Activity Supervision

This summer we decided to up our game on staff development by restarting a formal, focused evaluation of their teaching and activity leadership. It has been going really well, so here it is if you would like to give it a try.

First we created a form that year-round staff use when visiting activities. Questions include:

1.    Are all staff and campers engaged? Are CIT’s and Junior Counselors being trained?

2.    Is there a good mix of fun and skill development?

3.    Is the activity area clean and organized?

4.    What metric for success are they tracking?

5.    What did you discuss with the activity head?

6.    What do Adam and Ann need to know?

We are starting with three assumptions.

1.    Clarity is a gift. The idea is to give real feedback that will help them improve, not just tell them how much we love them – though we try to do that too. They will love teaching when they see themselves growing.

2.    Feedback is from friends. If they know what to expect then they will become comfortable with the feedback. Letting everyone know how and why we are giving evaluations, and making them excited about it, is my job.

3.    Peer-pressure is a tool. I like it when the leadership team holds itself accountable, so after they meet with the activity head we upload our forms to a google drive folder. This lets all the senior staff see the quality of everyone’s supervision.

Great Camping!

Adam Boyd

Camps Timberlake & Merri-Mac