Getting started with the SIAs
There are many different ways to implement Special Interest Areas in your Unit.
A Unit may initially decide to start doing SIA projects by designing a project as a whole Unit. Once they have built up some experience, they might be ready to encourage each other to try out individual projects. Each person still needs to list their goals and action plan (even if they might neatly be identical).
Special Interest Areas for Joey Scouts and Cub Scouts
SIAs are all about finding an area of interest in which a Scout can develop themselves, set realistic goals to do so, give it a go, and reflect on learning for next time. Goal setting with Joey Scout and Cub Scouts supports them to:
- Learn how to plan
- get what they want out of life
- be focused to ensure success
- take responsibility for their learning
- develop powerful life-long habits.
An adult supporter’s job is to assist them to learn how to identify challenges they would like to achieve, write clear, measurable goals, and then create a clear plan to achieve success.
It is important that they:
- Choose their own goals
- Have goals with a personal purpose
- Ensure the steps to achieve goals can be broken down into smaller steps
- Unpack the potential obstacles
The Goal-Ladder strategy:
- On the very top rung is the big goal that you want to achieve.
What will I do? - How will I do it?
These steps could be written on cards, sticky notes, or a whiteboard so that the steps can be moved around to determine a correct order. The rungs leading to the top are the steps to get there in a logical order. (For Joey Scouts and Cub Scouts, it is probably a small ladder!) - Transfer this to the planning template
- The final template questions are then answered:
Who will be the supporting person?
Who else will be involved?
What will I learn?