Review Week to Planning Week
A schedule like this is only effective as whether or not a student decides to go through with it, though it might help and even convince students to work earlier if you had more time dedicated to planning out the goals and workflow for students since they will unquestionably be taking this class alongside other classes, and therefore get a sense for when the best time to work on this class is.
Expand Planning Options
I've hardly ever had to do a planning post in this course, but knowing better procedures about how to plan and brainstorm plots and character sketches would be valuable for those that need the information. Perhaps having somewhat detailed examples of plot structures and supplemental readings about character construction will help.
More Audio Recordings
I am not going to ask for an instructor to record every story; that would be incessantly demanding. However, the existence of recorded versions of storybooks provides a layer of accessibility for potentially blind students. I'm sure there are audio recordings available online if you go digging.
More Tutorial Videos
Topics like the various time tenses, transitive and intransitive verbs, and story structure are topics that I think would be valuable for future students. Though I prefer to read such a tutorial, so as not to spend too much time repeating a video over and over, I cannot deny that there is an effectiveness to video lessons, and is another option for students learning. You probably don't even need to record them yourself; you could find some online.
Thematic Reading Units
We technically already pare the weeks down in terms of segments of culture, but I think this could also expose students to new ideas to inspire and influence their own writing. Stories focused on a certain writing style or a certain kind of plot structure or subject matter expose students to new ways of telling stories, thus expanding their potential to become better writers.
Extra: Thematic Feedback
This idea goes in line with your Thematic Reading Units idea, assuming writing tutorials are a part of the course as well: If you're going to provide reading units based on certain themes, plots, and writing styles, naturally you'd probably want the students to take reading notes to write a story in that style. Perhaps you could find time for people to leave feedback on these reading notes to pass on helpful advice about story-writing between students. I don't know if you'd have time in the class schedule to fit this in, but it might help alongside supplemental materials on writing to make this feel more like a class about growing as a writer!
