New Advanced Judging School

[charlier]

In the current issue of "The Judge" Dain King talks about the new Advanced Judging School that is being offered at Philadelphia this year.

It is being offered for judges with more than 15 Judging Credits.

 

This school will:

"It will minimize the time spent on on the basic worksheets and introduction items, yet it will re-emphasize the foundational precepts including the General Policy"

"More time will be spent on the decision-making process whilst on the judging field through the eyes of the Team Captain".

 

First, let me say this is a GREAT idea especially for those of us who have been judging for a while. I seem to remember a judging school I attended last year where a suggestion was made for this type of school. Very glad to see that the Judges Training folks were/are listening!

 

After reading Dain's article, I think that the Judged Training folks may want/need to clarify a few things about this new Judging School.

 

First, will this Advanced Judging School be offered at ALL AACA Nationals starting in 2020 or is this just at the Philadelphia Meeting?

If it is not offered at every National, can Judging Admin PLEASE note which Nationals it will be available at during the Judging Registration process (ie BOTH on-line registration and non on-line registration) as well as in "The Judge"? 

 

Second, what is meant by "this judging school will be for judges with more than 15 Judging Credits".  Not trying to nitpick here but is this 15 Total Judging Credits or 15 Field Judging credits? (Like the distinction made for Judging at a Grand National regarding Field Judging Credits.) Not clearly defining this could cause confusion and could create problems when a National reserves a meeting room that is TOO large or TOO small for the number of people that show up for a regular or advanced Judging school. 

 

Since not a lot of judges may be using the AACA Forums, it might be a good idea for these clarifications to be gone over in an upcoming issue of "The Judge" as well as posted here

 

Thanks,

 

Charlie

 

[Dain King]

Hi Charlie,

 

This Advanced Judging School at Philadelphia is a trial balloon.  It not scheduled elsewhere. 

 

It is tailored to active judges with at least 15 total judging credits.  Since Team Captains School is being conducted at the same time in a different room, it is not for Team Captains.  We do not know how many to expect at this first try, but the room is big enough, which you correctly point out as a potential problem at other National Meets.  Fortunately, at Philly we have the added projectors and instructors needed to put it on. 

 

Since attendance at a Judging School is required each year before you may judge on the field, this fulfills that requirement.  In fulfilling that requirement, you will recognize many of the slides in the presentation, and many of the new ones are also presented in the regular judging school, which will be conducted by Stan Kulikowski and John Harvey.  We have been working on this for several months.

 

You will see fewer slides regarding filling out the component worksheets.  But, you will see the slide that shows "The General Policy."  That is the basis upon which our judging is based.  (But I promise not to read it.)  The sequence of slides are in the same order, but the comments will be at an advanced level, knowing that all the judges have been on the field at least five times.  I draw your attention to page 2-2 of the 2019 Guidelines, at the bottom, V.  National Judging Schools, A. Requirements,  3. A minimum of two hours must be allotted for the school and the current judges training program must be presented.  After that is done, the coordinator may use additional time for further programs and/or a question and answer session.   We expect to be running at about 3600 rpm compared to the normal 1750, which will allow questions and possibly discussions.

 

No two judges will have the same perception as to what to expect, including myself.  There are requirements that must be met, and they will.  We hope to make this more enjoyable and meaningful to those of you who have been attending every year, just waiting with anticipation to hear what is new for this year.  But we cannot ignore the basics, which are sometimes forgotten, and then caught by the Admin Team, and you end up with jelly on your face. 

 

Your critique of this program is important, and if submitted will be read.  This is just a trial balloon.  Let's see what you think of it.

 

See you in Philly,

 

Dain King

[charlier]

Dain,

 

Thank You so Very Much for answering my questions on this topic. This idea of this being a trial balloon with a critique is an excellent way to gauge something new like this.

 

Normally I do attend the Judging school in Philadelphia. Sadly, this year I will be unable to attend due to a conflict with a family event.

 

Just wondering, how does attendance at the Philadelphia Judging school compare to that of Fall Hershey? If Fall Hershey's school is as big or bigger than Philadelphia, it might be worth considering doing a "Phase Two" trial of this school at Hershey. That way you can fine tune the school using the feedback from Philadelphia and present it at Hershey then request additional/final feedback. After a Hershey "Phase Two" trial and those critiques, the VP in charge of Judges education can then decide how to proceed for next year.

 

Once again, Thanks for answering my questions.

 

Charlie

[AnniesSS]

From the past 2 years of being at both Philly & Hershey, Philly has way more people because (I think) it's the only seminar going on at that time, where Hershey has, well, Hershey 😉

 

I too like the idea of an advanced Judging school and hope it becomes the norm 🙂

[Terry Bond]

And-it went off great!!!  Dain gave his usual fabulous presentation and hit he highlights. This has been a much needed school, and the advanced level was certainly reflected in the discussion that took place.  Lots of constructive suggestions that I'm sure will lead to clarification in future training sessions, CJEs and the guidelines themselves.  What was really impressive was the amount of expertise in that room.  

Terry 

[Dain King]

Thanks for all the encouragement.  I have heard a lot of it, some was immediately after the school.  The best thing I saw was that we were able to discover an area that we will bring up to the judging committee to re-consider, that of vinyl lettering on commercial vehicles.  The open dialogue was great and quite informative.

 

Stand by,  that was not the last of it.  There will be more Advanced Judging Schools, but not at every meet.  Three things we need to consider, available instructors, available rooms and projectors, plus, the number of total judges in attendance.

 

Again, thank you for the extremely kind words.

 

Dain King

[Guest Mark McAlpine]

The Advanced Judging School was definitely great.  What I liked in particular was that the abbreviated presentation of the basic information allowed more time for discussion and elaboration on answers to questions.  As Terry said, there was a lot of expertise and experience in the room (in addition to Dain's).  I was a sponge that day and absorbed a lot of information.

 

Great initiative, Dain--thank you very much for putting it together!