Lesson Plan for Corridor Meeting #1

First Year & Mixed Halls

University/Residential Expectations

Opening Night (Thursday)

Connection to Residential Curriculum:

List what learning outcomes and competencies this strategy addresses.

  • Effective Community Engagement: Develop a sense of belonging in one’s residential community and at Miami University.
  • Effective Community Engagement: Understand how one’s actions and decisions affect the community.
  • Intrapersonal Development: Make socially responsible and safe decisions.
  • Cultural Competency: Engage in positive interactions with people different from one’s self.

Objectives/Purpose:

  • Residents will identify the key resource person available to them to support his/her Academic Success, Intrapersonal Development, Effective Community Engagement, and Cultural Competency: the Resident Assistant.
  • Residents will participate in an activity that helps them know who else resides in their community.
  • Residents will articulate the basic university expectations related to FYI and living on campus.
  • Residents will utilize of the services and opportunities provided in their residence hall as well as the plethora of activities planned for them during the first few weeks of the academic school year.

Duration: This meeting will take at least one hour, probably an hour and a half (depending on the ice breaker). You can find a list of resources on ice breakers online with this lesson plan.

Outline:

Before the Meeting

How you decide to advertise for this meeting is going to set the tone and routine for the year. We encourage you not to use words like “mandatory,” because it’s not accurate. We suggest doing some large posters/butcher block paper sign. You may want to call it the “Welcome meeting.” You want to review this lesson plan prior to the meeting and make notes on everything you might want to explain. This needs to come out in your voice. If you are staring at the lesson plan the entire time, it will not seem natural or like it is coming from you. Consult your supervisor if you have specific questions.

Things you may want residents to bring to the meeting (and thus put on your advertisements) include:

  • Welcome Week schedules (received at check in)
  • A writing utensil (especially if you need it for your activity)
  • Anything else they may need for your ice-breaker
  • Room Inspection Card

Things you will want to take to your first corridor meeting include:

  • This lesson plan (don’t do it from memory).
  • Welcome Week schedule
  • A writing utensil (especially if you need it for your activity)
  • Anything else they may need for your ice-breaker
  • A copy of the Roommate Agreement and Community Agreements Guide
  • A copy of the post card for the Policies of On-Campus Living
  • Stack of note cards (one per resident) to do an assessment/question activity.

At the Meeting

I.Who are you? What is a RA?

  1. Introduce what is going to happen and provide an agenda. Then, introduce yourself. Pose the question, “So, what does a Resident Assistant (RA) do?” Get the residents in co-constructing a picture of the many roles you play. This also gives you an opportunity to correct what you are not, like a “police officer.” Expect both positive and negative comments. Some roles you may want to highlight include: community builder, resource, sounding board/good listener, role model, documenter in situations, educator (some might call this programmer), and mediator.

II.Ice Breaker

  1. Clarifying your roles will lead you into an ice-breaker/get-to-know you activity for the corridor. This seems more natural than launching right into things. You may want to do the ice-breaker first. Play this hear and modify based on your own style.
  1. Come prepared with an ice-breaker activity ready to go. You need to set the tone as someone who is organized from the very beginning. Use the resources provided online or consult your supervisor if you are not sure what this activity might look like.

III.Miami Expectations

  1. The Four C’s

First Year Institute: “the same people who brought you New Student Orientation have created some intentional activities to get your acquainted with Miami University, its resources, traditions, and how you can be successful from the very beginning. These events are called First Year Institute and they are designed to continuing building your skills in the areas of Confident, Comfortable, Connected, and Curious.

  1. Welcome Week Schedule Overview

i)May want to do an overview of the activities. If you are going to do this, you may to tell them to bring their FYI schedules to the meeting. Most times, halls will pass these out to residents at move-in tables.

ii)Explain to your residents that they will be leaving as a large group for Convocation in the morning (Friday) (set a time). Designate a place to meet to walk to Convocation as a group. Convocation starts promptly at 9am, so don’t be late

iii)They will be attending Convocation where they will hear the author of the Summer Reading book speak.

iv)Pass out the labels with groups to your residents. These should be provided to you by the Director of Residence Life during the session on Welcome Week and Summer Reading Book discussions. There is a distinct possibility that some of your residents will not actually be with you, but instead with another RA (probably of the opposite gender) in your community. Let them know to bring their books with them to the Convocation, because they will be going directly to classroom buildings to discuss the book with an RA and a member of the faculty or staff at Miami.

  1. Alcohol.EDU

i)Remind them that they need to have ALCOHOL.EDU completed by the start of classes. Every first year students completes these modules and not doing so leads to a hold on their account so they cannot change courses (add, drop, or register).

IV.Residential Expectations

  1. Policies for On-Campus Living

“Until we are able to discuss our Community Agreements, we will be abiding by the policies set forth in the Student Handbook and Policies for On-Campus Living. You receive a post card with a website for this document when you checked in. You are responsible for knowing this information even if you choose not to read it. Much like class, we will expect you to know it whether you read the materials or not. Ignorance is not a defense in college.”

  1. Community Agreements

Miami University is committed to helping make you better citizens when you leave us for bigger and better things. Because of this, we guide you through a process of setting your own standards for communal living in your first year. You will receive a guide to prep for this activity in about two weeks, and then we will have a discussion and create a document around the fourth week of school, when you are more comfortable with college life and have a better understanding your routine and expectations away from home. If you have questions, please feel free to see me after the meeting.

  1. Roommate Agreements

One of the activities/tool that Miami University uses to set up roommates for success is a guide called the Roommate Agreement. It is meant to help you proactively address issues that we know arise for most college student during some part of their experience here at Miami. While you are all probably saying, “that isn’t (ain’t for effect) gonna be me” please see me so we can do can sit down together and complete your Roommate Agreement first. Remind the residents that, as specified at check-in, they will need to complete this before they receive their mailbox combination. Also, you may want to highlight that you (and potentially the RD) will be reading these documents, so they should take them seriously. Otherwise, we (some on the staff) may come ask the roommates to do it over again.

V.The Behavior Stuff

  • Alcohol: “This is dry building and no one (including me - the RA) will possess or consume alcohol in our community. As you might guess alcohol use can have a very negative impact on our community.” Ask residents to list some of the negative impacts alcohol could have on your community. Make sure they get them all: noise, vandalism, assault, sexual misconduct, academic problems, legal and judicial problems, interfering with the achievement of their goals, injury, and death. Let them know that you will confront and document anyone whom you have reason to believe is consuming or possesses alcohol.
  • Visitation and Escort: “You are always responsible for escorting people who don’t live in our building around the hall. Failure to do so may result in documentation. Take responsibility for your guests.” “In regards to visitation, guests can visit noon to midnight Monday -Thursday and from noon on Friday to midnight Sunday. Guest may only visit with the consent of your roommate.”
  • Noise: “On the weekdays, quiet hours begin at 9 pm. During the weekends, quiet hours begin at midnight.” During week four, residents will get the opportunity vote on whether these should be changed. The primary purpose of quiet hours to help people with the two priorities for academic success: studying and sleeping.
  • Bathroom & Lounge cleanliness: “Our housekeepers (names) help by cleaning up the bathrooms and common areas of our community. Let’s make their job as easy as possible. Pick up after yourself. Flush toilets. Pick up trash in the hallways. Let’s keep this community looking nice.”
  • Damages: If something gets damaged or worse purposely broken (vandalism), come find me (the RA) and we’ll help figure things out. If there is a problem in your room or in the building, submit a work request via MyCard.

VI.The Safety and Security

  • “If an alarm sounds, leave the building immediately. Once you exit the building, meet everyone outside the building at ______location. If there is inclement weather, we will go ______and meet there.”
  • “Tampering with the fire alarms or smoke detectorsanywhere in the building including your room is a crime and will not be tolerated.”
  • Review the Tornado procedures for your building. This is specific to each location. You will be going to a location that is far away from glass. Remember that some residents are not from Ohio or the Midwest, and therefore, do not know what a Tornado Siren sounds like or what to do.
  • Never prop the stairwell doors or outside (front/side) doors. The front doors are alarmed for that purpose. They emit a really annoying sound. The stairwell and laundry room doors need to shut for fire code and tornado safety purposes.
  • BCRTA SafeRide was established for the protection of students after dark, BCRTA SafeRide provides a safe escort for persons travelling alone during evening hours, operating until 3 AM Monday through Saturday nights and 1 AM on Sunday night. Students can call BCRTA at (513) 785-5237 or toll-free (855) 42-BCRTA for this service. Students calling BCRTA SafeRide should consider riding the bus when their destinations are on or near a BCRTA route.
  • Room Decorations: Do not stick anything to your walls including the 3M products (even though they say it will not damage the paint – it does). Use plasti-tac and s-hooks to hang items on your walls. You may not cover the outside of your door with paper. It is a fire hazard. You may not hang anything from the pipes as that might damage the pipes.
  • RA/Advisor on duty: “Every night from 7pm to 7am, one of us RAs will be around the hall to assist students. You will probably see us walking around. This is our time to make sure things are safe in the building and get a chance to get to know each of you. There is also a full-time staff member in Residence Life on duty for the entire campus. The Advisor on Duty is there to be back-up for us RAs if we can’t figure something out or need help.”

VII.Hall Services

  1. Trash and Recycling. If it looks too full, take your trash out to our hall’s large dumpster. (RA should point out the location of the dumpster). We take recycling very seriously at Miami. We use single-stream recycling which means that all paper, plastic and aluminum can be recycled together in the blue bins. Do not put any food in the recycling bins. Pizza boxes with grease on the cardboard may not be recycled.
  1. Housekeepers: “These are not our personal maids, but full-time staff here to assist in the cleanliness of the community. Treat them with respect. They love to get to know the residents and will talk to you.” Clean up after yourself. You may also want to cover the use of the janitor/housekeeping closet at this point.
  1. Maintenance Issues: “Maintenance concerns or things broken/not working in your room can be reported through MyCard. “What is MyCard?” Have a resident explain it and then add that they should go check it out at muohio.edu/mycard. They can also check out dining options and other cool things at Mycard.
  1. Lock-outs: If you get locked out of your room, there are several ways you can get back in. If you have access to a smart phone or computer you can use the “openmydoor” function, on the idcard webpage. You can use your phone/computer or someone else’s. (If possible, show them the website on a phone or laptop. Have them bookmark it. If you cannot find anyone with a phone or computer, you can go to your RAs room/FYAs office and see if he/she is available. (Note, tell residents not to ask housekeepers to open their doors. They do not have this access).

When you need to have a staff member assist you, there is a $7.00 charge per lock-out to make sure this is not a recurring thing and you are responsible for carrying your ID Card. More info about all the other ways to unlock your door using

  1. Voicemail/Long Distance/VIOP Phones: “You will notice that there is no phone in your room, but a phone in the corridor. You can use this phone to make local calls. If you wish to use it to make long distance calls, you must request a long distance code from Telecommunications.
  1. TV/Rec Room/RA Closet Equipment: “All residence halls & Heritage Commons now have flat screen televisions in the main lounge with a large channel television package on it. You have standard cable in your rooms”. “In our hall we also have a (pool table/fuse ball/table tennis) in the main lounge. This is for community use. You can check out the necessary equipment or other games/supplies from me (the RA) or the RA on duty.”
  1. Other amenities: community/corridor kitchen, laundry room, other major community spaces specific to your building, study room/formal living room. Cover what students might not know.
  1. Mail and package pick-up: “Mail is sorted every day by the RA on duty starting at 7pm. If you have a package, you will receive an email from Mail Services, directing you to go pick it up at Wells Hall – across from McGuffey Hall. You need your ID.”

VIII.LLC: Your Supervisor may have you say a few words at some point in this meeting about your Living Learning Community. Consult your supervisor about this. It may be covered in the All Hall Meeting.

  1. You will probably want to remind people of the LLC Kick-Off Event on Friday evening for your hall. There are probably going to be signs all over the place to remind them as well.

IX.Wrap-Up

  1. Pass out note cards and have each resident write at least one question they have about college, Miami University, or residence hall living on it. You will collect these to get a sense of any themes that may be out there. You can explain that residents can write their name on the card if they want a specific answer back from you. Otherwise, you will not be able to identify specific people.
  1. Remind people that another Corridor Meeting will occur around the fourth week of school. This is where the community will discuss the Community Agreement.
  1. Ask people to turn in their Room Inspection Cards.

After the Meeting

You will want to clean up the space after your meeting. Then, you will want to review your note cards to see what types of questions have been posed.