Busy with Bylaws: A Morning with the Newport Parliamentary Procedure Team

Having the chance to give back to something that has changed you for the better is a powerful experience. This statement hits home every time I get to give back and have a positive impact on youth in agriculture, especially those in blue corduroy jackets. 

It has been a little over two years now since Newport's Parliamentary Procedure team got a fresh start with a group of nine excited individuals. And after months of studying, deliberating during mock meetings, and taking practice tests, we started competitions. Somehow, someway this group made an improbable run at states, and once there, were able to place first and advance to the National #SuperbowlLDE competition. 

Our Parliamentary Procedure Team after placing first at the 2017 PA FFA State Convention

Throughout our time as a part of this team, a few things stay with us even to this day. The first being a much greater understanding of parliamentary procedure, but we also forged a bond that was one of a kind. Practicing together multiple times a week at 7:00 A.M. has a way of bringing a group of teenagers together. 

Over Thanksgiving break, I had the chance to step back into that classroom, the same classroom that brought our team so close together. Being able to see eight smiling faces and know the amazing journey that are in for made me super excited. Especially because this time, I got to teach! After some discussion with my high school agriscience teacher and FFA advisor, Mrs. Barkley, we figured that the best thing for this team would be to cover something fundamentally important that I wish I would have more knowledge on during my time time on the team. The result we came to...bylaws!

Discussing bylaws back at Newport

This lead to a discussion and lesson on the nine standard articles that go into bylaws. But first, what are bylaws? Bylaws are a document of rules created by an organization or society that sets a precedence for how their organization conducts business. These nine standard articles set a solid baseline for bylaws, but bylaws can contain more than just these nine.

When teaching bylaws for the first time, a great tool to use is the mnemonic device NO MOME C PA (sounds like no mommy, see pa. Have you ever asked mom for something and get a no, only to ask dad shortly thereafter? This mnemonic device sounds a lot like that progression). 

But what exactly does NO MOME C PA stand for? These articles strive to answer the following questions(and more!).

N - Name: What is the name of the organization or society?

O - Object: What is the goal/objective of this organization?

M - Members: Who are your members? What rights do they have? Membership dues? 

O - Officers: What offices? What responsibilities? How are they elected? How do we fill vacancies?

M - Meetings: When are they they? How often? How do we call them? Special meeting protocol?

E - Executive Board: Who and how many serve on this board? Special rules for their meetings?

C - Committees: What standing committees exist? How do we make a special committee?

P - Parliamentary Authority: What parliamentary authority does the organization follow?

A - Amendments: If we need to change these bylaws, how do we do that?

That morning I was able to spend 40 minutes discussing the importance and meaning of these articles with the new Parliamentary Procedure team. Attentive and ready to learn, I cannot wait to see what they accomplish by participating in this leadership development event. 

And as I look back and reflect, a couple key thoughts come to the forefront.

1. It is amazing how the opportunity to build a team for a competition like this can bring people together

2. There are always opportunities to give back and share knowledge. We should do this more often.

3. I cannot wait to spend my future career sharing knowledge with amazing students such as these eight.

I was truly blessed to get a chance to share a little bit of knowledge regarding bylaws and parliamentary procedure.

Parliamentary Procedure, running meetings and bringing people together. Two noble and important tasks.

We're Going to the SuperBowl but this isn't Football

It was a no brainer that when the opportunity came about to participate as a collegiate assistant at the National Parliamentary Procedure LDE, more recently known as the SuperBowlLDE. When asked I wasn't sure what that entailed but if it meant getting to go and see the contest for myself. 

As a collegiate assistant there was a plethora of jobs that were available throughout the few days that the LDE was going on. For me I decided that I should stick to things I can't mess up especially since this was my first time not only helping with something like that but also seeing the contest. I was assigned to be a time keeper and a event host at various levels for the contest.

As an event host it was awesome just getting to sit and chat with all the members competing and learn about their journey to get to the National contest. As someone who was always the one more passionate about Parli Pro than her fellow FFA members it felt really good to hear the passion behind why these members compete and realize just how much Parli Pro means to them. 

Time keeping was what I was waiting for since it was a chance for me to sit in on the action. I know time keeping doesn't sound like a very rewarding job but it gave me a chance to listen to what the members were saying and how they were performing the motions. 

At the end of this experience I learned how important parliamentary procedure was to so many people such as the members, volunteers, and judges. It was awesome to be back with people in the blue jacket since I miss wearing it so much and be able to join in the excitement about parli pro. 

To anyone who has the chance to participate even if it is doing something as simple as time keeping I would 10/10 recommend. You get just as much out of it as you put into it and so that means that you can decide how much you take away from this experience. Even if you don't think you know that much about parli pro, sign up for something where you have a chance to expand your knowledge while also still sharing what you know. 

Living to Serve: #SuperbowlCDE Volunteer

With a blue corduroy jacket zipped to the top and a copy of Robert's Rules of Order in hand, an eager and excited, young FFA member walks into the National Parliamentary Procedure Career Development Event contest ready to prove their knowledge of Parli Pro. This nervous, anxious, young FFA member is someone that I know very well; I was this FFA member.

In the fall of 2010, I was able to travel to the National FFA Convention and compete with my team in the National Parliamentary Procedure Contest.  My team did not advance past the preliminary round however that did not hinder my experience in the contest; win or lose I loved every second of it!  This was an opportunity that helped to shape me into the person that I am today and was one of the first stepping stone of my journey to become an Agriculture Educator.

Flash forward to this fall, I was able to make my way back to National FFA Convention and the

National Parliamentary Procedure Contest.  Instead of competing myself this time, I was there to help with the contest and all of the FFA members there to compete.  Through my Parli Pro class at Penn State, I was able to take the opportunity to be a part of a team of Collegiate Volunteers to help with the contest in any way needed.

I was so excited to be back and be a part of the contest.  Being surround by fellow Parli Pro enthusiasts and talking about in depth concepts of Parli Pro (which sounds like a foreign language to anyone else), it felt like a big family reunion.  I was able to learn so much during my time helping with the contest.  I was able to learn more to add to my Parli Pro Knowledge Library but also learned how to successfully facilitate and plan a contest, something I can add to my teacher toolbox.

I had a blast being able to be a part of a judge's team and help with comment cards just as much as being a holding room monitor.  I loved being able to talk to the students as the awaiting going into the semi-final rounds.  I remembered being in their shoes and how I felt sitting there waiting and I loved that I could just talk with them, calm their nerves, joke, laugh and learn more about each of their teams and their stories.

I cannot wait to be able to finally make it back to the National FFA Convention again for the National Parli Pro Contest however I hope that the next time with be with my own students and a team of my own to compete!  My Parli Pro journey has almost made it full circle and I am hopeful and excited to see if I ever will get to take my own team back to where it all began for me!

Macy Fisher
#psuaged18

Teaching Parliamentary Procedure: Then vs. Now

Having had the opportunity to conduct a workshop for FFA members on parliamentary procedure not once, but twice, was an amazing experience that was filled with learning opportunities for both me and the students. I love interacting with members while we work on honing our parli skills. I facilitated these two workshops at different times. The first one took place while I was serving as a state FFA officer, while the second occurred after I had retired and was taking a class on parliamentary procedure #agedparli. After facilitating the second time, I realized a drastic difference in how I facilitated and the content I used to teach the students.

Similar in both workshops, I had about a forty minute window to facilitate the "basics of parli pro". First of all, "wow". How in the world do you fit parli pro into just forty short minutes? I understand it's the basic level, but there's so much to it that it was a daunting task. Together with Thomas Gabel, we developed a workshop that we thought could rock the socks off any parliamentarian around. We designed the workshop to meet the needs of our members and the criteria that would be covered at the State Legislative Leadership Conference. We included an activity on agendas and basic motions, including an opportunity to practice in a "mock meeting". Overall, we felt the students walked away with enough knowledge to comfortably participate in the conference. Now for a disclaimer: I knew parliamentary procedure, but nowhere near an accredited level. I understood how to chair a meeting comfortably and explain simple rules and procedures.

Jumping ahead, when I was asked to facilitate a parliamentary procedure workshop at the annual AFY leadership conference, I jumped at the opportunity. Immediately after I said yes though, a dozen thoughts about the workshop swirled around in my mind. I had forty minutes, forty SHORT minutes to teach students the basics of parli pro. I had some work to do. My biggest challenge when developing and facilitating this time around was determining what was important and what wasn't. At this point, I had been in AEE 216 #agedparli for a number of weeks, and my parli knowledge had grown exponentially. I understood concepts, ideas, and practices much better than I had before. It seemed like everything was important for the students to know. I settled on three things that I thought were very important to learn: what parliamentary procedure is and why we use it, the importance of agendas, and basic motions that may come up in a meeting setting.

Using this outline, the students participated in multiple activities that enhanced these learning objectives. I believe in practice by doing, so at the end of the workshop, the students had the opportunity to act independently while running a mock meeting. I sat in the back as the parliamentarian and provided answer to questions as they came up.

Overall, the workshop at the AFY conference was a success. I was worried I had failed the students because I did not feel proud of my teaching. After the conference however, students approached me saying how much they learned. I received several inquiries to come to individual schools to work with local FFA chapters in parli pro. I can't wait to continue to work with members by helping them understand and use parliamentary procedure.

From the time I conducted my first parli pro workshop to the second, I had learned more about the topic than I thought possible. My knowledge of the subject helped better prepare me for a successful workshop at the AFY leadership conference. I can't wait to see where I encounter parli and members in the future! #agedparli #bob #RONR

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) 

"All in favor? All Opposed?"- Reflecting my lesson

Preview of my lesson: 

I had the opportunity to work with a group of a group of freshman about one of my favorite topics, parliamentary procedure! Below is a quick overview of my lesson:

Do now: 

I decided to start off with having the students recall meetings they have attend to have them start thinking back on meetings they have attended and if how they felt in the meeting.

Anticipatory set:

I then had the students share their experiences at meetings with other students. As they were sharing I kept interrupting the whole group and throw out random facts about myself. This activity was to make the students feel like they weren't going to be heard in their mini meetings and to get them distracted from what they were talking about. The students got frustrated in their meetings. We all agreed that it was hard to focus one we got cut off and they did were not being heard.

I then introduced some main interests of mine to the group. I wanted them to know who I am and had a way for them to connect with me. 

Self Discovery Learning:

I love self discovery learning. I feel like a topic that kids might find less interesting this makes them want to learn about the topic. I placed the steps to creating and adopting a motion in sheet protectors and had the students place them in order. 

Once they discovered what a main motion was they found the flow of the order. Many students thought second was a "second opinion after a vote." When I was walking around to the small groups I had to ask some questions to get the group to place "obtain a second" in the right order.

Gaining attention from different learners:

The students then drew icons to these steps on the plastic sleeves to help them remember it. I then quickly lectured about main motion and the characteristics of it. 

We watched a great video of how a main motion is presented and passed in order to see the words and how it is played out. 

The students loved creating a dance to the steps of adopting a motion. The dance had to demonstrate what a main motion is, what a second is, what discussion looks like and a voice vote. The students presented their group dances and then I dismissed the class. 

Review:

I was overall very pleased with the engagement the class had in the lesson. I was surprised that the students wanted to learn about parliamentary procedure. These students had never heard of parliamentary procedure before that day. The students wanted to learn about voting and debating after the self discovery part. That activity helped my lecture component of the lesson! 

As an educator I need to plan my questions better. I tried asking students questions to make them think about why we would need parliamentary procedure and I struggled with that.

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

A Whole New World by Victoria Herr

Wow! Can you believe that we’re already a quarter of the way through this semester? So crazy to think about but also a good time to pause and reflect on what the past four weeks have entailed. 

AEE 216: Practical Parli Pro, or #AgEdParli, is a class like no other! Not only does the structure of this course vary greatly from that of a typical Penn State class, but the content is equally foreign. Coming into this, I thought that I was knowledgeable on Parliamentary Procedure, or at least knew enough to make it through a fair share of FFA meetings, I definitely had no idea how much there was to know though. Learning Parli Pro is almost like learning a new language but I would say it’s more like being thrown into a whole new world. There are so many new things to grasp and master and every word matters, seriously, every word. 

While I’m still a bit uneasy trying to get to know Robert’s Rules and become a member of the Parli Pro world, I’m confident that Dr. Foster will be a great tour guide! As we adventure into this great new world, Dr. Foster is Aladdin, the members of our class are Jasmine, and RONR is the magic carpet! (Just maybe without the whole romance bit)

So join along on our adventure as we experience a whole new world of Parli Pro!

Guest Blogger:

Victoria Herr

2019 Student Teacher Candidate

@Victoria_Herr

#TheAgTeachHerr