New Cadet Courseware (Green Star released)

[cdn031]

Well , we finally recieved our hardcopies of the CPU in the mail , and having poured thru all 2 inches of this 81/2x11 coma-inducing tome I don't feel any better.

The Air Sea and Army CPUs are virtually identical - and as best I can tell the Army got the worst of it.
It's completely unteachable without heavy additions, which we will have to do.  (and are already planning)

My disappointment is it aims far too low... yes this is for 12/13 year olds but the coin exercises are straight out of a grade 3/4 curriculum.
Its just not engaging... yes there is a luke warm orienteering  section (common curiculum Air/Sea/land) and a diluted winter living section , but beyond that - little I would be proud of.

I then went off to Cadetworld to see if any insights were available there... not so much. seems like the fight has gone out of the CIC and everyone is accepting shoddy workmanship as "good".

Maybe there is a silver lining in not having any testing - we can "enhance" this at the local level any way we want.

 

[Jabrwock]

Ok, but I thought that the cadet fitness program was for all star levels...my bad I guess.

Teaching physical fitness is part of each star level. So there's the section about healthy living, healthy eating, developing a fitness plan, participating in organized sports, etc for greens, because they're just being introduced to the whole idea of physical fitness. It's just the actual fitness test that's been pulled out and put on it's own.

And what are the kids (greenstar) supposed to use for ready reference materials during a hands on project that requires such reference? That is going to be the interesting thing I will watch for. I know I sure needed my manuals when I was a cadet, and also into my short but lively career as an artilleryman. do you know about how long this process will take? Or do we just see when we'll see?

The roll-out docs said 2-3 years before they issue new green star manuals. In the meantime, the reference material in the old pams is still valid (diagrams, pictures, etc). There's also other references listed in the IG. For example, the "parts of the daisy rifle" refers to material from CCP-177 "Marksmanship manual". Part 2 (pg 2-5) has a handout for characteristics and parts of the daisy rifle.

I highly recommend looking up each EO, seeing if any handouts are needed, and grabbing any convenient handouts from the listed ref. material, or creating your own if needed, and making a binder of those to have on hand. Or have each instructor do it as they teach, and keep copies of handouts for the next year. We're doing that with written mini-quizzes for classroom eval. We'll also be looking at the old overhead sheets, and seeing which ones we should keep, to assist as trg aids.

Any handouts you'd really like to see added in, send them up the chain. The foreword to the IG has instructions on where to send suggested changes.

 

[Neill McKay]

I then went off to Cadetworld to see if any insights were available there... not so much. seems like the fight has gone out of the CIC and everyone is accepting shoddy workmanship as "good".

I think what you're seeing is an acceptance that this is the course we will be teaching to first year cadets starting in a couple of weeks.  We can carry on complaining, but to little benefit.

As has always been the case, it falls to the staff, especially the Trg Os, to take the reams of paper and implement them in an interesting and challenging way.  Let's see how it goes.

 

[gun runner]

Its gonna be an interesting year!!!

 

[catalyst]

My disappointment is it aims far too low... yes this is for 12/13 year olds but the coin exercises are straight out of a grade 3/4 curriculum.
Its just not engaging... yes there is a luke warm orienteering  section (common curiculum Air/Sea/land) and a diluted winter living section , but beyond that - little I would be proud of.

I then went off to Cadetworld to see if any insights were available there... not so much. seems like the fight has gone out of the CIC and everyone is accepting shoddy workmanship as "good".

Maybe there is a silver lining in not having any testing - we can "enhance" this at the local level any way we want.

I woudln't call it lukewarm - there's a lot you can do with orienteering. If you need suggestions let me know.

 

[gun runner]

Sure, Ill take a piece of that!! What can you suggest that can spruce up the rather bland orienteering classes for us? I am sure I will be teaching it this year and grading it in the bushcraft portions of the FTX's, can you make it a little more exciting for the kids? Ubique

 

[Jabrwock]

Sure, Ill take a piece of that!! What can you suggest that can spruce up the rather bland orienteering classes for us? I am sure I will be teaching it this year and grading it in the bushcraft portions of the FTX's, can you make it a little more exciting for the kids? Ubique

Hands on all the way. If they're just listening they'll tune you out but if you have something in their hands they'll pay attention.

When you do the lesson on types of maps, bring in the various types, and have the cadets handle them. Compare them. Class participation. Ask them about what kinds they use when they go places. Do they use Google maps? The coil-back one in the car? A GPS? Have a competition on who can fold a sheet of paper properly the quickest, or refold it to have a certain panel on "top". Bring in some map-tac, and get them to map-tac a 4x5" photocopy of of your favourite FTX location. Then they'll have something to take with them on the FTX.

Marginal info and signs. Symbol bingo! Divide into teams, and you describe what feature a symbol represents, and they have to match it to the actual symbol.

Contour lines, build a relief model with thick cardboard, to illustrate it in 3D. Have thick black lines on top of each contour, so you can turn it top toward them and show how the lines look on a 2D map.

Orient a map by inspection. Again divide into teams. Make minimaps of the classroom (with pictures of mountains and buildings on the wall), or the buildings/roads surrounding you.

 

[gun runner]

All very good suggestions, and thanks, I will do my best to implement these suggestions into my classes,both in the bush and in the classroom. Thanks for the info. Ubique

 

[catalyst]

YES - have things to touch.

WHen you're running courses, theres nothign to say you can't go above and beyond what the basic minimum - remember htere are different types of orienteering:

Point to Point - they follow a course, fastest time wins
Score - have to get the most ina  set amount of time, each one has different point values
Long - 3 hours+, a combination
Ski/SS - self explanitory
Mystery - only get part of the map, at the next control there is more of the map
Night - at night...a combination of the aboe.

I have more, just finishing up at Quadra, then I'll be able to add my .02 pennies!

- Mich
Orienteering Officer, HMCS Quadra

 

[gun runner]

These are all great points and I will try to involve it into my regimen during classes and the FTX's planned for the year. Thank-you for the advice! Ubique

 

[rwgill]

When you do the lesson on types of maps, bring in the various types, and have the cadets handle them. Compare them. Class participation. Ask them about what kinds they use when they go places. Do they use Google maps? The coil-back one in the car? A GPS? Have a competition on who can fold a sheet of paper properly the quickest, or refold it to have a certain panel on "top". Bring in some map-tac, and get them to map-tac a 4x5" photocopy of of your favourite FTX location. Then they'll have something to take with them on the FTX.

I have also enlarged maps to make things easier.  This can be done using a colour copier.  Makes it easier than using 1:50 000 maps when traveling under a km.  The Green Stars get discouraged easily...................just make sure that you copy the scale at the same time as the map

 

[gun runner]

Good tip, thanks again to all who have great suggestions on these topics... it is of tremendous advantage for those of us who really want to help teach a class in a more dynamic and spectacular fashion verses the same, old same old. Ubique

 

[cdn031]

Catalyst - I'm open to all sorts of ideas around the orienteering. Its one of the few bits I can see hope on, so I'm looking forward to that

Gun Runner - PM me with an email address - two of us wrote the origonal CIL / CIC Orienteering instructor course in 89 - and if I look around I might just be able to find the manuscript to send on.

Once they have a little practice in, the kids respond really well to Night O's - its as simple as a glow stick hung inside the control flag - works well if you position it in a hollow so that its not seen for miles!

I don't know if Silva still makes control flags - I think I've seen other compass Mfgs get into the biz (Sunnuto I think?) Be sure to link up with the local Orienteering association - they have come along way.

Also the Ontario govt has a great set of 1:10,000s out there, most electronic , of just about everywhere, so printing your own is a nice option. (I'm still looking for 1:10,000 plastic  protractors!)

 

[Jabrwock]

Once they have a little practice in, the kids respond really well to Night O's - its as simple as a glow stick hung inside the control flag - works well if you position it in a hollow so that its not seen for miles!

Or sink a coffee can with no lid to drop it in. You can see the glow from 10ft away, but any further and it's invisible. Oh, and criss-cross the routes, (team one uses bearing #1 at station1, team 2 uses bearing #2) so if you have multiple teams, they can't just follow each other's flashlights (even red can be seen at certain distances).