How to Combat Learning Loss in Your Staff Team - with Kate Taylor - Camp Code #95

It’s been a long time since a proper staff training, hasn’t it?

It’s already November, which means that as camp leaders, we’re hopefully (and finally) well-rested. It also means that with winter approaching, we need to start planning for next year. Winter recruiting, hiring and planning out staff training is what awaits us! For a lot of reasons, this year feels different.

For a lot of us, camp was either non-existent or looked very different for the past two summers. If your camp was able to run, chances are you had minimal staff and for the camps that were able to take part in normal summer programs. With summer 2022 fast approaching, it means that our camp staff haven’t had a ‘normal’ camp leadership experience or that your camp is about to take on brand new staff because all of our staff resources that were planning to work at camp, are all a couple of years older. 

Our camp pros are here to help, and this time, they brought back up! We are excited to have Kate Taylor as a special guest on this episode. Kate Taylor is the Camp Director for Camp Kanawana at the YMCAs of Québec. In this episode, Gabrielle, Beth and Kate talk about ideas to combat the loss of learning that our staff have missed out on for a couple of years. One thing our experts refer to is the Summer Learning - A Bridge to Student Success and America’s Recovery by the National Summer Learning Association. Without giving away any further spoilers, we encourage you to listen, learn and adapt your teaching techniques as we all prepare for summer 2022. 

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Best Practice for Leadership Training

From Kate Taylor

It is imperative that we have downtime throughout staff training. If this means making staff training slightly longer to give your staff half a day off DO IT. Taking that break allows your staff to reflect on everything they’ve been taught during training sessions. Further, when you have downtime, make sure you have some non-mandatory activities for your staff. This will help some people struggling with social anxieties practice social skills and build boundaries with their colleagues.

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