Hello RIT365 Facilitators!
We hope your semester is going well and you enjoyed that day off yesterday!
In this issue:
- Timely To-Do’s
- Student Health and Emergencies
- Connect Week Experiences
- Fourth Class Plan
- Rubric Reminders
- Class Observations
- Roar and Soar Student Emails
TIMELY TO-DO’S
Here are the most pressing reminders for this week. You can find the complete semester to-do list in your training folder.
- Begin coaching appointment sign-ups.
- Follow the Fourth Class Plan in your Planning Workbook.
- Keep in touch with your Co! Don’t forget to meet up and discuss what is happening in your class.
STUDENT HEALTH AND EMERGENCIES
If you have a student in crisis, you are not expected to be an expert in helping them. Your job is to do your best and support them, while not neglecting the rest of the class, and contacting people who are more qualified.
- Immediate Health Crisis (Seizures, fainting, etc)
- Call RIT Public Safety Emergency at 585-475-3333. Answer any questions and follow their directions as much as possible.
- Direct one student to get help (front desk of the building).
- One Facilitator cares for the ill student, while the other Facilitator continues to lead the rest of the class.
- Give the student space and privacy.
- Ensure the student is safe, in the care of medical professionals, or able to get home, then continue class.
- As appropriate, check in with class members, as emergencies may be triggering for some who might need to process the experience with the class or a professional.
- Follow up afterwards with the YOP team.
- Title IX (sex discrimination, including incidents of sexual or gender-based harassment, sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and stalking.)
- If a student tells you they are experiencing harassment or other similar problems, you are a mandated reporter.
- Office of Compliance and Ethics contacts
- If you are unsure if you should report something, the best practice is to report it and let the trained professionals decide if it needs to be followed up on.
- Mental Health Issues
The TIGERSAFE app is the official safety app of RIT that provides students, faculty and staff with added safety on campus. This is a quick and easy way to request assistance and send your exact location to the RIT Ambulance. The app is available on the App Store and Google Play.
CONNECT WEEK EXPERIENCES
Remember: Facilitators participate as co-learners alongside students during each Connect week experience.
- In the unlikely event an experience host is not at the meeting location, have one Co do one of the following:
- Slack @Wendy Gilmore-Fitzgerald
- Call YOP (585-475-6981)
- Email (wsgrla@rit.edu) and the YOP email (yop@rit.edu)
- Meanwhile, the other Co can start to check-in with students.
- If a Connect host does not show up within 15 minutes, please do not cancel class.
- This is very rare, but has happened a couple of times. If it does, lean into one of the “emergency plans” suggested in the Facilitation Activity Guide.
FOURTH CLASS PLAN
- Unique Goal: Facilitate your Reflect week class as we would any dialogue class, while carving out the final 15 minutes to introduce them to Individual Reflections.
- Student Individual Reflections can touch on any aspect of the entire experience cycle, not just the Connect week alone.
- If a student is absent for the Connect week experience, they do not need to make up the absence unless it exceeds the number of absences allowed to pass the course. Here are some helpful guidelines to consider.
RUBRIC REMINDERS
It can be easy for Individual Reflections to feel like ‘I tell students what the rubric is looking for, they do it, I give them the points.’ However, one of the biggest factors in the quality of Individual Reflections is in how we introduce the assignment.
Students are more likely to engage meaningfully when they understand:
- Individual Reflections are not about completing the task assigned.
- Individual Reflections are about making meaning from their experiences.
As you prepare to introduce the first Reflection assignment, consider emphasizing how Reflections can help students:
- Recognize their growth and development
- Connect experiences to personal goals and values
- Explore questions, challenges, and successes
- Make meaning from their first semester at RIT
Sometimes the best way to improve the rubric experience for everyone is to start by improving the Reflection experience.
CLASS OBSERVATIONS
Beginning shortly, we will be starting classroom observations.
- Before each observation: we’ll send a confirmation email that includes an ask if you’d like us to focus our attention on a specific aspect of your class. We’ll include in the email the Observation in Action Form, which is the guide we use when we come to observe.
- During the observation, we’ll take some notes so we can follow up with offering you constructive feedback so that you may improve your practice.
- Post observation feedback will be emailed to both facilitators with an invitation to reflect on the class together.
- We’ll also ask you to complete a post observation survey/reflection.
- We will also be observing some of the Connect experiences, to build connections and develop relationships with our Host Partners. This is separate from the Class Observations.
- If you have any questions about observations, please contact
ROAR AND SOAR WEEKLY STUDENT EMAILS
Each Sunday, Academic Affairs sends students a “Roar and Soar” email with timely reminders about campus resources and strategies for success.
- We will share the upcoming content with you so you’ll know what your students are receiving.
- Encourage them to use the email as a reference point and a guide.
- The goal is for students to practice navigating and wayfinding resources on their own, building skills they can carry beyond RIT 365.
- Please do not distribute this information directly to students.
- Direct them back to the “Roar and Soar” email so they get in the habit of finding and using these resources themselves.
Roar and Soar Week 4 (Sept. 13)
PRIMARY POINTS OF CONTACT
For questions that cannot be answered by visiting the Facilitator Resources website, the PULSE Archive, or talking with your Co, feel free to contact one of us:
- SAU-A510 Standard Office Hours: DROP IN!
- Monday, Wednesday-Friday: 9-4:30
- Tuesday: 9-10,12-4:30
- Facilitator Support:
- Course Logistics, Experience Weeks and/or myCourses:
- Supplies:
- General Questions:
- Safety & Emergencies:
- RIT Public Safety: 585-475-2853 (V/TTY) or text 585-205-8333
- Emergencies: 911 or RIT Ambulance: 585-475-3333
- Download the RIT Tigersafe App for quick access
THANK YOU for being part of what makes this all possible!
We're grateful to have you as part of our Fall 2026 team!
The YOP Team
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