October Take the Lead

GIRL SCOUTS OF WESTERN OHIO

TAKE THE LEAD

OCTOBER 2008

The Power of Questions | Getting Parents to Partner| Experiential Learning - the Power of Questions | Community Service

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THE POWER OF QUESTIONS!

The girls of Girl Scout Junior Troop 564 of Rossford, Ohio, are no strangers to lending a hand. Through their many service projects they have learned a lot about the community and discovered a passion for service.

So, when the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina unfolded, the girls decided they needed to help. They contacted Girl Scouts of the USA to see what they could do and soon adopted Troop 1058 from Chalmette, Louisiana, in St. Bernard Parish, one of the hardest hit communities. They began sending care packages to the 19 girls in Troop 1058 and were soon exchanging letters and learning more about the situation in Louisiana. They learned how 14 schools in the district had been destroyed and that all the students of St. Bernard Parish were all attending one school until Andrew Jackson Elementary school opened.

When it came time for the troop to plan activities for the year they couldn’t stop thinking about their new friends in Louisiana. When the 15 girls in the troop learned that the school was being re-built, it rekindled their giving nature. Amanda Richards, a Girl Scout in Troop 564 said, “We decided to collect books and take them down there and build shelves to put them on. I feel really good about it because we’re helping a lot of people with books because a lot of the school lost a lot of their supplies.” The girls then decided to work even harder and host countless money earning projects so that they could travel to Louisiana to visit their sister troop and as well as the hundreds of children their project helped out.

Over spring break 2008, they personally delivered 8,500 books, built seven bookshelves for the school and spent time visiting their sister troop in Louisiana. Betsy Reitz the troop leader said, “The thing that affected us the most was when we drove around St. Bernard Parish...some businesses have been replaced but many student are still living in their FEMA trailers.”

The troop has been greatly impacted by their experiences and will continue to take action. They are currently planning new ways they can help their friends in Louisiana. In this issue of “Take the Lead” the focus is on experiential learning. Through this key program process, the Girl Scout goals come to life. Experiential learning focuses not only on the activity, but on the reflection and future actions that are taken based on the experience.

Getting Parents to Partner

In the last two issues of “Take the Lead,” you learned how to engage parents, conduct a parent meeting, and build your own team. Now let’s talk about how to create your partnership and keep your parents involved. Parents are more likely to get involved and stay involved when they understand what support and talent is needed. While level of involvement that parents can offer may vary, leaders can connect parents to any troop activity or event and teach parents how to apply experiential learning by providing them with follow up questions. The really great news is that parents can apply experiential learning just about anywhere or anytime. When leaders teach parents how to use questions to help girls learn through experiential learning, parents are able to apply this skill with girls at troop meetings, journey activities, and other troop events. Parents can use the power of questions when riding home from a troop event or while sitting at the table with family for dinner. Asking good questions enables the girls and adults to share ideas, gain a fuller meaning from the experience, and teaches girls to apply their learning to future experiences.

Creating the Partnership - How It Works

Connect Parents Directly to the Activity

Make the most of parental involvement. Begin with a plan that defines the parent ‘s support. Use an organized approach and provide them with an understanding of the activity and their role.

Develop a checklist to identify all areas where parents can contribute.
Inform parents ahead of time what activity or event the Girls will be working on.
Explain to parents how the activity or project will impact the girls.
Point out how parental involvement can help make their experience even more valuable and memorable when experiential learning is applied.
Help parents learn the art of asking questions by providing them with sample questions ahead of time.

REMEMBER….

The girls participate because they like the activities.

We help girls grow from the activity through reflection, evaluation, questioning, and discussion.

Here is an example of how to use the Power of Questions

Tell parents in advance that the girls will be working on an activity that is designed to help them think about how to apply their values by discussing the Girl Scout Law. Encourage parents to ask these (5) key questions following this activity. Perhaps on the way home from the event or while having dinner with other family members:

What do you think is the most important part of the Girl Scout Law?
How does our family show respect for others?
How are you responsible for what you say and do in our family?
What does our family do that is considerate and caring?
What can you (the girl) work on in order to live up to the Girl Scout Law?

Experiential Learning: The Power of Questions

Experiential learning is very simple. It encourages learning by doing and learning through reflection. Everyday you are involved in experiential learning. Experiential learning happens when a person participates in an activity, reflects back on the activity, and makes a change in behavior based on what was learned by the experience.

The Experiential Learning Process

Step 1 – Do

Involve girls in planning activity
Participate in the activity

Step 2 – Reflect (What Happened?)

Sharing and discussing with the girls, reactions, and observations about the experience.
Each girl will have her own point of view and learning.
Asking questions about the activity:
What did you notice?
What did you like?
How are you feeling about X?
How did each of the girls see the experience differently?

Step 3 – Apply

Asking “So what did we learn?”
Connect the results, observations, reactions to new or similar activities and experiences.
Asking “Now What?”
What have we learned from this?
Why is this important?
What will we do differently next time?
What does this mean for you? For the troop?

Reflection Activities for Troops/Groups

Drawing - Girl Scout Daisies and Brownies. Have the girls draw a picture of their favorite part of the activity, then share their picture with the group. Take it one step further and have them take the picture home and share with their family their favorite part.

Feeling Cards - Girl Scout Juniors. On index cards write different emotions/feeling (i.e. brilliant, courageous, scared, intimidated, elated etc). Have the girls pick a card that represents how they felt at the beginning and at the end of an activity. Another variation would be go around the circle and have girls pick out a card for each person about something positive they saw them do.

Treasure Chest - Girl Scout Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors. Put together a box of random items from around the house (i.e. match box car, slinky, lip gloss, paper clip, koosh ball, etc.). Have the girls pick out an item from the box that represents an experience she had during the activity. Then they go around and share their item and their experience. Example: paperclip - she may say, “One of my favorite things was when Sally helped the group to bring two ideas together.”

Journaling - This is a great way to get girls to reflect on their experience in private, then share things they feel are important.

It It Seems So Complicated……

Believe it or not, it is really quite easy to implement these ideas with a group or troop. Here are a few things that will help make it easier:

Don’t make it a formal process: When in the car on the way home from an activity, turn the radio off and listen to what the girls are saying about the experience. At a meeting, have the girls sit in a circle and just begin the discussion. Be sure it is casual and fun.
Don’t worry about the order of the questions, with practice you will improve on the progressive order. The most important thing is to ask questions and get the group talking about the experience.
Build the questions based on what is being said. There is no perfect plan for asking questions because with each question the answers change. Listen to what is being said and build questions on the answers. Keep in mind your final outcome….identifying and applying learning in the future. Even if questions are not in the right order, you will get there.
just do it. The more you do it, the more comfortable you will become. Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent. The more you do , the better you become. It is okay if it’s not perfect.

Council-Wide Community Service Project

Project Organization Links

Some of the most valuable experiences in Girl Scouting happen when your girls are connecting with other organizations that are doing good things for your community to accomplish a common goal. If the girls in your troop are interested in working with a particular organization, contact them and see what their needs are and how the troop can potentially partner. You may want to share age level and any physical or time constraints of your group and see if they have any limitations the troop might need to consider. Below are just a few organizations that your troop can collaborate with for your council-wide community service project.

East Toledo Family Center

1020 Varland Ave. Toledo, OH 43605

www.etfc.org/

Offers a variety of programs for children connected to their education including the Bridges program, tutoring programs, outreach and a Strictly Teens program.

Project Connect

940 Poplar St., Cincinnati, OH 45214

www.pcfund.org

Keeps children experiencing homelessness connected to their education by providing supplies, transportation, uniforms, and educational enrichment opportunities in the summer, after-school, and shelter tutoring programs.

Alternative Family Health Care Clinic

136 W. West St., Lima, OH 45805

419-358-4306

Alternative Family Health Care Clinic is health clinic in Lima that offers health care to low income families and individuals. It is open 3 Wednesdays a month and makes a concerted effort to make their clients comfortable whether they are in the waiting room or in the examining room.

Hancock County Family Resource Center

1914 Carlin St, Findlay, OH 45840

419-422-8616

www.frcohio.com/external/hancock.htm

FRC’s school based program is a collaborative effort between the systems of education and mental health in identifying at-risk youth and to promote their academic success.

CPS Community Learning Centers

www.cps-k12.org

Cincinnati Public Schools is creating campuses that explore and strengthen the link between schools and communities by creating community partners and utilizing volunteers from the community.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio

www.rmhctoledo.org

The Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home for families who travel to Toledo for their child’s medical care. The website contains a wish list of items including personal health care supplies (i.e. brushes, combs, tooth brushes etc.)

Crayons to Classrooms

1511 Kuntz Rd, Dayton, OH 45404

Contact: Steve Rubenstein at 937-461-4800, x364

A Teacher Resource Center established by a group of committed organizations and individuals in the greater Dayton, OH area that collects and distributes basic tools for learning at no cost to at-risk children in need and their teachers in under-funded K-12 schools.

Boys and Girls Club of Dayton

www.bgcdayton.org/index.asp

They provide programs in health, life skills fitness, sports and recreation for children in need. There is a wish list of items that group can donate such as sports equipment.

Coming Soon: Patch details will be coming in the next issue of “Take the Lead”. Keep checking the council website for a resource database for troops seeking partnerships with community organizations.

Girl Scouts of Western Ohio

Administrative Office

4930 Cornell Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242-1804

T: 513.489.1025 or 800.537.6241 F: 513.489.1417

www.girlscoutsofwesternohio.org

Chair - Nancy Dawes

Chief Executive Officer -Barbara J. Bonifas