Mentor's Manual

Sec t i on I I I : Under s tand i ng the Es sent i a l s of Cl as s Admi n i s t rat i on 85

Managing the Class Schedule

Coordinate with the Site Coordinator the timing and overall schedule of the course you will be teaching, selecting the timetable that is best for you and your students. Class Format TUMI courses may be taught in a variety of formats (e.g. weekend, four-week, eight- or nine-week, etc.) depending upon your circum- stance. (See Ways to Schedule Your Training Programs in the Appendix for a variety of options.) You should feel the freedom to select the format that is best for you. While you are free to employ any teaching format that works for your students, we are convinced that the eight- or nine-week teaching format is best, with a clear rationale and solid advantages. 1. It enables students to better process the great amount of material contained in each module . Because each content segment contains a large amount of material that will be new and/or challenging to the students, there is value in allowing them to process smaller pieces of it in a given week. The danger, of course, is that the material becomes fragmented. Avoiding this requires effort on the part of the teacher to review and make connections. However, with this danger managed, the eight-week format allows students to focus on comprehending a single lecture, and then building on that comprehension with another single lecture. This yields greater total comprehension at the end of the course. 2. It tends to be more in sync with the volatile schedules of many bi-vocational urban leaders . The assignments, especially the readings, present a time problem for many bi-vocational students. The lengthening of the course from four to eight weeks provides much-needed additional time for completion. Between work and ministry, many students have precious few free hours in the week. Shortening class from 3/3.5 hours down to 2/2.5 hours eases some schedule difficulty. Rationale for an Eight- to Nine-Week Class Format

Managing the

Class Schedule