Another RA and I did this program for our floors. It was a very successful program, especially for the freshmen students. The concept was to kill what activities occupied students’ time unnecessarily such as television, texting, playing video games, and Facebook.
Initially, we started by just assessing where we (the other RA and I), lose track of time and kill it.
We then took the discussion to program participants, and the discussion focused on what was vital and what was unnecessary.
The discussion focused on setting up a typical day. We had participants shout out any day of the week. Whatever day was the loudest was written on the board. Then, we proceeded to write the time of three general core classes for that day, and study time. After we did that, I asked if any students had business to attend outside of class. Some students work and intern, and we wanted to account for this important time constraint.
The discussion then moved into the other things that occupy a student’s time (television, texting, playing video games, socializing, working out, and social networking.) The program illustrated how there is just so much time in the day. The funny part was when participants started to argue about what time they wanted the day to end.
The goal was for participants to realize that time management isn’t as simple as writing down your classes and work schedule. It also reinforced the idea of getting to know the campus such as what computer labs are close, resources that can help students save and manage time, and remembering the time needed to travel from one class to another.
Although we programmed for our floor, we had residents from different floors show up.
Being that I am a fairly new RA, I found this program very helpful. We even had a few residents stay after and schedule their semester, while others wanted to make appointments with resources that could assist them to better manage their time.
Armed with homicidal weapons such as a planning system, class schedules, and knowledge of the campus, the residents can commit lethal crimes against unnecessary time. Over all, “Time to Kill” was a very murderous event that was completely legal!
Submitted by Harold Brown, University of Arkansas at Little Rock