The Power of Service and Innovation

The Midd-West FFA Parliamentary Procedure Team invited me to complete my service project in the classroom with them. Little did I know, was that I would learn more through the creation of my innovation project than the students I was teaching. It took me multiple tries to get the perfect mix of fun and knowledge in my innovation project, but I believe I accomplished just that when the six students joked with each other over who would be winning the grand prize in Jeopardy.

I created a Jeopardy game for the 13 Ranking Motions of Parliamentary Procedure. The activity began with a preview of materials that the students would be covering. I was shocked when right off the bat, they began asking questions to pick my brain about the 13 ranking motions they struggle with. Before they could have fun though, they needed to add in some extra work so they knew every answer to the Jeopardy. I utilized the charts that Dr. Foster provided for us, and handed out blank copies that they would fill out for future reference. After allowing them time to search through RONR for about 10 minutes, I reviewed the answers with them to make sure they had the correct answers moving forward. The students by that point were itching for a fun, competitive game of Jeopardy. As we moved from question to question, each student group of 2 built up their own stake of points until there was a defined winner of bragging rights until the next fun Midd-West FFA Parli Pro competition. The game was followed with review, where the students still had more questions to ask exploring the 13 ranking motions as deep as they could to understand them the best.

As I grew throughout the Midd-West FFA, we did not push the need for the 13 ranking motions for business meetings. I feel extremely confident in the power that these young members now have to correctly and efficiently run business meetings, and compete in the competition at a higher level. This experience really opened me up to the power of education in activity form, and I am thankful that they allowed me the time to work with them on the 13 ranking motions.

5 life hacks of teaching parli pro in middle school!

What did I think was missing from a 7th grade general agriscience class's unit on FFA? If you thought the answer was rules from our man Bob then you were right! Today I taught a 7th grade class how to adopt or fail a main motion. Here are some life hacks on this educational experience! 

1. Middle schoolers are just as excited as you are! When they took control of their own learning they were eager to learn more! I had them match the basic definitions of Main Motion, Second, Debate, Vote and Vote Results. They did this super fast and wanted to try it out! 

2. Excitement leads to students talking over you and getting each other round up sometimes. For example, I had them race to match the words and they ended up fighting over the winner. This allowed me to capture their attention by call and responses! The teacher I was shadowing loved it and couldn't believe how fast I got her kids attention! 

3. Be specific! I cannot stress this enough. The teacher I was working with helped lead a mock meeting! I love doing mock meetings, but guidelines are needed. She had them write a motion down. " write the first 2 words as I move and then add a place for a field trip" were her directions.

 By the end of class we passed motions to go inside a vending machine at a YMCA, inside a Nintendo switch, the bronx zoo and taco bell. These motions were helpful because the students wanted to discuss (well informally discuss) these motions, but it was hard to keep them on track and remember the meaning behind the prompt!

4. Never underestimate your kids. I went in thinking I would do main motion and they would never understand and it was going to be a complete flop! Well these guys learned main motion, division of the assembly, amend and previous question!! They learned basic of what they do not the full bob version, but they knew when to use them!

 This all started because someone said the voice vote was a tie and tried debating that with me. So we showed division of the assembly. Other students thought the debate was "dumb", so we did previous question. It shows how the students can pick up on small details and ask the right questions for an opportunity to grow their knowledge.

5. Teaching middle school agriculture is actually pretty sweet! They get their discovery degrees and basically and learn how to care for plants and animal and get to build projects in wood shop. Never have seeing a middle school class and their excitement makes me want to teach middle school and advocate for middle school ag! 

At the end of the day I had a ton of fun working with these younger kids on a topic I am so passionate about. They asked good questions and really got into debate and making motions. If nothing else every student was able to tell me what a main motion was, what a second means and how to word main motion and amend. 

The Turmoil Experienced by A Parli Peer & Pupil: Willy Nilly Parli Pro

November 13, 2018

To whom it may concern,

"Nothing against this organization I am currently engaged in, but folks, the parli pro we use for our delegate sessions is straight up wickity wack" said my inner-noggin as I sat on the floor during a policy development meeting on Monday. I will provide one story- and only one story to prevent the inevitable fumes erupting from the ears of a green, yet eager parliamentarian such as myself . I would ask anyone reading this to give me your input, did I do the right thing?

11:25 am. Monday November 12, 2018.

The way this organization does this is quite impressive and brilliant. Policies are provided prior to the session, reviewed by a committee and then submitted to the delegates to be deleted or amended. I should also let you know that this assembly approved their own set of rules, with nothing included about previous question. After debating on the deletion of an item, a member called "question" which of course was a relief because we were at 1 of a few hundred to review. WARNING: This is where it went down.

The chair states "The question has been called, we will now vote on the motion to delete..." BRUH. Goodbye Justin Kurtz, a new and improved, ddf12 creation has been unleashed on this delegate floor. Of course I shoot up and say "MR. CHAIR POINT OF ORDER, POINT OF OR-". To which a confused VP responds with "Give that kid a microphone". "Hello, Justin Kurtz, Centre County, I rise to a point of order because the call for previous question is a subsidiary motion requiring a 2/3 vote. Essentially we should vote on the previous question, closing debate, and then vote on the motion." Still confused, and now panicked, the chair refers to his consultants who responded that when we voted to suspend the rules, the previous question was also suspended so as soon as any member says question, debate comes to a close. BIG BRUH. I sat down, feeling defeated, and oddly enough yearning for Dr. Foster's presence to whip out his RONR and save the day. I mean seriously, just because one person wants to stop debate, we are going to restrict the right of debate to members? I am pretty sure this is would be out of line when referring to the characteristics of a Deliberative Assembly.

But hey, I guess if it works for them, maybe we should just let the custom be what drives the business? Or maybe we could just cover all of our bases when introducing special rules for an assembly? What are the downfalls of relying on custom? Was it more a hinderance when I stood to a point of order? Let me know,

Sincerely,

A Parli Peer & Pupil

Examining the Use of Committees: Practical Parli Pro

November 13, 2018

For the past few days I have been at the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Annual Meeting participating in policy development as a delegate, engaging in productive discussion, and fore-mostly working with the Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee. As we discuss the practical uses of a committee in Parli Pro, I am seeing the proof right in front of my eyes. Committees are appointed to work on a large order of business, task or goal for example, getting Young Farmers & Ranchers involved in Farm Bureau. This committee consisting of 16 district representatives from across the state between the ages of 18 and 35 has been working tirelessly to promote the work of our organization to the next organization.

This committee spends about an hour a month deliberating, which in the grand scheme of things, doesn't seem like much. Well, that is the purpose! In addition to YF&R, PFB has 2 other standing committees focused on Women's leadership and Ag Promotion. Imagine if their were no committees and the state board had to do all of this work on their own, in addition to the work they already do. In addition to efficiency, committees provide the opportunity to ensure the matter is in the hands of subject matter experts, or at least people with the credentials to make a logical decision that would benefit the assembly. Hence why members of the YF&R committee are no older than 35.

Overall I wanted to illustrate my first hand experience with the efficiency of a committee, as long as properly utilized.

ATA Conclave- Say What?!

ATA Conclave

Prior to being in the Practical Parli Pro class I had never heard of such a thing as an ATA Conclave and if I would have heard it before the class I might have thought it was a cult or something. The idea of this event is that parli pro is to be used assembly style and in a more practical, applied method.

The way this event is run is there are 6 teams of 5 members from different universities. One team is the chairing team and assigns two members the role of chair person and secretary. The rest of the team just sits and observes the competing teams. When your team isn't the chairing team you are  competing with about 25 other members to fulfill the required amount of motions and debates. 

This all doesn't sound bad and I said to myself that it should be a piece of cake since there aren't as many stipulations as say, an FFA contest. I was SO wrong. Not only had I never seen Parli Pro done in assembly style but also I didn't quite realize the cutthroat nature that other schools had about the event. There were some motions that were allowed and some that weren't and the chairing team had to be fair in who they called on so even if you stood up 10 times you might only get called once. 

Regardless of how many things were different I still found this event extremely useful. It gave me an extra chance to see parliamentary procedure done in good and bad ways while also allowing me to practice my own parli skills. If asked I would most likely do this event again and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try. It can sound very daunting at first and not knowing what to expect out of it makes it even scarier but after doing it once I want to do it again! 

(2018 ATA Conclave PSU Participants) 

Reading Into Rescind and Reconsider

Previous Notice: “A requirement of previous notice means that announcement that the motion will be introduced-indicating its exact content as described below-must be included in the call of the meeting at which the motion will be brought up”

(RONR 11^th ed.), pg. 121, II. 22-27

“The call of a meeting is generally sent to all members a reasonable time in advance, which may be prescribed in the bylaws.”

(RONR 11^th ed.), pg. 121, II. 30-32

Rescind and Previous Notice: A motion to rescind will only “require previous notice if they are to be adopted by only a majority vote. Accordingly, it is ordinarily desirable to give previous notice if there is a possibility of serious disagreement”

(RONR 11^th ed.), pg. 122, II. 5-8

The previous notice can be given when someone else has the floor if they have not begun to speak, while business is pending and even after the vote to adjourn has been made if the chair has not declared the meeting adjourned.

The reason previous notice is so important for the rescind is because members need to have time to decide before debating on it. If members were aloud to constantly rescind motions without some notice, then heated arguments could be recycled throughout a meeting, thus a rescind would be counterproductive. Hence why 2/3 vote is required without previous notice, so it is not easy to undo the work of the assembly.

The Effect of Rescind: Rescind aka Repeal or Annul is used to strike out the entirety of a main motion, resolution or rule previously adopted. Basically, to bring back a motion and then kill it. The motion Amend Something Previously adopted will bring back a motion for it to be amended.

Rescind vs. Reconsider vs. To Call Up Reconsider vs. Reconsider and Enter:

Rescind: Bring back passed motion to kill it.

Reconsider: Bring back motion that could of either passed or failed for the assembly to reconsider the vote. Difference from rescind: Does not debate on the motion but rather the vote for the motion.

To Call Up Reconsider: To make a motion to reconsider when it is not able to be acted upon and then taking it up later.

Reconsider and Enter: To vote to reconsider a motion before it can be acted upon, then calling up the reconsider at a different session. Enter in to minutes provides a sort of previous notice to gain support.

Why Use Reconsider and Enter?

Say I make a motion to spend our time in #AgEdParli by playing non-stop checkers. You know you don’t have the votes to shut this down, so you make a motion to reconsider and enter to the minutes. This will place a suspending effect on the original motion. Meaning, it will not be taken up until it is called up at the next meeting. Therefore, you will be able to rally more votes until then, and fellow members will see that you would like to reconsider this motion that is suspended.

Request to be excused from a duty

Hello Everyone! As always Robert thought of every situation that might pop up! I am going to deep dive in this blog about the motion "Request to be excused from a duty."

Below is the use and characteristics of this motions:

Classification: Incidental

Purpose: To allow members to be excused from certain obligations.

Example: If a societies bylaws require members to attend a certain amount of meetings, hold officers, be on committees or even prepare work outside of a regular meeting this motion allows the member to be able to decline a part of their duties/demands as a member. This is a great way to be able to be flexible with members, but fair as well.



Precedence: Take precedence over any motion as long as the purpose is connected.

Applied to: This motion can be applied to all subsidiary motions except postpone indefinitely

In order when someone else has the floor and should be dealt with immediately

Does not require a second except when moved formally

Is debatable and amendable 

Requires a majority vote, but usually handled as a unanimous consent.

Only a NEGIVTIVE vote can be reconsidered




Why would you use it?

If you were assigned to a duty that you cannot complete or where not there when they assigned it to you.

It is a request, but is debatable and amendable and requires majority vote or unanimous consent.

Request must be made immediately