Another Kahoot Added

I am slowly working my way through all my Kahoot! quizzes and getting them prepped for shared use. Please head over to the Kahoots tab above to see the latest addition:

Green squareHandbook 3 Scavenger Hunt
Australian-based!

This quiz is based on the Australian Girl Guide Handbook 3 (green), however everyone is welcome to have a try! It was designed to get the Guides more familiar with the handbook’s contents by searching for the answers. Each question tells you which section to search for the answer, and goes through the book in chronological order.

Whilst this quiz is easier with a copy of Handbook 3 in front of you, there is nothing stopping you from taking a guess!

Example Question – Service: What part of the body is being bandaged in the First Aid section?

You would need to go to the Service chapter and start looking through the pages to find where someone is doing bandaging! Hopefully that makes sense. Probably best to review this quiz before you play!

Kahoot Quiz added!

Good news! I think I finally got the Kahoot! quizzes working in a way that lets others view and host them! Today’s addition is Girl Guides: World Centres – head on over to the Kahoot page and check it out. Don’t forget to let us know how you do and if you enjoyed the quiz!

The #SewcialDistancing Challenge

The #SewcialDistancing Challenge

Lockdown has brought a wave of new and inventive ways for people to connect and take part in personal challenges without leaving the house! One Guiding challenge that caught my eye was the #SewcialDistancing challenge.

The challenge was circulated on social media by some badge-loving members of Girlguiding’s Advocate Panel (Girlguiding NWE news article), and #SewcialDistancing calls for members to catch up on their badge work by sewing one badge onto their blanket per day. Check out the two posts which started it all:

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Badges are a quintessential part of being a Girl Guide member! We as leaders are notorious for badge collecting – we collect wherever and whenever we can. Only many of us are not as conscientious at sewing them onto our camp blankets. If the responses have been anything to go by, I am not the only leader who has a bag full to sew on!

So, when I saw the #SewcialDistancing challenge, it lit a (camp)fire under me!

I finally did the one job I have been “meaning to do, but just never get around to”, which was ordering my new 80%+ wool blanket to replace my current (cannot go anywhere near a campfire) fleece one! It has needed several washes, and the weather has not been best, but it is now almost ready for badges!

I have been debating between making it a poncho and keeping it as a blanket (my fleece is a poncho). Ponchos are great – they are easy to move around in, your hands are free for crazy song actions, but they do require you cutting up your blanket (if it’s not a ready made poncho). At the same time, there is nothing like a beautiful plain camp blanket covered end-to-end in badges, scarves and Guiding history. In the end, it was my reluctance to cut into my beautiful new wool blanket that led me to keep it as a just that – a blanket!

I searched the house for my ‘been-meaning-to-but-not-got-around-to-it’ pile of badges. I found a nice big bag full! Whilst I may have sewn on my badges when I first started back in Guiding in 2013, I apparently have not revisited it in the last five years! Of course, the one big bag is only my main stash – even now I keep finding random badges in random places! Do badges just keep multiplying when left unattended?

At the last count, I have 50 badges sitting in the ‘been-meaning-to-but-not-got-around-to-it’ collection – it could be worse. But of course, that does not include all my Brownie, Guide and UK badges that are on the old blanket, which will now need to move to their new home. And let’s just say I was an over-achiever as a child (well, still am!). It seems I have a very big #SewcialDistancing challenge ahead of me.

Going by the one-badge-a-day rule, I should be finish sometime in September! So keep checking back for updates, as I am sure there will be plenty. Here’s hoping this inspires you too!

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. My name is Elizabeth and I am a Girl Guide Leader in NSW, Australia. The current global crisis has seen us all experience rapid and radical changes to our way of life: at school, at work, how we shop, and how we socialise. Guiding around the world has been no different – face-to-face meetings have ceased, and where possible, moved online. Term programs were thrown out the window, and we all rallied round to create new adaptive plans for the digital environment! I have been creating like crazy, as I am sure others have too, trying to work out what will, and will not, work in this new digital environment, and test-driving platforms to best deliver new content.

I decided to start a new personal learning network by turning to the online community to gather resources, support and information to better my programming for a digital space. With teachers turning to online learning as well, there has been a plethora of information available. The online Guiding community has been helpful in sourcing ideas and sharing programming tips. My digital investigations have even unearthed some interesting international virtual projects along the way that have helped develop my new online leadership journey!

I can only imagine that there are many more leaders out there in a similar situation, so I have put together this blog as a way of sharing my resources and connecting with others in a time when face-to-face connections are just not possible. Besides, why reinvent the wheel when we don’t have to? If you find something useful on this blog, then please feel free to use it in your own Guiding programs – just make sure to give credit where credit is due. Feedback is also always welcome.

To all the Girl Guides Leaders out there – you are doing an awesome job in a trying situation. Keep doing your best, and that is all anyone can wish for!