In November, I had the privilege of working with the Somerset Area FFA seniors and leading a workshop on the characteristics and rules of a deliberative assembly. The students in this workshop were seniors, most of which had only experienced parliamentary procedure through their time in FFA. Most of these students were unaware of the characteristics of a deliberative assembly and I knew that this knowledge could prove to be very useful for them as they leave high school and branch out to other organizations that utilize parliamentary procedure.
My main take away from this workshop is that students will be more engaged and interested in a workshop or lesson when they can relate to the material that they are learning to events or areas in their everyday lives. At the beginning of the workshop, I asked each student to write on a sticky note where they see parliamentary procedure being used throughout their everyday lives. They came up with a wide variety of places from 4-H meetings to the House of Representatives. As we continued throughout the workshop, students were able to relate the characteristics and rules that they were learning to these areas outside of school, where they will continue to use this knowledge for years to come. Students were definitely able to learn and take away more knowledge from the workshop when they could relate it to other areas of their lives.
The main activity of this workshop was “breaking down” the rules and characteristics of a deliberative assembly into terms that the students felt almost anyone could understand. The students really enjoyed this activity and being able to debate and discuss what they believed was the meaning of each characteristic and rule. This activity also allowed them to see how differently they all viewed each characteristic and rule. Not only did this activity help the students better understand the rules and characteristics of a deliberative assembly, but it also helped them learn the importance of being open minded when listening to how others may interpret a parliamentary authority.
Not only was this project very beneficial for the students, but it was also very beneficial for me. While going through the characteristics and rules of a deliberative assembly, the students had many questions about terms or concepts that they found confusing. Being able to teach someone else about my knowledge of parliamentary procedure and teaching others how to find answers in Robert’s Rules of Order was very beneficial to my overall understanding and confidence in parliamentary procedure.
I feel as though this workshop went very well and that the students had a lot of fun. My advice to others who teach a Parli Pro workshop is to not be afraid to admit when you don’t know something. Throughout this workshop, I was asked a few questions that I was not 100% sure of the answer. Rather than trying to create an answer off the top of my head, I worked with students to dig into Robert's Rules of Order to find the answer. Not only did this help the students learn how to navigate Robert’s Rule of Order, but it also provided me with some great problem solving practice leading into my final exam!
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