.pdf (65.6K) Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Scoutmaster Podcast 4 In This Podcast Merit Badge Quality [1:58] Humor – Bevis & Butthead [9:04] 4th in the series Instructional Methods for Scouts [14:38] Scoutmaster Minute; A Scout is Trustworthy [22:02] Podcast Notes Download Instructional Methods for Scouts.pdf (65.6K) Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Scoutmaster Podcast 3 Centenary Observance In This Podcast Centenary Observance [2:58] An Approach to Policy [9:51] 3rd in the series Instructional Methods for Scouts [19:28] Scoutmaster Minute; A Hot Mess [25:49] Podcast Notes The DumpInstructional Methods for Scouts PDF file Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Scoutmaster Podcast 2 Make the Most of Being a Scouter In This Podcast 5 Things to Make the Most of Your Opportunity as a Scout Leader [1:10] Humor – Father Fred [7:34] 2nd in the series Instructional Methods for Scouts [10:04] Scoutmaster Minute; Cliff Young [15:17] Podcast Notes Download Instructional Methods for Scouts.pdf (65.6K) Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 players in Scouting. In This Podcast Bald Eagle [0:25] Why Scouting? [1:10] This Has Got To Be True -The Fire Snake [6:38]...

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 Freire famously described, treat students as empty “banks” in which to deposit information… One of the most respected scientific journals, Science, recently (and without much media attention), published a study that, in its simplicity, is astounding in terms of its significance....

In his essay The Impending Demise of the University Don Tapscott defines linear learning; In the industrial model of student mass production, the teacher is the broadcaster. A broadcast is by definition the transmission of information from transmitter to receiver in a one-way, linear fashion. The teacher is the transmitter and student is a receptor in the learning process. The formula goes like this: “I’m a professor and I have knowledge....

Scouting’s vitality springs from experiential, hands-on experience rather than academic abstraction. Scouts actually do things rather than study how they are done. As an artist and tradesman I have had a long acquaintance with the benefits of working with your hands. I haven’t any formal education past high school and have had to find my own way. One of the things I most value about Scouting is the emphasis on learning by doing....

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 to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty....

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 skills. Experience – Confidence when covering familiar ground or in inventing solutions when in unknown waters....

Making realistic wounds for first aid instruction is great fun. Here’s a set of instructions that will give you professional and reusable results. LINK via MAKE Texas Troop 502 has a great page with instructions on how to do first aid moulage – Lectures are boring. Providing a complete picture of an accident scene improves the Scout’s ability to learn First Aid, and by associating the accident to the situation teaches safety and prevention....

The skill team approach lends itself to the dual goals of instructing Scouts and training instructors. As an example here is an application of the method in familiarizing Scouts with ten native plants for the First Class requirement #6: First gather and identify ten plant samples (leaves, flowers, seeds, etc). Select a group of Scouts (in this example they are First Class or above) to serve as instructors. Each instructor learns one, two or three of the samples according to the number of instructors and samples....

The basis of developing instructional methods for Scouts begins by determining who instructs. If adults are doing all the instruction they are denying their Scouts the opportunity to develop some important skills. Our role is to empower our youth leadership to instruct by training them in the methods of Scout instruction. All of the skills and methods discussed here can be applied to instructing the methods themselves. Gather your youth leadership together and use these methods to train them in Scout Instruction....

Good instruction is based on good instructional methods for Scouts and the preparation by of instructor. Instructors should begin with a clear goal, a thorough understanding of the subject and the resolve to keep the session active, focused and brief. An instructor with a plan can always adjust to discoveries made during the session. Without a plan we are likely to digress, drift, yield to distractions and generally loose our way towards the goal of the session....