Map Out Your Weekly Plan

Man at desk writing outline

 

Figuring out what your typical week will look like will save you headaches down the road. If there is a weekly rhythm students can count on, it will help them keep track of what they should be doing —especially in the beginning. This doesn't mean the weekly plan is fixed in stone. Obviously, there will be weeks (with major projects. presentations, midterms, etc.) when you will need to adjust.

Your plan will be dependent on how often you intend to meet and what needs to get done between-times. Below are some example meeting plans developed by SU faculty during summer 2020. The first plans are for courses that meet once a week, either because they always met once a week or because the instructors moved some of the learning activities into Canvas to avoid Zoom fatigue. Below that are some examples of plans for courses that meet more often. On the Get a Course Template page, you will find templates for fully online courses, courses that meet once a week and courses that meet M/W/F and T/Th.

 

Example Plans for One Meeting a Week
INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT:  Instructor - Colette Hoption

BEFORE CLASS (via Canvas):

  • Do text readings and read case study.
  • Complete online quiz about how the text concepts relate to the case study.
  • Watch online tutorial debriefing the application of the text readings to the case study.
  • Submit a drawing that represents an abstract concept (featured in the case study) that they are randomly assigned by me.
  • Submit any fuzzy questions in the comments section of the assignment.

DURING CLASS (over Zoom or in-class):

  • Share drawings in their pre-assigned small groups with the goal of listening to and critiquing each other; ideally, each group will see drawings about all the concepts for that lesson (which are known to be particularly difficult for students to tease apart).
  • When time is up, engage in large group discussion where volunteers (preferably at least one volunteer from each group) share their drawings and at the end of large-group sharing, each concept should be touched on.
  • I will debrief drawings after every presentation to solidify understandings and at the very end, make sure all ‘fuzzy questions’ are addressed (the ones that were submitted before class, as well as any new ones that surfaced).

AFTER CLASS  (via Canvas):

  • Make any modifications to their individual pictures (based on their improved understanding) and post the picture on group discussion along with description of how it represents the concept (no more than 300 words) and how the class meeting influenced their picture.

THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:  Instructor - Enyu Zhang

BEFORE CLASS (via Canvas):

  • Read the assigned chapters.
  • Watch recorded lectures and videos about the theories.
  • Study and prepare a short oral presentation about an assigned theory.
    • Turn in the presentation via Canvas before Zoom class.

DURING CLASS (over Zoom or in-class):

  • Whole class:
    • Review earlier materials.
    • Q&A about before-class contents.
  • Small groups:
    • Students will help one another prepare for their presentations on the same theory.
    • Students will join new groups and present their assigned theories. Each student will teach a theory and learn the other theories from the peers.
    • Students will compare and contrast all theories based on before-class contents and earlier group activities.
  • Whole class:
    • Groups will share notes and report back to the whole class.
    • I will clarify muddy points and sum up the key points.

AFTER CLASS  (via Canvas):

  • Students will take a quiz about the theories of international relations.
  • Further exploration and application of the theories will follow in upcoming weeks

 

MATH METHODS:  Instructor - Tracy Drinkwater

BEFORE CLASS (via Canvas):

  • Write reflection about prior experience learning math, prior experiences of others via interview
  • Readings: text chapters, articles, etc.
  • Expert teacher/speaker videos, websites
  • Modified Jigsaw approach: each student finds an article in area of interest of further study, write up reflection to share in class
  • Individuals post summary of discussion and remaining questions (Canvas)

DURING CLASS (over Zoom or in-class):

  • Mini-lectures (up to 15 minutes at a time)
  • Share expert teacher/speaker videos, websites
  • Group discussion (small class) on videos, lecture topics, key questions
  • Jigsaw readings and sharing of highlights

AFTER CLASS  (via Canvas):

  • Reflections (300-600 words) that tie week's lecture, video, readings and/or discussions to future unit plan assignment
  • Reflections (350-1000 words) about chosen article for further pedagogical study, visit to other learning environments.

VOCAL TECHNIQUE & PERFORMANCE:  Instructor - Leann Conley-Holcom

This is a highly interactive class that usually meets once per week. It has been decided that it will be fully virtual in the fall. I did my best to build a basic template here that could be maintained week to week, though I usually include several larger reflective (writing) assignments throughout the quarter that I have not shown below.

BEFORE CLASS  (via Canvas)

  • Read: text chapter, articles, etc.
  • View: video (masterclass with voice professional; educational video on a concept; performance to analyze)
  • Post a question or something new you learned from this week’s video
  • Complete weekly voice practice log/summary
  • When applicable, sign up to perform/be part of the week’s masterclass portion of the synchronous Zoom meeting (these signups could occur at the beginning of the quarter so students knew in advance when they’d be expected to sing for the group)

DURING CLASS (via Zoom)

  • Open with brief survey of students’ practice: what questions or ‘hacks’ can they share with the group regarding developing their daily singing practice?
  • As a group, review and discuss the insights/questions posted in response to the week’s reading/video(s)
  • Mini-lecture, instructor demonstration, or viewing a short video together on pertinent concept or skill
  • Alternating week to week:
    • Small group breakout rooms to practice and/or discuss the week’s concept (perhaps using poll function in Zoom to check in on group progress and offer prompts as we go) – then report back
    • Students take turns performing for one another and receiving direct feedback from instructor & peers
  • Offer the week’s ‘video prompt’ for next time – try the concept you learned today
  • Brief wrap-up and looking to next week’s assignment/s

AFTER CLASS  (via Canvas)

  • During weeks in which a student has performed, a short self-evaluation (quiz format on Canvas) of the performance and noting successes, areas for improvement, insights, and/or progress toward personal goals – each student would do approx. 3 of these per quarter
  • Flipgrid video submission demonstrating practice/understanding of the concept (such as forward resonance) and trying out with one’s own voice

POVERTY LAW:  Instructor - Dean Spade

BEFORE CLASS (via Canvas):

  • Readings
  • Post reading questions to discussion board (due 24 hours before our class)
  • Respond to at least two other people’s posts
  • Watch “response lecture” video where I address some of their questions (posted at least 12 hours before class)

DURING CLASS (over Zoom or in-class):

  • Check in about group project logistics
  • Time in group for group project work
  • In small groups, discuss a problem (usually something from the headlines) that brings the reading themes to the surface and requires them to apply the critical ideas
  • Small groups report back about problem and I give some concluding remarks about any key themes that were missed or need clarification

AFTER CLASS  (via Canvas):

  • Short reflection: biggest “aha” from these readings/discussion, outstanding questions from these readings/reflections
  • Ongoing work on group project

 

Example Plans for Multiple Meetings a Week
BIOPSYCHOLOGY:  Instructor - Michael Spinetta

Below is Michael Spinetta's plan before building the course. ►Here is that plan translated into Canvas Download translated into Canvas.

BEFORE CLASS MONDAY (via Canvas):

  • Individual: Find an article of interest and post it to a CANVAS discussion board. (We will be demonstrating this process during the first week of class)
  • Group: I will be posting a weekly article(s) as well that you should read and familiarize yourself with. I will also provide prompts to help guide your reading.

DURING CLASS MONDAY (via Zoom)

  • We will be digging into the group article in-depth, discussing relevance and contribution to understanding the Neuroscience topic(s) of interest that we are discussing that week.
  • We will also provide an opportunity for you to summarize something relevant from the articles you found and present that to the class.

BEFORE CLASS WEDESDAY (via Canvas):

  • Individual: Read one of your colleague’s articles and comment on something you found salient about the article/something more you’d like to learn.

DURING CLASS WEDNESDAY - SAME AS MONDAY (via Zoom)

DURING CLASS FRIDAY - SAME AS MONDAY (via Zoom)

AFTER CLASS FRIDAY (via Canvas)

Weekly wrapup:

  • Individual: you will be answering brief questions, based on the prompts provided to read the group article and discussion of the relevant topic from the week.
    • What is something new that you learned that you didn’t know before?
    • How does this apply to the topic(s) we discussed this week?
    • What else would you like to know and how would you go about this?

INTEREST, PARTIES, AND ELECTIONS:  Instructor - Patrick Schoettmer

 The plan will be to substitute the Monday meeting of the MWF schedule with online content.

BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY (via Canvas)

  • Read assigned papers and/or chapters.
  • Work through module presenting the topic for the week.
    • The module will be roughly the equivalent of one class lecture's worth of material, and will generally comprise 3 discussion sections and 5-6 informational/interactive pages.

DURING CLASS WEDNESDAY (via Zoom)

Wednesdays will be our discussion/reflection day. It will be built along the following structure:

  • Students will begin with an opportunity to touch base and build camraderie by having the floor to talk about current news events and topics -- given that the class is being taught during an election cycle and the students are (mostly) political science majors, it will invariably be the case that some if not all of the things they are reporting will be germane to the topic of the week.
  • After the ice-breaker, the session will be built around three questions. Each questions will be allotted about 25 minutes.
    • The first 5-10 minutes of the question time will be a mini-lecture, laying out the question, identifying why we care about it, and connecting it to specific readings.
    • The next 10-15 minutes will be discussion time, where students will retreat into groups to discuss the material.
    • The last 5-10 minutes will be report time, where we discuss as a group the small group conclusions.

DURING CLASS FRIDAY (via Zoom)

Fridays will be the interactive "lab" day of the class. The class will be divided into two sections

  • The first half will be introduction to the data analysis project for the day. The class will be using excel as our data analysis program, mostly because everyone would benefit from graduating from college with some proficiency with excel.
  • The second half will be focused on the students using data to answer a question and report back. The question will always be on the topic of the week. Furthermore, students will be working as teams, as each student will be assigned in pairs to a state each week.

AFTER CLASS (via Canvas)

  • Students will complete the weekly component of their scaffolded paper assignment
  • Students will write a weekly reflection piece