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| |  Posted 7/24/2007 6:34:51 PM | |
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| | We have been having such a problem with our teen crew leaders. We are new to directing VBS and new to group. Most of our teen crew leaders are just not willing to interact with the children, most won't sing or do the motions with the songs. (There are a couple that are fantastic.) The biggest problem is with the snack time. They start chatting with one another and leave their crews to run hog wild. This is all very discouraging. We would replace them with adults but simply don't have enough volunteers. We have tried mentioning the problem to the teens but still no success. We decided that for snack time that we would have a sign for each crew to sit at...and insist that the leaders remain with their crews...don't know what else to do...anyone else have a problem with this? Any suggestions? We are starting day 3 tomorrow and would appreciate any suggestions!! We decided that next year we may have to have larger crews and just no teens or just have a few teen assistants, we love the idea of smaller more intimate groups but...most of the kids have an absente leader, that just won't cut it!! |
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| | | Posted 7/25/2007 10:52:54 AM | |
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| | I had two teens (all we have available) as crew leaders. One did well but the other like you mentioned didn't interact with her crew. Seemed to not be able to talk with them. But I had 2 crew leaders who were in their 60's-70's and they had lots of problems. They would leave their bags somewhere and then when they needed the books they would have to go retrieve the bag. I told them repeatedly to keep the bags with them. But...Also they had trouble with their understanding of what to do, even when we explained, and movement was difficult for them. (They couldn't sit on the floor and couldn't keep up with their crews) They had trouble each night getting the challenges out of the books. They tried their hardest but VBS wore them out by the end of the week. They were exhausted. |
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| | | Posted 7/25/2007 1:17:59 PM | |
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| | I said this the other day, but I think this is where training is so very important. Letting the kids know in advance precisely what is expected of them is vital. And you may find that there are kids who are better suited to help a station leader rather than be a crew leader. Maybe next year consider getting the teen curriculum and doing a weekend retreat using that and modeling the behavior you expect. Include training for the teens as well.
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| | | Posted 7/25/2007 2:14:53 PM | |
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| We are using a lot of teens and have found that we need to keep encourging some of them to keep up with the interaction with the kids and stay involved. One thing that has seemed to help is giving out a Courtesy Award each day to the Group of crews that had the best or most improved behavior. This seemed to really motivate the teens to do their job and win the award.
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| | | Posted 7/25/2007 3:25:43 PM | |
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| ALL of our crew leaders are teens, and we hold a "youth volunteer boot camp" about a week prior to our KidsCamp. The boot camp is not only to train the teens on what their roles are (as crew leaders, or any other volunteer role they are placed in) but also as general leadership & servant training. It's only after boot camp is over that our director(s) decide who will actually be placed in a crew leader role, and where the others will be placed (either as station helpers, kitchen helpers, preschool helpers, assistant crew leaders, etc.)
We are blessed with a lot of teen volunteers each of the last 2 years I have been a part of this church, and the teens don't just come from our church families - they also come from other churches, and have come from being past campers. There were some crew leaders that were more tuned in to their campers than other crew leaders, but there were expectations and guidelines set forth during the boot camp training that all of them were expected to adhere to. I agree with Peggy on this - training (including the adults) was the most important part of our preparation for a great KidsCamp. After prayer, of course 
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ~John 8:12 (NIV) |
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| | | Posted 7/25/2007 4:57:08 PM | |
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| | Here's a couple of ideas that may help. First, our VBS was small. Large numbers are great when you think of terms of spreading the word, but small numbers are great too when you think of building relationships. Anyway, I paired up crews to rotate together. One had an adult leader, and the other one had a teen leader. In a way it was like having a group of ten with an adult and teen "assistant," but I didn't call them that. When it came time for discussions, they circled up in their own crews, but they were all sort of under the eye of the adult leader. I also had my teens attend the training session so that they would know EXACTLY what was expected of them. If it is mainly during snack that you are finding the most difficulty here are a few suggestions to keep crews occupied. 1. During snack was when our crews would discuss their daily challenges. 2. I also had our "photographer" at Chuck Wagon Chow to take photos of each child (crew by crew), and crew group shots. 3. Have an open mike for cowboy/western joke telling. Let kids come up and choose a joke out of a cowboy hat to read to the group. Our kids loved this. There have been some good jokes shared on this forum. 4. Ask trivia questions about various animals you'd find at Avalanche Ranch (start with the Bible buddies), and see what crew can come up with the right answers. Keep score if you want for a prize for the crew with the most correct answers. I have a list of such questions if you're interested. 5. Have the crews play quick line up games: line up by height, age, alphabetically by first letter of first names, last names, by birth date (not year just date), number of pets you have, etc. (These are great because it keeps them moving and they may learn a little bit about each other). Hope some of these ideas help.
 Allison in NC! |
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| | | Posted 7/25/2007 6:41:27 PM | |
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| | Thanks for all your responses...we made some changes today and things went sooo much better. We had two scheduled training meetings prior to the start of VBS..only two of the teens showed up. Next year, we are going to insist they come to the training or they won't be able to help. Every morning we have been praying and reminding them how they need to engage the children. So, we switched a few of the teens so that every rotation had at least one adult, and tried to separate the teens that would tend to socialize with one another. The one teen that we had the most problems with was replaced by our Showtime Roundup leader (adult) and made the teen a crew assistant. This worked so well. Our youth pastor also talked with the teens, and I'm sure that also got them on track. We also organized our chowtime better to promote crew interaction. We numbered our tables and called crews up one by one and asked them to take their snack back to their numbered table and start discussions...this was a fantastic decision...everything was sooo much calmer. I'm so glad to have this forum and the best co-director ever, Hi Cara!! We are able to bounce ideas back and forth... can't imagine having to do VBS without her. I must say that we have been truly blessed by this VBS. Local business have shown their support by letting us borrow or donating items. We have the best station leaders around, and so many junior crew leaders that we have to try and keep them busy. We have also had a pretty good response from the community ...more than half of our attendees are not from our church. Can't wait until tomorrow, I know we are all going to bawling over the lighting of the cross!! Thanks again! |
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