1. Course Connections 1

2. Tell participants: Some people think a course is like a carton of eggs
Tell participants: Some people think a course is like a carton of eggs. The sessions seem to be individual units with no real connections to each other.
Take one out, and the others aren’t even jostled. 2

3. Tell participants: And with a carton of eggs, the end result—an empty carton—is the same, whether you take them out in random order . . . 3

4. 4 Tell participants: Or in an orderly manner.
The end result is the same—an empty carton of eggs.
But the Wood Badge course is not that way—it is organized by the adult learning theory presented in Trainer’s Development Conference. Some of the Wood Badge sessions are learning sessions, and some are applications of learning. The sessions build onto one another—all of the elements are linked. 4

5. Adult Learning Cycle Experience Process Generalize Apply
Connective elements
On their own or debrief
Learning session
Overnight and ticket
Tell participants: Educational theorist David Kolb says that adults learn in a cyclical fashion. They come to any experience with some background, either from their past or by some provided experience. They have the experience and then they process it. They take in new information about the experience—especially if it is offered to them in session—and then they formulate a hypothesis about how they should handle a similar experience the next time.
Experience—past or provided experience
Process—reactions, feelings and affects of experience
Generalize—identify general trends and truths—draw conclusions
Apply—try out new conclusion
Knowing that, the Wood Badge course is scheduled to provide the maximum educational potential.
In order to be sure that all participants have some experience, an experience is provided for them during one of the connective elements, like one of the games. They process their feelings on their own or during the debrief of the experience. The learning session soon follows—although it is not always immediate. There is a follow-up experience to reinforce the learning, and then the participant has an opportunity to apply the learning again during the second half of the course and during the ticket completion phase. 5

6. Wood Badge Learning Sessions
Day One: Listening to Learn; Values, Mission, and Vision
Day Two: Inclusiveness; Stages of Team Development;
Communication; Project Planning; Rockets
Day Three: The Leading EDGETM/The Teaching EDGETM;
October Sky
Day Four: Leading Change; Valuing People and Leveraging
Diversity; Problem Solving and Decision Making;
Managing Conflict
Day Five: Coaching and Mentoring; Self-Assessment
Day Six: Interfaith Worship Service; Leaving a Legacy;
Summary Session 6

7. Day One Course Overview Listening to Learn
Blue and Gold Banquet—Opening Luncheon
Troop Meeting 1
Patrol Leaders’ Council Meeting
Values, Mission, and Vision
Tell participants: The Course Overview is the experience that leads into Listening to Learn. Values, Mission, and Vision; Troop Meeting 1; and the Opening Luncheon are the participants’ first exposure to values in the course. The Who-Me Game is one of the follow-up activities. The Opening Luncheon and the PLC are other examples. The campfire that evening is a follow-up of all the value sessions on Day One. The Game of Life (Day Two) will give them an opportunity to test themselves.
Patrol Meeting
Who-Me Game
Instructional Campfire 7

8. Day Two Troop Meeting 2 Front-End Alignment Game Inclusiveness
Stages of Team Development
Patrol Leaders’ Council Meeting
Patrol Chaplain Aides Meeting
Communication
Tell participants: The Zulu Toss game during Troop Meeting 2 is an introduction to Communication and is debriefed as a communication game.
The Front-End Alignment Game leads into Stages of Team Development, and the Project Planning sessions are the beginning of that application.
The Inclusiveness session is the group’s introduction to diversity.
The patrol daily assessment, Gilwell Gazette, and patrol leaders’ council meeting are all examples of where communication takes place.
Rockets, the conservation project, and overnight planning are all troop activities that reinforce the need for project planning.
With the Rockets presentation being the first time teams are asked to produce, they could arrive at the second stage of team development.
Project Planning
Rockets
Wood Badge Game Show
Win All You Can Game 8

9. Day Three Interfaith Worship Service Troop Meeting 3
The Leading EDGETM/The Teaching EDGETM
Patrol Leaders’ Council Meeting
Conservation Project Planning
Tell participants: October Sky is the perfect ending to the first weekend. It brings together
—Team Leadership
—Values
—Vision
—Project Planning
The October Sky session is the perfect way to send them off to work on their own projects and tickets, hopefully imagining that the impact of their vision and ticket will be as big as the impact of Homer’s vision was.
October Sky 9

10. Day Four Outdoor Experience Assembly Leading Change
Patrol Leaders’ Council Meeting
Valuing People and Leveraging Diversity
Problem Solving and Decision Making
Problem Solving Round-Robin
Tell participants: The Outdoor Experience Assembly and Leading Change session suggest that planning for change can make a difference. The Overnight Experience is an opportunity to test those plans.
Valuing People and Leveraging Diversity encompasses all aspects of Scouting—and the patrol discovers diversity within itself in the process. The Diversity Game highlights what they have learned about themselves.
Problem Solving and Decision Making, combined with further planning for the Outdoor Experience, gives them some experience in solving problems they may face.
The Problem Solving Round-Robin reinforces skills learned in the Problem Solving session. The Problem Solving Round-Robin often has some conflict arise as the group tries to decide how best to meet the challenge, and the Managing Conflict session will help address those issues.
The Overnight Experience, because of the change in location, sometimes gives the participants an opportunity to practice those conflict-management skills.
Managing Conflict
The Diversity Game
Participant Campfire 10

11. Day Five Coaching and Mentoring Conservation Project Self-Assessment
Patrol Leaders’ Council Meeting
Ticket Review
Tell participants: The arrival of the Venture crew gives the patrol another opportunity to experience coaching and mentoring—from an unexpected source. During the Outdoor Experience, more experienced camping members of the patrol typically coach the less-experienced members.
The patrol leaders’ council assesses various aspects of the course each day, and the Self-Assessment session will assist with that. The Patrol Project Assessment is the opportunity for the patrol to put their assessment skills into practice.
Patrol Project Assessments
Patrol Campfire 11

12. Day Six Patrol Leaders’ Council Meeting Interfaith Worship Service
Closing Luncheon
Leaving a Legacy
Tell participants: From Day One, the staff has been talking about the Wood Badge ticket and the impact it will have on a unit as well as the individual. Leaving a Legacy addresses that impact directly. Ticket completion is the participant’s first opportunity to intentionally leave a legacy.
Summary Session 12

13. Summary This is not a definitive list.
Reinforce learning with the Gilwell Gazette.
Adults learn by experiencing, processing, generalizing, and applying.
Keeping things in sequence is key.
Tell participants: This is not a definitive list. It is just the big picture. As you work with the curriculum, you will find that portions of some sessions relate to other sessions.
It is important to help the participants connect the dots. Use the Gilwell Gazette to reinforce learning. Refer back to sessions as you introduce the next session or while you are training.
Keeping things in sequence is a key to optimal learning. 13

14. It’s not a carton of eggs!
Wood Badge:
It’s not a carton of eggs! 14