UM9 Crafts, carols, YLs, new patrols and noise

So, this week was a bit of an odd one.  I was really looking forward to this meeting; to having an evening with girls that i've got to know just that little bit better (on camp) since last week.  However, that's not really how it turned out, so i'm going to have a bit of a moan.

We had several items that we needed to get through, plus some 'fun' bits to do as well.

Our first 5 minutes was to introduce our newest patrol and present them with their Patrol Badges. Our very youngest girls had decided they wanted to break away from their (larger) existing patrols and form their own patrol together, and had chosen to be Parrots, so there were new patrol emblem badges and PL/PS badges to give out.  Unfortunately, despite this only taking  a few minutes at horseshoe time at the start of the evening, there were number of guides who didn't seem to want to listen and talked through it all; we ignored them and carried on, but (for me at least, and i suspect for the new Parrot patrol) it took a bit of the special-ness away from the occasion.

Nonetheless, we were thrilled that our new guides had decided on a new patrol, and even more so that between them, they have chosen a patrol leader and patrol second that they are all happy with.

For the main part of the evening we were doing two things.  The Young Leaders were leading some carol singing practice for when we go out carol singing to a local care home in a couple of weeks.  And while doing that, the girls were doing a simple craft with plastic baubles, ferrero rocher, and acrylic colouring pens.

Unfortunately again, this turned out to be challenging - the same few older girls continued to talk, screech and shout while the young leaders were trying to organise carols and give them instructions, and during the singing.  It ended up with the now-impatient-and-grumpy leader (me) putting my foot down and giving them a lecture on respect and behaviour.  Things settled down after that a bit, but I didn't enjoy the evening and I came home questioning why I bother - and certainly not wanting to take them all out for a pizza and panto next week.

We had an extra craft (making purses) lined up, and offered to play games too chosen by the older ones, if we had enough time - they all seemed keen on this. But when it came to tidying up, two patrols did nothing - our youngest girls tidied and put away three tables (without being asked), and we ran out of time to do anything while the older ones messed around.  And quite honestly, i was glad to see the back of them at the end of the meeting. It's the first time i've felt like that.

So, now, a few days later, and a bit of time, space and reflection, and these are my thoughts.   There were lots of good things that made me happy that evening, and I should focus on these

1. I was so impressed with how the new patrol had formed themselves.  It was lovely to see them come to their own decisions, on their own with no guidance from us  - they only had the suggestion from us that 'if you enjoy working together and decide in the future you'd like to have your own patrol, then come and ask us about it.  
2. The Young Leaders did an amazing job organising the carols. One YL did all the planning and prep, and the other two helped her implement the plans on the evening.  They realised that trying to get the 'whole group' engaged wasn't happening, with teh disruptive elements playing a large part in this.  So, they changed their tack, and got the girls singing table-by-table, with a competitive element for 'the *best/nicest* singing'.  It worked well, even the disruptive ones didn't want to be embarrassed here.
3. The crafts worked well and the girls had some lovely results to take home with them.
4. Four of our guides  had a GFI clause to finish, having missed an earlier session -in  two different patrols. They got on and did this independently (one pair with a fairly complex cooking activity) - they were organised and self-sufficient, and successfully completed their activities and were still able to also do the craft and singing.
5. We Introduced the guides to the GG North West England 'Get Away From Home' Scheme.  I was keen for the girls to record and manage their records themselves. Each guide has been given a record book to fill in and keep, and it is their responsibility to come back and see me when they think they are ready for another badge.   I don't intend to keep these records for them, so it's up to them!

I also realised that something else adding to the stress was the constant shouting out to me asking questions that didn't need asking, or asking for help that they didn't really need.  Again, shouting out to me, while the YLs were talking to them.   With the larger unit now, I think we need the girls to be more self-sufficient at at least try to resolve the simple questions or problems themselves before asking a leader.  I asked a few of the more sensible girls about this, and they said they have something similar in craft lessons at school.

1. First, ask your neighbour
2. Second, as your table
3. Third, ask your table leader
4. Fourth, ask your mentor
5. Fifth, ask the teacher

This fits nicely with trying to give the PL's and PS's a bit more responsibility, so I think i'll introduce this for any 'at the table' activities they do.

If you've got a question or are having problems doing something

1. Ask your neighbour, then ask your other neighbour
2. Ask the other guides in your patrol
3. Ask your Patrol Leader and Patrol Second
4. If you still can't do it, then ask a PL to ask a Leader to come over.

PLs and PSs will have responsibility for answering questions and ensuring that girls on their table have enough help.  Hopefully it will also encourage the guides not to just switch off their brains at the door!

I'll have a think about the rudeness, screeching and talking over people - I hope that was just a one-off and things will be better next time, but I think I will also have laminated copies of the unit rules to put on each table, and maybe some sweet rewards for the best behaved patrol each week.  

I will admin that still dreading taking them out next week, but fingers crossed I will be pleasantly surprised and behaviour won't be a problem.

Any suggestions welcome...

UM8 Christmas Card Crafts

This week was run by our other leader, who is fabulous at crafts.   We decided to try and use up a lot of the paper and card stock from the cupboards, and make Christmas Cards.  We had plenty of black adn white card, metallic pens, shiny / metallic coloured card and paper, and ribbons.

The girls could make a card for themselves, plus a card each to take and give to the residents at the care home we are visiting in a few weeks for Carol Singing.

The cards made by the girls were amazing. H gave them some example designs for ideas, keeping it very simple - and the results were really effective for everyone, even the non-arty girls came out with a fantastic looking christmas card.

** Addendum: When we went carol singing, each of the girls gave a card to a resident - the residents seemed genuinely touched to receive a card and chat to a youngster.  It was well worth doing.

UM7 - BP Games Evening

This week, our little group of four BP girls organised an evening of Cooperative Games, as part of one of their BP challenge clauses.

I was impressed with how they got on - despite all being at different schools and not living close to each other, they managed to communicate and even arranged a meet-up over the holidays to organise themselves.  They each came to the table with several suggestions, discussed how to run each of those games, then made their final selection, and nominated a 'leader' and 'assistant' for each game.

The games they chose were great fun, and they were well prepared and we were all impressed with how they managed the evening.   They've all gone away to write up about their experience to put in their BP files, but this was the feedback we got, and some of our observations.

1. They were surprised (and a little frustrated) by how difficult it was to get the rest of the unit to listen to them for instructions, and to follow the instructions.
2. As observers, we were able to see how their 'leadership team' worked - one very definite 'manager', one 'communicator' and a couple of 'workers' . They worked really well together, and we certainly have some potential Young Leaders amongst them.
3. They realised that with nearly 30 girls, the large-group games need to be very simple, otherwise explaining the rules becomes difficult, especially with a very mixed ability group.

I'll update soon with the games that they chose...