Over the twenty years I have spent as a Girl Scout leader, I've had Daisies for at least six of them. Today I spoke to Gail, who is also a long term leader. Gail has led Daisies for five years.
What brought about our conversation is that in connection with its current bid to raise the registration fee from $25 to $85, GSUSA put out a list of priority spending goals, one of which was to better support new leaders via, among other things, "Experience Boxes". This year all new Daisy leaders are getting these boxes so I put out a call on some Facebook groups asking for leaders to interview, as I do not have Daisies this year and therefore have not seen these boxes. Gail responded and I appreciate the time she took to speak to me.
Gail said that while she might take an activity from VTK, she did not regularly use it and tended to use Google and Pinterest to help her plan meetings.
After speaking with Gail, I remembered that GSUSA came out with new Daisy programming this year to replace the Flower Friends found in the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting, so I headed to VTK to take a look at what was there.
Welcome to Girl Scouts
Experience Box
According to Gail, the first box was for your first "Welcome to Girl Scouts" meeting. She sent me some pictures
The box also contained a script for the leader.
Gail told me that the meeting included learning the GS Promise, going over the GS Law and learning the GS Handshake and GS Sign and Quiet Sign. She thought it was a bit much talking for the first meeting.
There was also a get-to-know you game where girls were supposed to tell other girls things about themselves. She felt they needed more direction so she told her girls what to tell the partner--such as tell them your favorite color.
The beads for the craft came packaged for each girl, and included letters that said "Friends". While they had some difficulty with getting the letter beads in the right order for all the girls, and of course we all know you can't do a bead craft without some ending up on the floor, in general the girls were able to do the craft and enjoy it. Everything they needed for the craft was in the box, which is a real help to Daisy troops that have not accumulated supplies yet.
The scripted meeting ended with a friendship circle and singing Make New Friends and that is how Gail ended her meeting.
Gail told me that the meeting as planned with the box was not enough activity for her 1.5 hour meeting. Her experience and expertise made her adapt the introduction activity given, and she added additional activities to fill her meeting.
In general, Gail believed the box would be helpful to a new leader and believed the activities were appropriate, though she believed covering the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law in one meeting created too much leader talking, so she chose to wait to to introduce the Law. When asked to give it a grade, she gave it a B-.
VTK Plans
Since VTK is supposed to have plans for all awards, I checked for the Promise Center, as that was the award earned via the first Experience Box.
At the first meeting in VTK there are simultaneous parent and girl meetings. The girls start off making name tags, and then during the opening circle, the girls learn the Girl Scout Promise, the Girl Scout Sign, the Girl Scout handshake and the Quiet Sign, and the methods of teaching them are the old reliable ones leaders have been using for years. They offer a virtual option which is having the girls talk to their families about what the GS Promise and Law mean.
Next, the plan calls for a "Daisy to Daisy" game where girls pair up, touch each other as told ("elbow to elbow" for example) and then tell the partner something about themselves.
The final pre-clean-up activity in VTK is a Concentration/Memory game with cards of the Flower Friends. However, there is no real discussion of the Girl Scout Law, or the Flower Friends. Then after a clean-up song and session, there is a closing friendship circle and singing of Make New Friends
New Daisy Handbook
GSUSA has come out with a new Daisy Handbook this year. I haven't seen it, and there is not much of a preview available online, so I can't say how it coordinates with VTK or the Experience Box.
Honest and Fair
Experience Box
Gail told me that she hasn't gotten a chance to really dig into the "Honest and Fair" Box, but that it includes some type of pom-pom craft.
VTK
After opening circle, VTK has the troop pick between playing "Truth or Lie" where girls tell the group one true fact about themselves and one lie, and then the group tries to guess which is which, or to play tag, where at first the person who tags them says "out" when they tag someone and later where they don't--the girls are just supposed to remove themselves if tagged. Then you discuss being honest and fair.
Next they do a treat-splitting activity to practice being honest and fair or they do a scavenger hunt where the leader talking points talk about whether it is easier to work by yourself or with a team.
For the final activity, girls either play a game (after the leader talks about being honest and fair) or they makes signs saying honest, dishonest, fair, and not fair. These are hung in the space and then the leader gives examples and the girls move to the proper sign.
VTK provides the list of examples for the final game, a sheet with the "Daisy Promise and Law", a sheet showing the girls what to find in the scavenger hunt, and an "Equality vs Equity" handout which VTK has you discussing with the treat-sharing activity.
My Comments
When I gave my opinion on the increase in membership fees, two of the things I said were
- I didn't trust GSUSA to improve programming and
- Putting bad programming in a box and mailing it to new leaders doesn't help
I'm still not in favor of the large increase in membership fees, but I think that on the Daisy level anyway GSUSA is getting close to where they need to be programming-wise.
I remember when I started. I went to two different training classes and learned all about whatever it was GSUSA was basing the program on back then--processes, learning outcomes and of course, girl-led. What I did not learn in those classes and what I could not find in the books I bought was what a Girl Scout meeting was supposed to look like. The scripted meetings in the Experience Box and VTK solve that problem though personally I'd prefer more of an outline and less of a script. I realize you do not have to read the script or follow it word-for-word but it just turns out to be a lot to read especially for leaders who have reading disabilities or otherwise do not read well. There are just so many better ways to present that information than in those pop-up boxes or in the walls of text given in VTK.
Since I have Cadettes this year, not Daisies, I am not going to take the time to look at all the Petal plans but my impression of the meetings I reviewed is that they are on the right track. I thought the offered activities were engaging and age-appropriate. I do not think the VTK activities are going to get you through an hour-long meeting, and I think the plans are a little heavy on the leader talk.
I am all for having a variety of activities and ideas for meeting goals. Still, I'm curious why the Experience Box has different scripts and activities than VTK does. Are the petal plans in VTK just the Flower Friends plans minus the stupid stories? Especially for relatively simple concepts like the petals, I'd rather see GSUSA develop and publish a variety of activities on the theme, leaving it to leaders to pick the ones that work their troop, location, timeframe etc. In other words, instead of writing one script for VTK and another for the Experience Box give me a list of 10 "Honest and Fair" crafts, games and activities.
As noted above, I have no idea what is in the new Daisy Handbook or how it coordinates with the other materials. I'd love to hear from someone who has reviewed it and/or used it.
I'm glad GSUSA is realizing that we have to support our new leaders if we want them to stick around, and if well-done, I think these boxes could be a help. I'd be more apt to make them a paid subscription (but at a reasonable price) as opposed to a "freebie" supported by general membership dues. For one thing, everyone tends to value things they pay for more than they do freebies. For another, some people don't need the boxes and won't use them and it is not using resources wisely to ship what ends up being trash to people.
