Advice from Wayne Gretzky

"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take."

Wayne Gretzky 

A quote from one of the most well known hockey players who played against my main man Mario Lemieux. This exact quote is relatable to my #AgEdParli journey. Last semester the time came to schedule classes for the current semester. I spoke to Dr. Ewing and Dr. Foster about what classes to take. A little bird put the idea of taking #AEE216 Practical Parliamentary Procedure in my ear. I thought, "Why not? Seems like a useful class that I will probably utilize in my time teaching and in other organizations that I participate in." So right then and there, I scheduled the class.

Fast forward to the beginning of this semester and the class is up and running. We did have some hiccups at the beginning but we utilized an authentic problem (PSU Collegiate FFA and Teach Ag Society consolidating to become The L.E.A.D. Society next semester). Suddenly the ins and outs of Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, otherwise known as RONR, became a real thing! We've learned precedence, types of motions, bylaws, and even how to put our experience to use after this class.

In a few short weeks the class will be taking the accreditation exam where we can put our knowledge gained from the entire semester to the test. Wish us luck as we hope to all conclude the class as accredited parliamentarians.

We are almost to the end y'all! We're at the end of the 3rd period skating down the ice and staring the goal tender in the face through his mask. Will we take the shot? I'm sure glad I took the shot to take the class now all that's left to do is take one more to win the game!







Angela Becker
#PSUAgEd18
Student Teacher at Manheim Central High School

Three Strikes You're Outta Here

It's the bottom of the final inning of the last game of the world series. This is the time of year to show off all their hard work and determination, hoping it pays of. The players line up in the dugout for their last chance at a grand slam for the season. The first player takes their place at the plate waiting for that perfect pitch.

In reference to our Parliamentary Procedure class this seems quite fitting for this point in the semester. This fall has been a learning experience for all the agricultural education students on our team. We learned the fundamentals and then it was our turn to sharpen up our skills to practice our knowledge. We tested our skills in Parli Pro demonstrations and learned new educational games like base ball to prepare us for the next round. We won a few games and lost a few on our practice exams learning from our mistakes, and spending a little extra time with our coach Robert (Rober's Rules that is) to make sure we were ready for the next one.
This is it the final game of the world series, tomorrow our team members will take their spot at the plate in hopes of that grand slam. Tomorrow we will be trading in our field for the classroom, switching our bats up for pencils and be prepared to take a swing at the society of Agricultural Education Parliamentarians accreditation exam, with our final goal of hitting that grand slam and becoming registered parliamentarians.

Session 14 - Parliamentary Resources, Parliamentarians, and Events - April 23

Responses to your ticket outs from Session 14!

What are you curious about?

• How to write a Parliamentary Opinion with proper layout and presentation
• Final format?
• There will be two sections: 5 research questions (open book) and 45 multiple choice (closed book) questions.
• Question banks for the final?
• The question banks handed out before the midterm and today (which will be online soon!) are a great resource to study from BUT, unlike the midterm, the questions will NOT necessarily be verbatim from the question banks.
• Congressional Parliamentarians
• Congress uses a different parliamentary authority that was developed by Thomas Jefferson and is based off the historic procedure in use by the British Parliament.
• You can learn learn about the position of the Parliamentarian of the House here.
• More opportunities for Parliamentarians in college
• I'm sure there are organizations that would love a Parliamentarian - for instance the UPUA as discussed today. Taking a gander through clubs.psu.edu might yield some helpful results.
• Potentially getting Lorenzo to come to Penn State.
• Talking to Lorenzo more often throughout the semester

What did you learn?

• Competition opportunities
• How to apply Robert's in everyday life after this class
• Parliamentarians make more money than I thought in a short amount of time
• UPUA is looking for a Parliamentarian for this upcoming year
• FFA Parli Pro is intense!
• Employment opportunities as a Parliamentarian, up to making it a full-time profession
• Chairing can be difficult but is a lot of fun!
• About the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP), the Society for Agricultural Education Parliamentarians (SAEP), and the American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP) and how to register
• National parliamentary procedure from Lorenzo
• Lorenzo has a biology degree, proving that you can be a successful Parliamentarian no matter what your background is
• Working in our pods was more successful
• Final
• Parliamentary opinion

What do you want to learn more about?

• How to make organizations listen to Parli Pro so that business can be conducted more efficiently and effectively
• Teaching
• Job opportunities in other cities that I can do with accreditation 
• Check with your institution that grants you your accreditation
• Youth competitions
• Organizations like the FBLA, FFA, FCCLA, HOSA, BPA, TSA, and SkillsUSA (dark green handout) are a great place to start
• Paying dues, the accreditation, and the value of these
• Personally, I think it's worth it - there are so many opportunities for working with kids and teenagers, teaching, earning money both on the side and full time, etc. Most of the places I have applied to for jobs have mentioned that they were very interested in my accreditation. 
• Since the final next week, which doubles as the accreditation exam, is free thanks to Dr. Foster, definitely absolutely at least attempt the accreditation! You have nothing to lose and, of course, you have to take the final! ;)

Good luck on the final!

Session 3 - In Depth with Subsidiary Motions - January 29

Responses from your Tickets Out from Session 3!

What are you curious about?

• How often some organizations move to limit debate
• Depends on the organization
• Why did this class start?
• You should ask Dr. Foster!
• Subsidiary motions and what they are all about
• They Assist, Postpone, Modify, and Dispose of the Main Motion
• RONR, p. 62-66
• Better ways to run committee meetings
• We’ll learn that in session #12
• See RONR, p. 489-542 if you want information before then
• Best way to deal with people who don’t see the value of Parli Pro
• Talk to them and explain why it’s so useful! Anyone have any other ideas??
• Can you reconsider the motion to postpone indefinitely?
• An affirmative vote is reconsiderable RONR, p. 127, l. 17-20
• Still a bit confused about the difference between Lay on the Table and Postpone Definitely
• Lay on the Table is meant to put something aside for a short time because there is something more urgent that needs to happen right now. It doesn’t set a certain time to take the item up again (need to use Take from the Table). It is also not debatable or amendable. Postpone definitely just puts it off until a certain time (or another meeting).  This may be because you need to hold off on making a decision or because it needs to be decided at a more convenient time. It is debatable and amendable. RONR, p. 209-218 and RONR, p. 179-191
• The order of precedence
• For what we have learned so far: Lay on the Table, Call the Previous Question, Limit or Extend Limits of Debate, Postpone Definitely, Refer/Commit, Amend, Postpone Indefinitely, Main Motion
• How difficult the Parli Pro exam is
• If you study and practice, you should be ok! Below is some basic information and example questions
• All AP tests will use the same references and will consist of two parts: PART I: Five (5) open book parliamentary procedure research questions using the 2011 edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (to be provided by the taker of the test).
• Example: List the page and beginning line number of the following statement: “Until the chair states the question, the maker has the right to modify his motion as he pleases or to withdraw it entirely.” 
• Answer: Page 40 Beginning line number: 8
• PART II: Forty-five (45) multiple choice questions taken from Dunbar’s Manual of Parliamentary Test Questions and the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised.
• Example: Which of the following motions can the Previous Question be applied to?
• A. Adjourn
• B. Limit or Extend Limits of Debate
• C. Raise a Question of Privilege
• D. Lay on the Table
• Answer: B
• SAEP-Accredited Parliamentarian Credential has more information about the accreditation exam if you’re interested.
• When incidental motions take priority over subsidiary motions
• Incidental motions rank higher when they are actually applicable to the motion that is pending and need to be taken care of immediately RONR, p. 72, l. 24-36
• How do you properly suspend the rules?
• Next Week!
• More about previous question
• See RONR, p. 197-209
• How does the chair keep it all in line?
• Taking notes or asking for the secretary’s help

What did you learn?

• You can amend an amendment
• Characteristics of the seven subsidiary motions
1. Lay on the Table
2. Call the Previous Question
3. Limit of Extend Limits of Debate
4. Postpone Definitely
5. Refer/Commit
6. Amend
7. Postpone Indefinitely
• Subsidiary motions are third in precedence compared to privileged motions
• How to properly use the previous question
• All about motions :)
• The specifics of subsidiary motions and the ins and outs of them
• Call the previous question is not debatable
• How to make subsidiary motions properly 
• Gavel Taps
• There are many ways to use the subsidiary motions to your advantage and ultimately get your way
• The proper use of a lot of the motions I had sort of known about
• There are four types of committees
• Applying the motions to real scenarios

What do you want to learn more about?

• Why would you use postpone indefinitely instead of just voting it down?
• Postpone indefinitely is used when you can’t adopt or reject the motion without undesirable consequences. It kills the motion without taking a direct vote on the motion. RONR, p. 126, l. 7-9
• Also for strategy purposes (the Parliamentarian’s Motion) RONR, p. 128, l. 17-33
• A way to speak properly during a meeting
• We’ll go over debate later on. But until then try RONR, p. 385-399
• Committee of the Whole
• RONR, p. 529-542
• Looking forward to running through more practice session
• Yay!
• If the chairman makes a significant mistake, how is that corrected or brought to attention?
• Point of Order…we’ll learn about that next week!
• How to become more fluent in my Parli Pro
• Read and Practice!
• Incidental Motions
• That’s next week!
• How reconsider works
• We’ll learn about that in session #6
• Example of debating the motion to postpone indefinitely
• The following video has this motion starting at 5:10  
• Meridian FFA-2012 National FFA Convention Parli Pro Finals