Being a full-time college student during a pandemic is tough! This semester, I am 100% remote. Five of my classes are work at your own pace with deadlines. For the other class, I have a “live” asynchronous class two days a week. Fortunately, I think I have my school week down to a science. Here’s how I’ve been organizing my school week this Spring Semester!
Day One: Monday (Administrative Day)
On Mondays, my professors post their lectures and assignments for the week. I actually like the fact that my school week starts on a Monday, as opposed to Sunday. I treat this as my administrative day. I’ll get organized for the week. I’ll update my personal grade book and write out my master to-do list. My to-do list typically includes what assignments are due and what lectures I have to watch. I find this is the best way to start the week.
Day Two: Tuesday (Lecture Learning Day)
To avoid burnout, I typically spend Tuesdays watching lectures and taking notes. In a perfect world, I would power through and watch videos for all six of my classes, but I typically get through half of them. This is one of my learning days!
Day Three: Wednesday (Homework Day)
On Wednesdays, we do homework. Most weeks, I’ll have assignments due Thursdays at 11:59 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:59 p.m. This day, I’ll quickly reread the lecture notes I took the day before (Tuesday) and I’ll crank out the assignment due the next day (Thursday.) If I don’t have a specific assignment due the following day, I’ll get a jump start on homework due later in the week.
Day Four: Thursday (Lecture Learning Day)
Now it’s back to watching lectures! I previously mentioned that I’ll watch videos for at least three of my classes on Tuesday. Thursday is when I will watch lectures for my other three classes. In addition to listening and taking notes. I’ll briefly reread all of the notes I’ve taken this week to ensure I am retaining the information.
Day Five: Friday (Homework Day)
Finally! As it is getting closer to the weekend, I want to make sure that all of my deadlines are met. I’ll spend a few hours today working on the homework assignments that are due Saturday night. Once I cross off everything on my weekly to-do list, I sign out of my email and school website. I’m officially clocked out of school for the week.
Day Six: Saturday (Nothing)
You read that right. On Saturdays, I literally do nothing – at least nothing school-related. This is my day to unplug, recharge, and enjoy a day without homework, lectures, or upcoming deadlines.
Day Seven: Sunday (Prep Day)
Today is the day I allow myself to log back on to school stuff. I’ll check my email and my school website. Just to make sure I didn’t miss anything urgent. While I don’t do a full-on administrative day like Monday, I will check the syllabus for each class and loosely figure out what my week will look like.
It isn’t all that glamorous, but this system is working for me. It is definitely a work in progress, and but it has been keeping me on schedule and helps me remember to check-in. It also helps give me a break to unplug and unwind.
Cheers!
Lydia
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