AW Leadership and Decision-Making Activities

From WildWiki

Leadership and decision-making on August Wilderness is usually taught through the following activities/experiences:

Return to AW Gen'l Curriculum

1. Leader-of-the-Day (LOD) (Gives individuals and partnerships the chance to experience it)

2. Small Group Travel (A great way to build up toward SIT and develop leadership and decision making abilities)

3. Informal in-the-moment judgment and decision-making practicums (have students mock-assess all kinds of things- does that stream crossing look safe? Why? How would you cross that pass? Where do you think the portage is?)

4. Supervised Independent Travel (should be the final, integrative practicum)

It is crucial that students be given the proper tools and skills to practice and execute proper decision-making and leadership while on course. Use the sections in the staff manual to generate tools and discussion points with students. Give lots of feedback to students so that they realize that these skills are an essential part of the experience.

Here are some of the goals from the original staff manual in 1974 to show how these values were just as important then as they are now...

"Introduce students... to small group and community dynamics, and to make students more aware of the nature of community, human interdependence, and leadership." ...

..."Give students real responsibility and leadership, and a keener capacity for judgment."

"Give students a range of experiences designed to nourish their self-confidence, develop their initiative, increase their self- reliance, and enable them to expand their powers of judgment."