Class Meeting Agenda Template (2-hour summer Zoom, HS students)

This is the summer-term agenda template for 2-hour Zoom class meetings with high-school students. For the 3-hour on-campus fall format, see agenda-template.md.

The summer term compresses the course: expect to cover roughly two topics per 2-hour meeting. Debates are dropped from this format — HS students on Zoom are less talkative in the main room, and small-group breakouts get the participation share instead. Each breakout doc lives at docs/breakouts/<topic>.md (two prompts per topic; groups pick one and report back).

Two motifs work well. Pick whichever fits the day’s material. For Lecture 1, when there is no assigned reading yet, see the Lecture 1 variant at the bottom.

Motif A (default) — Split lecture / breakout after each topic

Best when the two topics on the day are roughly balanced in weight and each has a good breakout prompt. Keeps the room engaged by shifting to small-group work every 30 minutes.

Time	Min	Block	Notes
0:00–0:05	5	Housekeeping + warm-up prompt	Chat check-in; drop the day’s two topics in chat
0:05–0:35	30	Lecture: Topic A	Book concepts + short demo
0:35–0:55	20	Breakout A (Zoom rooms) + report-back	See breakouts/<topic-A>.md — groups pick one of two
0:55–1:05	10	Break
1:05–1:35	30	Lecture: Topic B
1:35–1:55	20	Breakout B (Zoom rooms) + report-back	See breakouts/<topic-B>.md
1:55–2:00	5	Wrap + reading preview

Motif B — Frontloaded lecture, hands-on close

Best when one of the day’s topics needs a long lecture runway (new technical machinery — crypto, BGP, DNS, OAuth) and the other is a lighter counterpart. Consolidates both topics up front and closes with one breakout and a hands-on activity.

Time	Min	Block	Notes
0:00–0:05	5	Housekeeping
0:05–0:55	50	Lecture: Topic A (deep) + Topic B (light)	Cover the heavier topic first while attention is fresh
0:55–1:05	10	Break
1:05–1:35	30	Breakout (one of Topic A or B) + report-back	Pick whichever breakout has the stronger prompt
1:35–1:55	20	Hands-on activity	See activities/<topic>.md
1:55–2:00	5	Wrap + reading preview

Lecture 1 variant (no reading)

The first meeting has no assigned reading. Substitute the reading-Q&A frame with introductions and a syllabus tour, and keep the first breakout short so students get a feel for Zoom rooms early.

Time	Min	Block	Notes
0:00–0:15	15	Introductions + expectations	Round-robin — name, school, one security question they have
0:15–0:35	20	Syllabus tour	Compressed schedule, grading, breakout format, AI policy
0:35–1:05	30	Lecture 1: Overview + threat modeling	Anchor concepts for the rest of the term
1:05–1:15	10	Break
1:15–1:40	25	Lecture: Topic B (light framing)	Ethics / warm-up topic
1:40–1:55	15	Short breakout (“meet your room”) + report-back	Low-stakes prompt so students learn the Zoom-room flow
1:55–2:00	5	Wrap + reading preview

Notes on adaptation

Housekeeping

• Confirm the day’s two topics in chat at the top.
• Remind students where the day’s breakout doc lives (docs/breakouts/<topic>.md) and how to find their assigned room.
• Flag any change to the day’s motif or a swap between Motif A / B.

Running breakouts (this is where participation happens)

• Rooms: aim for 3–4 students per room. Pre-assign when you can — HS students on Zoom are slow to self-assign.
• Two prompts, one pick. Each breakout doc offers two prompts. Have each room pick one; this creates natural variety in report-back.
• Pop into rooms. Visit every room at least once during a 15–20 min breakout. A quick “how’s it going?” resets stalled groups.
• Report-back is mandatory. One student per room presents 60–90 seconds back in the main room. This is where the participation grade gets earned.
• Chat as a parallel channel. Encourage students to post questions in chat during lecture — for shyer students this may be the only participation channel they’ll use.

Zoom-specific tips (HS audience)

• Cold-call warmly. “X, what did your group think about prompt 2?” is better than open questions to the void. Name-based cold calls dramatically raise participation on Zoom with HS students.
• Cameras encouraged, not required. Push for cameras in breakouts; don’t die on the hill in the main room.
• Short lecture segments. Break the 30-minute lecture blocks into ~10-minute sub-segments with a quick chat prompt or hand-raise between each. Attention on Zoom drops off fast.
• Backchannel a co-host (TA, if available) to monitor chat while you lecture and to shepherd late arrivals into rooms.

Where the day’s materials live

• Breakout prompts (this template’s main discussion driver): docs/breakouts/<topic>.md — one file per topic, two prompts each.
• Reading assignments and activities: the schedule in ../index.md — same topic list as the fall course, compressed into ~2 topics per meeting.
• Debate materials live in docs/debates/<topic>.md but the summer format does not run debates — those are fall-only.

Two-topics-per-meeting pacing

The summer term covers the same 18 topics as the fall course in fewer meetings. When planning a day:

1. Pair a heavier topic with a lighter one where you can (e.g., a crypto primitives lecture paired with an ethics or policy topic).
2. Pick Motif A when both topics have strong standalone breakout prompts; Motif B when one topic needs a long lecture runway.
3. Trim reading assignments to the essential one per topic; HS students won’t get through two dense papers per meeting.

Cross-reference

• Schedule (all 18 topics, readings, activities): ../index.md
• Syllabus (grading, AI policy): syllabus.md
• Breakout prompts (summer participation anchor): breakouts/<topic>.md
• Fall (3-hour on-campus) template: agenda-template.md