Working the Silver with the Girls

I have to say, it is truly heartening to hear from leaders who have taken the Silver Award Training.  Most are getting ready to move forward with their girls.  Some are scared to try!  And some just need a little push in the right direction.

I received an email from Michelle this week, saying her girls are ready to start the Silver Process, and could I remind her how we did the big white pages on the wall in training?  I have to say, props to Barb Christenson who came up with this part of the training.  It has been soooo well received! Here's what we do:

Barb used the list in the Red Cadette Girls Guide page 2 for the training:

1. Go on a Journey.  Some of your girls did our Breathe series....

2. Identify issues you care about:  have them think about what issues are important to them as an assignment.

 (page 3 has a great chart. One leader said she was going to have each of the girls bring in that page all filled out. Or at least with the left hand column filled out.  At the meeting, you could have them whittle it down to 5 or 6?  I don't know how many girls are in your troop?)

---  Each of those issues goes on the top of a clean butcher paper.  The girls gather around which one they're interested in first, and fill out info about the issue.  Ex: literacy:  teach kids how to read, set up a tutoring program, etc.  And then maybe have them move to their second choice and add to what's already gone up. You can do another rotation, if you want. Up to you and the girls.
 --- Now, and this will be harder for the girls than it was for the adults!, write down WHO you could partner with. What agency/school/entity would have the group of people you want to help?  For literacy, it could be an after-school program? library? specific class in a specific grade with a great teacher? If you have adults who are good coaches, and won't DO IT for the girls, maybe have them there as additional resources to prod the girls to think about resources. 

I sense this could take a couple meetings to get through!  Adults can do it waaay faster!!!  This is GREAT practice for them to learn some critical thinking and leadership skills, especially if they are going to go on Senior/Ambassador Journeys (especially Girltopia) and ultimately, the Gold.


Wishing all of you only SUCCESS with the process and some GREAT Take Action Projects.