Once a month I get an hour and a half during meetings to teach an ES class. I have been doing this for about 5 years now and I am starting to run out of interesting ideas and ways to keep the cadets interested any ideas?
Just brainstorming, so don't flame too hard if you don't like an idea
Skywarn
Red Cross disaster training
Geocaching
MIMS (or whatever they call it these days or by the time you read this)
basically, how to get your training documented
CERT
Whatever you taught 5 years ago...many of your cadets have never heard it
Bring in a lifeflight for LZ classes (our crews love this)
Geocaching w/o the GPS
Using your GPS to it's full potential
Bring on the Canines - invite your local K9 SAR team out to show their stuff
Work through the taskguides one or two tasks a night
Maybe some Communications? I know it's nerdy.....guess I am a nerd.
How about instead of you teaching......ask for volunteers to go over what they know.
I always liked manual compass work!
Finally my favorite......find the oldest CAP member you know......bring him or her in and let them rant on about what ES and SAR was like in "their day". Then get up and thank them for their service......and explain how modern technology has improved the ES field! If you want to leave that last part out thats OK I guess!
Try hands on application of what you've been teaching...have a DFing contest in the parking lot (if you have a practice ELT), set up a compass course....inside you can throw first aid problems at them.
Career night.
Find a parent, or Senior that may have an interesting job and have them take 20-30 min to explain what they do and how they got where they are. I was Dep Comm for Cadets at my last Squadron and found the parents really liked it when non military related careers were introduced as well.
I was a Police Officer, one parent was a Fire Fighter Paramedic for LAFD. Another was an ER nurse.
Quote from: ZigZag911 on June 20, 2007, 04:27:19 AM
Try hands on application of what you've been teaching...have a DFing contest in the parking lot (if you have a practice ELT), set up a compass course....inside you can throw first aid problems at them.
This may seem to be a small point, but could y'all get into the habit of calling them
"practice beacons". It's no biggie on a forum, but then when you use the term over the radio while in practice mode, and someone doesn't catch the practice part of "practice ELT", things start getting exciting, unnecessarily.
Uhhh 5 years?????
Perhaps some review would be nice, I think refreshers may be the call of the day!
Quote from: floridacyclist on June 20, 2007, 12:32:01 AM
Just brainstorming, so don't flame too hard if you don't like an idea
Skywarn
Red Cross disaster training
Geocaching
MIMS (or whatever they call it these days or by the time you read this)
basically, how to get your training documented
CERT
Whatever you taught 5 years ago...many of your cadets have never heard it
Bring in a lifeflight for LZ classes (our crews love this)
Geocaching w/o the GPS
Using your GPS to it's full potential
Bring on the Canines - invite your local K9 SAR team out to show their stuff
Work through the taskguides one or two tasks a night
I think they're all good ideas. I'll print this out when I get home, and show it to my commander. The lifeflight won't be as easy. I'm not flaming the idea, I think it's a good one, but it will take a little more work. We may as well try the hard stuff, then the other stuff will be easy. Luckily for us, the Lifeflight is only two hangars down.
I may make these standard lessons in the future. Try to earn my keep.
AAR's of missions from long ago... (what could have been done better, what would you have done, etc.)
Practice your aircraft marshalling signals. Make a pair of cadets an "aircraft" and set up a marshalling run for them to go through - allowing each cadet to practice the most hand signals possible.
"Everybody update your ES paperwork and folder" Time! ;D
Got any qualified cadets? They should start teaching the classes.
"Media Relations and you" - how about a practical workshop on dealing with oft-pushy media personnel at a mission? Put cadets on the spot as an interactive workshop, then critique their reactions and responses. Videotape it for added fun and critique it from the video playback.
Do they really know all of the tasks for their ratings intimately? Pick one task and explore it fully for a session. Perhaps signal mirror use, or operating the VOR/DME, or keeping a proper and detailed log, refuelling an aircraft, etc. As always, make it as hands on and interactive as possible.
Invite some 9-1-1 operators to visit the unit.....
the last two months i came up with scenarios that tested their team work ability but where ES oriented. I told them to come up with a plan to deal with displaced citizens if one of the local mountains blew up and be prepared to present it in a press conference environment. This worked on so many different skills that didn't involve ES specifically. It also kept them working the whole time instead of falling a sleep in a lecture.