Youth Tech Curriculum: Intro to WordPress Leadership

Youth-Led Tech Curriculum
Day One: Introduction to Wordpress
Content Goals: Power of Youth Voice, Examine their community, Intro to
WordPress
Leadership Goals: Defining traits of a leader, Team-building activities with a focus
on collaboration
Materials: Leadership Compass, WordPress Glossary
Date: July 27, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
Use the online attendance sheet to mark students as present and
note any issues.
10:05 AM Mood Check/Icebreaker Question
It’s important to start every session with an opening activity, such as a
Mood Check-in, where students state their mood on a scale of 1-10.
We often pair this with an icebreaker question that each student
answers.
10:15 AM Leadership Activity
Bouncing Brandon
1. Have the students get into a circle. Give participants the
following directions.
2. The first person in the circle will have to say their name and an
adjective that begins with the first letter of their first name, and
make a movement to go with that adjective. For example,
Brandon says “Bouncing Brandon” and she bounces.
3. The next player has to repeat the first person’s name,
adjective, and movement, and then add their own name,
adjective, and movement.
4. The third player has to do the two players before them and
their own, the fourth has to do the three players before them,
and so on, until the final person in the circle has to do all of
the names, adjectives, and movements.
5. When facilitating, really encourage the students to do the
movements (or make the noise—if someone picks as their
adjective “Barking Brandon”, for example). It makes the game
much more fun.
6. If you have a large group or don’t have much time, have each
student just do the two people in front of them (person 4 does
2 and 3; person 5 does 3 and 4, etc…)

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10:45 AM Teambuilder
Song Battle
OVERVIEW
Groups or of students have to sing as many songs they
can with a specific word in it.
1. Put students in even groups. Give students the following
directions:
○ You will be assigned a word.
○ Groups will go one at a time.
○ Your group must write down as many songs as you know with
that word in it, and when time is up, you must sing the line of
the song with that word in it.
○ Whichever team can come up with the most songs is the
winner.
2. At the beginning of each round, give a word that is commonly
used in songs (love, boy, girl, baby, man, sunshine, rock,
dance, hot, etc…).
3. Once you have told them the word, immediately begin the
timer.
4. Count up how many unique songs the team can come up with
in one minute. That number is their score.
5. Give the next group another word and repeat. Continue this
with each group for a few rounds and then determine the
winner.
11:30 AM Break
11:45 AM Goal Setting
PLAY BY PLAY
1. Distribute copies of the Goal Setting worksheet to each student.
Have students take 15 minutes to fill out the Goal Setting
worksheet. Play music or let students listen to music to make this
activity more fun.
2. When students finish setting their goals, have volunteers share
examples of some of their goals.
3. Facilitator collects sheets
12:00 PM Lunch

3
1:00 PM Energizer Black Magic
Overview
Students try to guess the Black Magic riddle.
Play-by-Play
1. Choose one student to be your assistant. Take that
student outside of the classroom and tell them the
trick. Leave them outside of the class.
2. Tell the rest of the class that you have telepathy,
and you just passed on your skill to your apprentice.
Have the class pick an object while the apprentice is
out of the room.
3. When the apprentice comes back in, point at objects
until the apprentice correctly guesses the item.
4. If a student thinks he has it, have him go outside
and pick an object for them to identify so the rest of
the students can continue playing.
1:15 PM Intro to Wordpress
Intro to WordPress
Play
video
https://ithemes.com/tutorials/what-‐is-‐wordpress/

1. Pass out WordPress Glossary
2. Pass out 3 index cards per youth
3. Ask youth to write down 3 blogs that they like
4. Share out a couple
5. 2nd index card 5 things they like about the blogs
6. Share out from different youth
Youth
will
setup
their
own
Wordpress
and
explore
examples
of
Wordpress

sites
2:00 PM Break

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2:20 PM Leadership Compass
OVERVIEW
This is a great exercise to help participants to identify their own (and
other’s) distinct leadership styles and that we need different kinds of
leaders in a group for us to be effective.
Prep: Leadership Compass (See attachment)
Set-Up: Before doing this exercise, prepare 4 pieces of flip chart
paper with a direction at the top and characteristics for that
leadership type listed. Do not post these until you have read the
characteristics later in this exercise.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
1. Introduce the Leadership Compass Exercise. You can use the
following text to introduce this exercise:
2. A leadership group is almost like an organization. Each of us
contributes in different ways to the success of our group and
to the culture of our group. The people who are involved in the
leadership group all have different skills that contribute to the
success of the whole group. Although we may have a fairly
good idea of what each other’s skills and abilities are, we may
not know too much about each other. This exercise is a way of
finding out more about each other and more about how to
work with the different people that make up a complete
leadership group.
3. An organization, not unlike our group, needs all different types
of people to be complete. I am going to describe 4 types of
people. As I do, please listen and be honest with yourself
about which description fits you best.
4. Of course, we can’t really say that everyone in the world fits
into one of these types, and many of us may feel that we have
characteristics of several of these types. But, please pick one
which holds some truth for you and go to that area.
5. Now, read the characteristics of each leadership type (north,
south, east, and west) and post the flip chart paper with the
characteristics as you have completed reading each.
6. When you have finished reading off all 4, ask the students to
move to the leadership direction that best represents them.
Give them a few seconds to have fun with the novelty of this
before moving on. You might want to ask them to compare
notes with each other like birth order, astrological signs, etc.
What do they find that they have in common?

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7. Now ask them during the next 10 minutes to answer 3
questions as a group. They will be expected to report back to
the whole group at the end of the exercise:
1. What we like most about being a North, South, East, West
is?
2. What we need the most help with is?
3. The best way for you to work with us is?
8. After 10 minutes, have the group stay in their positions and
report back to each other.
Debrief
Debrief by making a few observations or posing a few questions.
1. Did you notice how we all have different skills that could
contribute to the success of the whole? How would that work
on a project?
2. How did it feel to be a group of people that acted/thought like
you?
3. Did you learn something new about each other?
4. Do you have a new appreciation for someone in the room?
3:00 PM Leadership Share out
● Pass out leadership goal worksheets to students
● Students will make an action plan to meet their leadership goals
by the end of summer (3 concrete examples)
● Have students get into pairs
● Each student should review her/his partner’s goals and create 3
more activities to help their partner reach their goal
● Collect leadership goals and file
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out
Make sure every student is accounted for

6
WordPress Glossary of Terms
Akismet: Software built into WordPress.com that automatically filters incoming
comments to detect and remove spam.
Archives: The past history of blog posts. Also, a widget that displays links to older blog
posts, sorted by month and year.
Avatar: Small image or graphic displayed next to usernames in the comments section
of a WordPress.com blog. Users can customize their avatar by using Gravatar.com,
which connects automatically with WordPress.com.
Blogroll: Collection of links that point to external websites recommended by a blog
owner. The links reside in the sidebar and can lead to any type of website, not just
blogs.
Category: A method for logically organizing WordPress posts. Categories represent
high-level, general classifications. Each WordPress post requires that a minimum of
one category be assigned to it. Categories are more general than tags. Subcategories
can be created via a parent/child relationship between categories.
CMS: Content Management System. Any software platform that makes it simpler for
users to publish, organize, and manage information on the internet. WordPress is a
CMS.
Comments: Section of a page or post in which site visitors can share their thoughts
and ideas about the content and can reply to what other commenters have said.
Configured in the Discussion Settings screen.
Custom Menu: Customized set of links that serve as a navigational menu for a blog or
static website. Submenu items can be created via the parent/child relationship.
Dashboard: Set of management screens used to configure and maintain a WordPress
site. Also known as the “back-end” of a WordPress site.
Geotag: Optional feature in which a geographic location can be associated with a
particular post. If used, the location appears at the bottom of the post.
Media Library: Repository of images, videos, audio files, and documents uploaded to
a WordPress site. The media library helps organize and manage large numbers of
media files. The free version of WordPress does not allow uploading of audio or video
files.
More Tag: A WordPress-specific tag that can be inserted into a post to break the
content into two sections. Only the first section will appear

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on the blog home page, requiring the visitor to click the link to read the full article.
Open Source: A platform of software development in which anyone can contribute to
the modification and improvement of the product. The source code is published
publicly and anyone is free to use, change, or distribute it. WordPress is an open-
source product.
Page: A method of content creation in WordPress. Pages generally have static
content and do not have dates or times associated with them. Unlike posts, pages
cannot have categories and tags assigned to them.
Permalink: The full URL of a WordPress post or page. It is automatically assigned
when the post or page is created, but it can be manually edited via the Edit Post /
Edit Page screen.
Plugin: A set of code that “plugs in” to a WordPress site that adds some functionality
or capability. Available only in the self-hosted version of WordPress, not on
WordPress.com sites.
Poll: Feature in which a site owner can solicit feedback from readers in the form of
voting on several pre-defined options. Polls are configured in the
Feedback section of the Dashboard. To enable polls, a WordPress.com user must
first set up an account with Polldaddy.
Post: The main unit of content creation in WordPress. Each post is a blog- style entry
with its own title. Each post has a date and time associated with it and posts are
generally displayed in reverse chronological order (most recent on top) on the home
page. Categories and tags can be assigned to posts.
Publicize: Feature in which a site owner can post links to posts on other social media
sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Available for posts but not for pages. Configured
in the Sharing Settings screen.
Screen Options: Drop-down tab on most Dashboard screens which lets the site owner
select which modules appear on the screen. The available modules differ for each
Dashboard screen.
Sharing Buttons: Set of graphical links, usually at the bottom of a page or post, that
allows visitors to post a link to the site on social networking sites or other WordPress
sites.
Shortlink: A short and convenient URL that automatically redirects to the full URL of a

8
WordPress post or page. Accessed from the Edit Post / Edit Page screen.
Sidebar: An optional vertical column of content, composed of individual widgets, that
displays on a WordPress site. Can be located to the right or the left of the main
content column, or even on both sides.
Site Title: The name of a blog. In WordPress, this title generally displays prominently
at the top of the site. The site title is set in the General Settings screen.
Static Site: Website that, unlike a blog, has a fixed home page and prominent
navigation menu. Which page appears as the home page is configured on the
Reading Settings screen.
Tag: An important keyword or term that helps describe the content of a post. Though
not required for each post, site owners are encouraged to apply tags, as they assist
both visitors and search engines to determine the subject matter of a post. Tags are
more specific in nature than categories.
Tag Cloud: Visual representation of the tags applied in a site’s history of posts. The
most used tags appear nearer the center of the “cloud” and in larger font size.
Lesser-used tags remain on the periphery and in smaller fonts. The Tag Cloud widget
gives visitors an instant idea of what a blog is about.
Tagline: Optional sentence or short phrase that further explains what a blog or site is
about, and generally displays prominently near the Site Title. The tagline is set in the
General Settings screen.
Theme: A set of graphics, colors, layouts, and fonts that can be applied to a
WordPress site to change the visual presentation of the same underlying content.
Each theme has its own features and limitations. Some themes in WordPress are
free and some require paying a fee.
Widget: A tool or application that can be placed into the sidebar to display
customized content on a site. Widgets can be added, rearranged, or removed from
the sidebar via a drag-and-drop interface in the WordPress dashboard.
WordPress.com: Version of WordPress that includes free hosting, backup, and
maintenance. Bloggers can set up a new site quickly and easily on this platform,
though it lacks some of the powerful features of the self-hosted version.
WordPress.org: Self-hosted version of WordPress in which the site owner is
responsible for installing, configuring, maintaining, and backing up the site. Though
the software platform is still free, the site owner is responsible for paying for web
hosting and domain registration fees. This version of WordPress is more versatile and
contains more features than WordPress.com

9
Leadership Compass Styles
North

Strengths:

• Assertive,
active,
decisive

• Likes
to
be
in
control

• Quick
to
act,
sense
of
urgency

• Courageous,
enjoys
the
challenge

• Likes
variety

• Likes
to
be
in
a
position
of
leadership

• “Just
do
it”

“I’ll
do
it”

“What
is
stopping

us?”

Possible
problems
with
this
style:

• Gets
defensive,
may
be
argumentative

• May
push
for
decisions
too
soon

• May
take
too
many
risks

• Have
trouble
giving
up
control
or

delegating
to
others

• May
be
seen
as
egomaniac

South

Strengths:

• Trusting,
innocent
approach
to
others

• Willingness
to
believe
and
accept
others

• Allows
others
to
feel
important
and

involved
as
decisions
are
made

• Sees
emotions
and
intuitions
as
truth

• Supportive,
nurturing,
warm

• Relational,
relationships
come
first

• “Let’s
do
what’s
right”

“We
want
to
be

fair.”

Possible
problems
with
this
style:

• May
have
trouble
saying
no
to
requests

• Internalizes
difficulty
and
assumes
blame

• May
be
taken
advantage
of

• Immersed
in
present,
may
lose
track
of

time

• May
have
difficulty
dealing
with
anger

• May
avoid
confrontations

10
East

Strengths:

• Visionary,
sees
big
picture

• Idea
oriented,
forward
looking

• Insight
into
mission
and
purpose

• Likes
to
explore

• Strongly
spiritual

• “Endless
possibilities”

“We
have
options”

Possible
problems
with
this
style:

• May
lose
focus
on
task

• Poor
follow
through

• Can
develop
a
reputation
for
lack
of

dependability

• May
be
very
enthusiastic
in
the
beginning

and
then
lose
interest
over
time

• May
be
seen
as
flaky

West

Strengths:

• Will
weigh
all
sides
of
the
issue

• Uses
data
and
analysis
to
make
decisions

• Seen
as
very
practical
and
reliable

• Follows
procedures

• Careful,
introspective,
self
analytical

• “We
must
look
at
this
objectively”

Possible
problems
with
this
style:

• Can
become
stubborn

• May
be
resistant
to
change

• Not
open
to
emotional
arguments

• May
be
seen
as
withdrawn
or
cold

11
Day 2: Word Press Themes
Content Goals: Youth will be introduced to the Power of Youth Voice, examine
their community, and be introduced to WordPress.
Leadership Goals: Defining traits of a leader and team-building activities with a
focus on collaboration
Materials: Bed sheet or blanket (Large cloth students can’t see through),
Construction paper, markers, glue sticks, magazines,
newspapers.
Date: July 30, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
It’s important to start every session with an opening activity, such as
a Mood Check-in, where students state their mood on a scale of 1-
10. We often pair this with an icebreaker question that each student
answers.

12
10:15 AM Tennis Ball Name Game
Students will get to know each other’s names and practice
teamwork. This is a great activity to do when your group is still newly
formed.
Play-by-Play
1. Have students stand in a circle (the facilitator should join as
well).
2. Explain that you are going to throw a ball to someone - pick
someone out & ask their name, then say: "Hi Freddy, my
name is James...here you go!" and gently throw a ball to
Freddy.
3. After Freddy catches it, explain that he should thank you and
say your name ("Thank you James"), pick someone else and
repeat the process ("Hi X, my name is Freddy...here you go!”
and so on. The goal is for everyone to get the ball thrown to
them once and then back to the first person.
4. The goal of Round 2 is to repeat Round 1 but this time
without asking what someone’s name is. If someone forgets
a person’s name, the group has to start again from the
beginning until they can do it without mistakes. Remind
students to thank the person they got the ball from and
introduce themselves to the person they are throwing it to.
They should follow the exact same order as Round 1. Have
the group celebrate their success when they successfully
complete the goal.
5. Challenge the group to complete the same goal as round 2
but this time with speed. How fast do they think they can do
it? 30 seconds? Have the group celebrate their success
when they successfully complete the goal.
6. Challenge the group to go even faster. After the first ball has
passed through a few hands, take out a second ball and
continue the process (there are now two balls being
“juggled.”) Continue to add balls to the process. (A group of
12 can usually handle 4 to 6 quite well.)

13
11:00 AM Group Norms
This is a critical activity that all groups should do at the beginning of
the program or class. Norms are a way for students to express their
voices, and serve as an anchor of how members of the group should
treat one another throughout the duration of the program or class.
Play-by-Play
1. Ask students if they can define norms, or if they have ever
set norms for a group. Discuss.
2. If students are stuck, explain that norms help set the way
members of a group treat one another. Pose the question:
How do you want people to treat each other in the group?
3. Record the answers on a large sheet of paper (or have a
student volunteer to write.)
4. Add your own norms as students share their norms (i.e. be
positive, be on time). Discuss the norms and ask if people
agree with them.
5. Make sure to distinguish norms from rules – rules
define what one can or cannot do, while norms are
guidelines for ways that members should treat one
another in the group.
6. Once you have all of your Group Norms written on a piece of
butcher paper, have everyone sign their name somewhere
on the paper.
7. Remember that as the facilitator, you should sign it too!
8. Keep the Group Norms posted somewhere visible in the
room for the whole duration of the program.
10:30 AM Break

14
11:45 AM Blanket Name Game
Starting with the basic types of apps and how they utilize the
functions of a smart phone, students will work in groups to address
community needs and opportunities through mobile technology. Ask
students:
• How do you use phones?
• Do you have a cell phone?
• How often do you use your phone?
• What do you use your phone to do?
• What can a phone do, that a desktop computer cannot?
Activity: Phone Fantasy
• Have students get into groups of 4
• Pass out butcher paper and markers to each group
• Ask the groups “What do you wish a phone could do?”
• Have them draw out their answers
• Reminder: There are no limits. Be as creative as you want,
but you must show us what you mean on the butcher paper.
Share out.
12 NOON Lunch

15
1:00 PM Rock Paper Scissors Tournament
Students will battle each other in games of Rock/ Paper/Scissors.
After each battle the losing side will join the winning side. Eventually
you end with two individuals and their fans cheering them on.
Play-by-Play
• Have students pair off
• Next tell them to do battle in Rock/ Paper /Scissors. The
winner is best two out of three matches
• The loser becomes the winners cheerleader and follows
them to the next battle
• Cheerleaders need to be enthusiastic for their champion,
and really scream and chant for them
• Every time someone’s loses they merge their mob with their
opponents mob
• Eventually you ended with one winner, and everyone
cheering for them

16
1:15 PM Intro to WordPress Themes
Play video https://ithemes.com/tutorials/wordpress-login/
Have youth log in to their accounts
Let the youth explore the theme of their blog
Overview
A theme controls the general look and feel of your site including
things like page layout, widget locations, and default font and color
choices. WordPress.com has a wide range of themes for you to
choose from in the Theme Showcase where each theme has an
about page that includes features and instructions. New themes are
always being added, so click on the Trending view in the Theme
Showcase to see what’s new and popular. You can change your
theme as often as you like.
Here’s an example of a theme, Pictorico:
Activate a theme
To activate a theme, visit Appearance → Themes in any site’s
dashboard or from the Theme Showcase and click the Activate
button.
The active theme will have a Customize button and will be listed
first.

17
Please note that the currently selected theme will not appear in the
results when browsing or searching for other themes.
Browse Themes
To view all 360 themes available, visit the Theme Showcase or
access the Appearance → Themes menu option in your site’s
dashboard. If you do not see the Appearance menu option, this
means that you are not an administrator on the site.
You can sort themes by clicking the links for Trending, Popular, and
Newest at the top left of the page, and you can filter those results
for Free or Premium using the links at the top right.
Additional filters are available in the Theme Showcase for popular
types of themes such as photography, food, music, portfolio,
business, and more. You can also filter by feature, such as Custom
Header or Post Slider, or by layout, color, or price.
Search Themes
Looking for a particular theme or a feature? Enter your keyword in
the search box, and you’ll only be shown themes that match.
The search is real time and the count number shows the number of
themes that match your search criteria. Note that the search results
will be sorted according to your viewing mode, such as Trending.
Preview Themes
To preview a theme before activating, go to Appearance → Themes
and click the Preview button under any theme. This will show you a

18
live preview of the theme with your content. It’s a great way to test
drive a theme if you already have content on your site.
When you click the Preview button, you will open the Customizer.
You can scroll up and down and even click around in your blog to
get an idea of how the new theme will work with your content. If you
like what you see, click Save or Purchase button in the bottom right
corner of the Customizer window. Clicking the Cancel button found
in the bottom right corner of the Customizer window to back out and
continue browsing through the theme showcase for a better fit.
Another way to preview is to look at the demo site for the theme.
You can get to the demo site by going to Appearance → Themes,
clicking on any thumbnail (Theme Details when you hover), and then
clicking the Demo button that appears at the bottom of the details
screen. The Theme Showcase also has direct links to each theme’s
demo site.
If you’d like to see how other people are using the theme, look for
the “Awesome blogs using” section at the bottom of the theme’s
about page in the Theme Showcase.
Theme Features
Clicking on a theme will show the theme details with a brief
description of the theme.

19
If the selected theme is already the current theme, buttons to
customize the theme are available at the bottom, otherwise the
Purchase/Activate, Preview, Demo buttons are available.
If you already know this is the theme you want, you can go ahead
and click on Activate/Purchase. Purchasing a theme will activate it
by default.
Share out from different youth
• Why did they choose that theme?
• What message will it convey to the reader?
• Who is their target audience?
2:00 PM Break

20
2:20 PM Theme Creation (Analog)
Have art supplies located in a central location
Explain: We just looked and talked about what the theme of our blog
would be, but we could only envision it on the screen. Now we will
try to create our vision of the site in person.
Students will collage what they want their site to:
• look like
• feel like
• sound
• inform, entertain, etc
Have students share out what their theme will be (again emphasize
that this may change and that’s ok)

21
3:20 PM Telephone Charades
This is a blend of the classic “telephone down the line” and
“charades” activity. A person acts out an action only for the next
person in line, who in turn acts out for the next person. The acting
typically becomes distorted over time and hilarious, as the last
person in line tries to guess what the original clue was.
Play-by-play
1. Break the group into two even teams and have each team
line up on two sides of the room. The goal of the game is to
transmit an action from one end of the line to the other, such
that the person at the end of the line correctly guesses the
original action. The two lines are competing to see which line
can do this faster.
2. Students should face the back of the room. The person at
the top of each line turns around and faces the facilitator at
the front of the room, and receives the same action from the
facilitator (e.g. “playing basketball). The person at the top of
each line turns around, taps the next person in their line on
the shoulder, acts out the action to “transmit” the
information. Then, that second person must turn around and
tap the next person on the shoulder to mimic that action.
3. Nobody is allowed to talk during this activity! The purpose is
to practice non-verbal communication.
4. The people in line must remain facing the back of the room
until it is their turn to receive the action.
5. The person at the end of each line will have the chance to
guess the action they think they are being shown.
Sample actions for telephone charades:
• Hula hooping
• Baking a cake
• Doing jump rope
• Building a sandcastle
Debrief
Some possible debrief questions include:
People with the clue- how did you feel as you communicated your
action to another person?
People without the clue – how did you feel as you received the
action?
Why do you think the action changed over time?
How does this (change in action) relate to real life?

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3:45 PM Reflection
This is the time to ask for youth input and evaluate sessions.
Reflection can also be some kind of affirming activity where
students congratulate or compliment each other on their
contributions to the group.
3:55 PM Sign Out
Make sure all youth are accounted for.

23
Day 3: Wordpress Dashboard & Asset Deficit Lists
Materials: Bag of balloons, masking tape, timer, chart paper, markers
Date: June 30, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.
10:15 AM Honey if you Love Me…
Students will try to make each other laugh with a silly request
Play-by-Play
1. Everyone is standing in a circle with a volunteer standing in
the middle.
2. The volunteer picks a person of his or her choice, walks over
to them, looks at them deep in the eye, and says "Honey, if
you love me, would you please, please smile?"
3. The recipient of this proposal simply replies "Honey, I love
you, but I just can’t smile."
4. That’s easy - except that the recipient CANNOT SMILE, smirk,
turn up the corners of their mouth, or snicker.
5. The volunteer in the middle can’t touch the recipient in any
way- but can do anything else.
6. The volunteer continues until someone smiles, and then
trades places with the person who finally smiles.

24
11:00 AM Balloon Tower
Teams try to build the highest tower using balloons, masking tape,
and some physical restrictions.
Play-by-Play
1. Divide participants into teams of 3-4.
2. Have each group move to an open area of the room.
3. Explain that each team’s objective is to build the highest
tower in 10 minutes (or some other time limit). The catch,
however, is that nobody can speak. If anyone is caught
speaking, their team must start over.
4. Hand each team 15 deflated balloons and a roll of masking
tape. Then set a timer, and let the groups begin building.
5. Partway into the activity, you can add more challenges such
as:
6. Each person can only use one hand.
7. Each person must use their non-dominant hand.
8. Only 1 person in the group can speak.
9. If groups begin running out of balloons, distribute more to
each group, but make sure you distribute evenly.
10.When time is up, have students step away from their towers,
and see which group’s tower is the tallest one standing!
Debrief
Possible debrief questions include:
• How difficult did you find this activity? Was it frustrating?
Easy?
• To what extent did you depend on your team members in
order to succeed? How did you work together to build the
tower? Would your interaction have been different had you
been able to use both hands?
• How did your group react whenever the cards fell? What sort
of response was the most productive (in other words, helped
your group get closer to reaching your goal)?
• In real life, we often face metaphoric falling towers. Did
anyone ever have an experience in which they had to use
good teamwork and leadership in order to overcome a
frustrating situation? Can anyone think of possible
situations?
11:30 AM Break

25
11:45 AM Asset & Deficit List
1. Facilitator should ask what the definitions of assets and of
deficits are. (Positives and negatives of an aspect)
2. On the board (Chart paper) the facilitator will create a chart
with 3 columns: one for examples, one for assets and one for
deficits. Giving the example of Pizza students will list the
assets and deficits of Pizza. Have students list the other
examples and record the assets and deficits of each on the
sheet
12 NOON Lunch
1:00 PM Rock Paper Scissors Tournament
Students will battle each other in games of Rock/ Paper/Scissors.
After each battle the losing side will join the winning side. Eventually
you end with two individuals and their fans cheering them on.
Play-by-Play
• Have students pair off
• Next tell them to do battle in Rock/ Paper /Scissors. The
winner is best two out of three matches
• The loser becomes the winners cheerleader and follows
them to the next battle
• Cheerleaders need to be enthusiastic for their champion,
and really scream and chant for them
• Every time someone’s loses they merge their mob with their
opponents mob
• Eventually you ended with one winner, and everyone
cheering for them

26
1:15 PM Asset Deficit List (Continued)
Overview
1. Ask 2 students to recap what is an asset and a deficit
2. Have students get into groups of 3-4.
3. Distribute a sheet of butcher paper and markers to each
group. Each group should quickly assign a recorder, who will
put a plus sign (+) over one half of the sheet and a minus
sign (-) over the other half. Explain to students that they will
be making a list of the assets and the deficits in their
community. Make sure students know what an asset and a
deficit are.
Facilitation Tip: Rather than asking students “Does everyone know
what an asset and a deficit are?” ask for a volunteer to explain what
an asset is and what a deficit is. It’s rare that a student will admit
that they don’t know what something means!
As students are working, walk around the room and make sure that
each group is making progress. If they are struggling, the following
questions may help them brainstorm:
1. Questions to ask about assets:
a. What are the strengths of your neighborhood?
b. Who are the positive people?
c. What good things or events happen here?
2. Questions to ask about deficits:
i. What do community members struggle with
everyday?
b. What do young people struggle with everyday?
c. What do parents struggle with everyday?
3. Explain that the student’s word press site will focus on an
asset or a deficit that they choose.
4. They can either highlight a positive aspect of their community
or they can raise awareness to a deficit in their community
5. If they choose to raise awareness they must think of a call to
action to turn the deficit into an asset
6. If more than one student picks the same topic encourage
them to work in a group and as a group design a WordPress
site and call to action
2:00 PM Break

27
2:20 PM Intro to WordPress Dashboard
1. Play video https://ithemes.com/tutorials/wordpress-
dashboard/
2. Have students log on to their WordPress site
3. Let students group up based on project theme and look at
each other’s theme and site.
4. Students should provide feedback to other members in their
group
5. Students should share their analog theme’s with each other
6. Have students suggest two ways for their team or partner to
achieve their desired goal
3:20 PM Zip Zap Zop
This is a game that builds focus and listening skills.
Play-by-play
1. Have students stand in a circle.
2. Start passing a “Zip” by pointing joined hands to a person
across the circle and saying “Zip.”
3. The person who receives the “Zip” must now point to a new
person across the circle and say “Zap.”
4. The person who receives the “Zap” must now point to a new
person across the circle and say “Zop.”
5. The person who receives the “Zop” must now point to a new
person across the circle and say “Zip.”
6. Continue this cycle of “Zip,” “Zap,” “Zop.”
7. The key to this game is speed! Any person who says their
word (Zip/Zap/Zop) out of order, or does not pass their
Zip/Zap/Zop to another person, is eliminated. Continue until
only 2-3 students are left.
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out

28
Day 4: Who is a leader and the power of hashtags
Content Goals: Youth will be introduced to the concept of hashtags and social
media
Materials: Deck of index cards, markers, chart paper, bandannas, masking
tape
Date: July 1, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.

29
10:15 AM Listen Up!
The goal of this icebreaker is to learn active listening skills.
Participants will be able to understand the importance of
listening, not just hearing.
Set Up: Prepare a deck of index cards with simple line drawings of
familiar objects.
Play-by-play
1. Ask the group to sit back to back.
2. Give one person in each pair a card with a drawing on it, and
the other partner a blank index card.
3. The object is for the person with the pictures to describe, line
by line, the picture on their card without telling the partner
what the object is. For example, an instruction might be
something like this: "Draw a straight line from the top of the
page until it intersects a half circle one inch up from the
bottom of the card…"
4. The listener cannot ask questions, but can only listen to what
is being said.
5. The partner has to draw the object as best they can by
following the directions of their partner.
6. After they are done, they can compare drawings and see how
close they came to the original drawing.
7. Repeat by switching roles if time permits.
Debrief
1. What made this activity difficult for the speaker? Listener?
2. Why were some of the drawings not perfectly drawn? What
implications does this have for how we communicate?

30
10:45 AM Crossing the River
Teams try to build the highest tower using balloons, masking tape,
and some physical restrictions.
Set Up: Designate a River Area: the river should be the width of long
strides where the number of strides equals the number of bandanas
that you are using, plus 2 additional long strides. (For example, if
you use 3 bandanas, the total width of the river should equal 5 long
strides).
Play-by-Play
1. Students arrive at the game site with the river already drawn
out or made on the floor with tape.
2. Students are then asked to all stay on one side of the river.
The facilitator then tells them the “story” of the [Blank] River.
(Have students come up with the name of the river.)
3. Then the facilitator presents the problem: the students must
come up with a strategy to cross the river, but it is filled with
a toxic material. (Ask students to name this toxic material.)
4. The facilitator then explains that the only way they can get
over the river is by using the [blank]. (Actually, they are
bandanas, but the students think up a different name for
them in the same way that they did for the river and the toxic
material.)
5. The facilitator then goes over the rules, referring to the
bandanas, the river name, and the toxic river substance with
the names chosen by the students.
6. The rules are:
a. Bandanas can only move forward.
b. Bandanas need to have someone standing on them
or touching them AT ALL TIMES or they will float
away.
c. No one may touch the river’s substance.
d. Only the bandanas can touch the river’s substance,
and there must always be a bandana between the
participants and the river
e. If someone falls in the river, the entire group needs to
start over.
7. After the rules are read, the facilitator gives the students
approximately 10 minutes to plan.
8. They can hold the bandanas, but they are not permitted to
enter the river at all.
9. Throughout the 10 minutes, the facilitator is observing
carefully to prepare for processing the experience

31
afterwards. The facilitator also attempts to get students who
aren’t speaking or able to be engaged into the planning
process.
10.When the planning period of 10 minutes has expired, the
facilitator tells the students that they have 20 minutes to get
all of their teammates over to the other side of the river.
11.Again, the rules are reiterated and emphasis is placed on
following the plan that they have created.
Notes:
• Students can tie the bandanas to their feet if necessary, as
long as the majority of their foot is touching the bandana.
• The facilitator can answer questions if students ask, but
cannot provide solutions.
• If time is running out and students continually “fall” in the
river, alternatives to the entire group starting over can be
made. (If, for example, 10 of 15 students have already
crossed over and there are only 5 minutes remaining, you
could give students certain disabilities, such as the inability
to see or speak, etc.)
Debrief
Some issues raised in the reflection might include the roles of various
participants in the planning, the difficulty of the task, risk taking, and
communication skills used in both parts of the initiative. Usually we
have observed a lot of chaos and shouting as students jostle to be the
one to solve the problem. Gradually, however, students begin to
realize that many ideas and strategies need to be incorporated into the
process in order to make it to the other side of the river. Explore with
students how and why this shift happened.
Possible Questions include:
• What did we do?
• What was significant about it?
• Whose ideas got heard?
• Did anyone feel totally out of the process?
• What can we learn for the future?
11:30 AM Break

32
11:45 AM Try That on for Size
Students practice creative expression and build community in a
humorous way.
Play-by-Play
1. Break students into two groups. One student from each team
will start this game. They will initiate by doing an action they
come up with (throwing a baseball, twirling like a ballerina, a
dance move) and then the player will say what action he or
she is doing.
2. The other player will then act out the same action but justify
it as doing something else. And it goes back and forth.
Should any player hesitate too long or repeat an action, they
are eliminated and replaced by a member of their team.
12 NOON Lunch
1:00 PM Schwing
Students learn their peers’ names while playing a competitive game.
1. Everyone stands in a circle around one person in the middle.
2. The person in the middle calls out the name of someone
standing on the outside of the circle. That person must
quickly duck down.
3. The two people on either side of the person who’s name was
called must “schwing” (action plus sound) towards them.
The goal is to do it as quickly as possible – the person who
“schwings” last is out.
4. The person who’s name was called now switches place with
the person in the middle of the circle. It is their turn to call
out someone else’s name.
5. The pattern continues until there are just two people left.
They then have a “schwing –off”: at the same time, they
each take a deep breath and continuously repeat the word
schwing while doing the motion with both of their arms as
long as they can – without taking another breath! Whoever
“schwings” longest is the winner.

33
1:15 PM Who’s a Leader
This short activity will allow your students to look at positive and
negative leaders, highlighting important aspects of the way they
live(d). It serves as an introductory discussion into leadership styles
that the students may adopt over the course of the year.
Play-by-play
1. Post 3 butcher sheets around the room.1) World/Historical
leaders, Qualities of a Leader snf Leaders you know personally
2. Ask students to fill in the butcher sheets. Some of these
leaders contributed to the good of society. Some of these
leaders were terribly destructive to their societies.
3. Once time is up and all the sheets are filled, ask the students to
stand by a sheet and in their group discuss what their peers
wrote on the sheet.
4. In the large group ask the students to think about the following
questions once a good list of leaders has been named and
written on the board or on butcher paper:
a. How did they get to be leaders?
b. What did they want to accomplish?
c. Were leaders accepted by everyone? Who supported
these leaders? Who didn’t?
d. How powerful were these leaders?
e. What kind of leadership style did/do some of these
leaders possess?
f. Did any of the students put their name on the sheet
“Leaders you know personally”? Why or Why not?
Debrief
Before closing this discussion, raise the question of leaders.
Professor Gary Will in Certain Trumpets suggests that a leader must
have two good things: goals and followers. If we use this definition
we are not distinguishing between good leaders and bad leaders.
We are just talking about leaders. Talk with students about this
definition. How does it change their own understanding of
leadership?
Tell the students that by the end of the 6 weeks they should all be
on the sheet of leaders that they know personally.
2:00 PM Break

34
2:20 PM The power of hashtags
1. Divide students into equal groups
2. Each group has to create 5 hashtags to represent the entire
site for the summer youth-led tech program. They should
write their hashtag ideas on a sheet of butcher paper
3. Each team should post their butcher paper somewhere in
the room
4. Give each student 2 sticker dots to vote
5. Explain that they will now vote on the top two hashtags. They
can put both of their stickers on one hashtag or spread them
out, it’s their choice.
6. After all the students voted figure out which one hashtag got
the most votes and that will be your groups hashtag for the
summer. Along with #youthledtech
3:30 PM Human Knot
In this activity, youth will work together to solve a problem. This
activity is best when students are somewhat comfortable with
another, as it involves physical contact.
Play-by-play
1. Have everyone stand in a tight circle, and extend their hands
into the center.
2. Ask everyone to grab one person’s hand (across the circle)
with their right hand, and another person’s hand with their
left.
3. Explain that the group now needs to work together to get
themselves untangled without ever letting go of the hands.
4. Depending on the size of your group, you may want to break
the large group into two smaller circles.
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out

35
Day 5: Minefields and Guest Speakers
Materials: 20 objects that can serve as “mines” (tennis ball cans, bowling
pins, plastic cups, bottles or cans of pop, etc…), 1 blindfold
(handkerchief) for each pair of students, notecards, pens, chart
paper, and markers.
Date: July 6th, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.

36
10:15 AM Where the wind blows
Where the Wind Blows serves two functions: (1) for all of us to get to
know each other a little better, and (2) to get up, move around, and
get energized.
Play-by-play
1. Have everyone stand up and get into a tight circle so there
are no empty spaces.
2. Explain that whoever is in the middle is the “wind.” The
middle person has to say “The wind blows for anyone who…”
and then something about themselves that can also describe
other people in the circle. Encourage participants to use a
description that isn’t obvious just by looking.
3. As facilitator, make sure that the circle stays tight throughout
the game and that energy stays high. Help out the middle
person if they’re having trouble coming up with statements.
• Example: The wind blows for anyone who has two or
more siblings.
• Example: The wind blows for everyone who lives in
Humboldt Park.
• Example: The wind blows for anyone who likes
Beyoncé.
4. If the statement applies to you, then you have to move to
another spot in the circle that just emptied. Whoever is left
without a spot goes to the center of the circle and is the
wind.
Debrief
1. What’s one thing you had in common with someone?
2. What’s one thing you had in common with someone that you
didn’t think you had anything in common with?
3. What’s one thing you didn’t have in common with someone
you thought you would have had in common?

37
10:45 AM Minefield
Students lead their blindfolded peers across a “minefield.” This
activity will help develop trust and communication amongst the
team members. The facilitator must create a concentrating and
caring tone to start this exercise.
Set Up: The room should be cleared of desks and chairs. A starting
line and a finish line should be marked on the floor, and the “mines”
should be scattered on the playing field.
Play-by-Play
1. Have students pair up. In each pair, students should pick
one student to be blindfolded, and another student to be the
guide.
2. Give students three minutes to play their communication
strategy before starting the course.
3. The guide will be at the finish line, facing their blindfolded
partner. They will have five minutes to guide their partner
across the finish line. Have students switch roles and start
again.
4. One person verbally guides his/her partner, whose eyes are
covered by a blindfold or are closed. The students will
alternate, so if there is any debate as to who will go first,
assure them that they will both be blindfolded.
Add a Twist
• Scatter items throughout the course for the students to pick
up
• Create a penalty for hitting a “mine”
• Have multiple students attempt to race across the
“minefield” at the same time
Facilitation Notes
Some students may feel uneasy about being blindfolded-they can
just close their eyes. Also, this exercise can be used to build up
cohesion amongst the group, so you may want to pair the students
up strategically.
Debrief
After both students have made it across the minefield, reflect on
activity with students using the following questions

38
1. How much did you trust your partner at the start of the activity
(on a scale of 1-10)?
2. How much did you trust your partner at the end of the activity?
3. What is the difference between going alone and having a
partner?
4. What ingredients are needed when trusting and working with
someone else?
5. What did your partner do to help you feel safe and secure?
6. What could your partner have done to make you feel safe and
secure?
7. What communication strategies worked best?
11:30 AM Break
11:45 AM Guest Speaker Prep
1. Allow students to go to the bathroom
2. Ask them to clean up their spaces (no food, drinks or trash)
3. Make sure everyone has a pen and paper
4. Ask students to take out the questions that they created and
keep them handy
12 NOON Lunch
1:15 PM Guest Speaker
2:00 PM Break
2:20 PM Guest Speaker
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out

39
Day 6: Wordpress Posting & How the Internet Works
Content Goals: Youth will learn how to post a blog post on WordPress and learn
how the Internet works.
Leadership Goals: Teambuilding exercises that focus on team communication
Materials: Confusion worksheet, pens, paper, markers, projector
Date: July 7, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.
10:15 AM Confusion!
Students work on their communication and teambuilding skills by
working on a set of tasks.
Play-by-play
1. Hand each student a copy of the “Confusion!” handout.
2. Explain that students must go around and ask one another
to complete the tasks listed on their handout, and then have
their peers sign when they’ve completed the task.
3. Give students a time frame in which to complete this activity.
The student who completes their “Confusion!” handout first
may get a prize.

40
10:45 AM Introduction to How the Web Works
This module will teach students the basics of how the web works
including the concept of ‘The Cloud”, the World Wide Web,
DNS/Web Addresses, and how content appears in the browser.
Part One: The History of the Internet
Let’s say you wrote a really cool song on your computer. Without the
internet the song would just stay on your laptop. To share it, you’d
have to have somebody come over and look at your laptop - or you’d
have to download it onto a floppy disk (What they had before USBs)
and physically carry it over.
This is how computers used to work. And it was a bit of a problem
for scientists trying to work collaboratively. Instead of shipping
documents from universities on the east coast to the west coast, it
would be a lot easier if one computer could just pick up a phone
and call the other.
Which is exactly what they did.
In 1965, a professor at MIT used a phone line to call up a computer
at UCLA and send information back and forth. This was the first
(very small) network. The government saw value with this and
funded an experiment called ARPAnet. Computers from across the
country were added to the network becoming a ‘web’ of computers.
But, this network had a problem. It began to grow large enough to
where one computer couldn’t find another specific computer.
Imagine that you want to visit a friend’s house for the first time, but
there are no street numbers. You’d get lost pretty easily.
To solve this, Vincent Cerf and Robert Kahn created the TCP/IP
protocol. TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol. It had four ground rules:
• Each distinct network would have to stand on its own and no
internal changes could be required to any such network to
connect it to the Internet.
• Communications would be on a best effort basis. If a packet
(information) didn't make it to the final destination, it would
shortly be sent again from the source.
• Black boxes would be used to connect the networks; these

41
would later be called gateways and routers. There would be
no information retained by the gateways about the individual
flows of packets passing through them, thereby keeping
them simple and avoiding complicated adaptation and
recovery from various failure modes.
• There would be no global control at the operations level.
The protocol also had a system for giving each device connected
to the network an address called an IP Address.
Activity: Address Numbers
Everyone take out their phones or laptop. Google “What’s my IP
address”
Now, notice that if you’re not on the Wi-Fi your address is different
from mine. Every internet connection has it’s own address. Every
website also has an address too.
Now, go into the address bar and enter 173.252.110.27
See, it really works - that’s Facebook’s address on the Internet
About DNS
The problem with the IP address is that nobody can remember all
the numbers needed to get everywhere on the web.
So, they developed services called “Domain Name Servers” that
give addresses like 173.252.110.27 names like “Facebook.com”
DNS servers act like Google Maps for your computer. It works like
this:
1. You tell your browser that you want to go to
“mikvachallenge.org”
2. Your computer calls up a DNS server to ask for directions to
mikvachallenge.org
3. The DNS servers looks through all the addresses in all of the
internet and find: 67.202.93.0
4. The DNS tells your browser where to find the site. Your
browser then points itself to 67.202.93.0
5. www.mikvachallenge.org pops up in your browser!

42
Web Hosting
The other problem with the early network is that those computers
had to be on and connected all the time to work. It also became
hard for a lot of people to try to access the same file on a single
machine all at the same time.
Could you imagine 500 people trying to call you at once? Doesn’t
work that well.
The people who were building the Internet needed a way to serve
the information to a lot of people at once. The answer became
dedicated computers that would ‘serve’ people information called
servers.
YouTube has hundreds of server room that hold thousands of cat
videos. When you point your browser to the funny video of your
choice, the server ‘serves’ your video to your web browser.
Not everyone has to have a server room to host their websites.
Expunge.io uses a service called “Amazon Web Services” to borrow
their server. (Yes, you really can order everything from Amazon.”
11:30 AM Break

43
11:45 AM Two Thumbs and a Lie
In this activity, students to get to know each other in a fun and
challenging way.
Play-by-Play
For large groups (e.g., 30+), it is best to split into smaller group
sizes.
Explain that in this activity each person must come up with two
truths and a lie about themselves and then we will try to guess each
other's lie. The goal is to: a) convince others that your lie is truth
and vice versa. The second goal for participants will be to correctly
guess other people's lies.
1. Allow approx. 5-8 minutes for writing 2 truths & a lie
a. This isn't easy for a lot of people - there will some
scribbling out, etc. The slower people will probably
need to be urged along to "put anything you can think
of" down. You will probably need to urge people along.
2. Gather together in a circle. Start with one person who reads
their three statements aloud (to remind everyone).
3. Read the statements again, stopping to allow a vote for each
one. e.g., "I am Turkish. Who thinks that is a lie? [Vote] I
am vegetarian. Who thinks that is a lie? [Vote] I have a
metal pin in my right leg. Who thinks that is a lie? [Vote].
OK, my lie was "I am vegetarian."" The facilitator will need to
help each person out, especially initially until the basic
format is understood. The facilitator may add drama and
reinforcement, etc. for correct guesses, tricky statements,
etc.
12 NOON Lunch

44
1:00 PM Line Up
Play-by-play
1. Ask students to get in a line.
2. Once they are in a line let them know that they now have to
be completely quiet, no talking, no mouthing.
3. They have to rearrange the line so that the youngest person
is in front of the line and the oldest person in the back of the
line.
4. Give them 3 minutes to complete the activity.
1:15 PM Typing Club
• Logon http://youthledtech.typingclub.com
• Allow youth to practice/develop their typing skills
• This could be a useful time for facilitators to catch up on
paperwork or setup for the next activity
• Facilitators can track the students progress to make sure
that they are actually on the right site
2:00 PM Break

45
2:15 PM Creating Content
Students will learn how to create a blog post on WordPress
1. Video: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/wordpress-posts-vs-
pages/
Debrief with group:
• When might it be best to just make a post?
• When might it be best to create a page?
• What kind of content makes a good post?
• What kind of content makes a good page?
Activity
2. Distribute pen/markers and paper
3. Youth will create an About page for their site (15 mins)
4. Mission statement
5. What will the user gain from the site?
6. Youth will give their About page to a partner for peer
edits/questions (5 minutes)
7. Allow youth to discuss and clarify their partners feedback (5
mins)
8. On a new sheet the youth should synthesize what their
original work and their partners feedback to make a new
About page (10 mins)
9. Share out (20 mins)
10.Collect the About pages from the youth. Make sure they write
their name on it.
Create a Post
1. VIDEO: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/creating-a-wordpress-
post/
2. Youth should log onto their WordPress site
3. Create a post (7 minutes)
4. Remind the youth that the post should be true to their About
page
5. Youth should email you a link to their first post
6. Share some of the posts via the projector

46
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out
Confusion!
Find a different person for each task listed and once you/they complete the task,
have them sign their name next to it.
1. Get someone to do five push-ups
1.
____________________________________________

47
2. Stand on one foot with your arms
outstretched for 20 seconds and have
someone time you
2.______________________________________________
3. Leap frog over someone 5 times
3.______________________________________________
4. Get someone to whisper the pledge of
allegiance
4.______________________________________________

48
5. Play “Ring around the Rosy” with two
other people
5.
Person
1:______________________________________
Person

2:________________________________________
6. Get someone to recite a nursery rhyme
6.____________________________________________
Nursery

Rhyme:_________________________________
7.
Shake
hands
with
someone
you
do
not

know
and
continue
holding
hands
while

debating
the
merits
of
your
favorite
ice

cream
flavor
7.______________________________________________
Favorite

Ice
Cream:_________________________________

49
8.
Have
someone
teach
you
a
dance
step

(even
if
they
make
it
up)
8.
____________________________________________
9.
Find
someone
with
your
same
shoe

size,
make
sure
to
include
the
shoe
size
9.______________________________________________
Shoe

Size:______________________________________

50
10.Find
someone
with
the
same

zodiac
sign
10.___________________________________________

Zodiac
Sign:_________________________________________

51
Day 7: Can’t See, Can’t Hear, Can’t Speak
Content Goals: Youth will continue to work on their WordPress site
Leadership Goals: Youth will participate in exercises that exercise tests all aspects
of a group’s level of communication.
Materials: Blindfolds, props
Date: July 8, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.

52
10:15 AM Concentric Circles
Students get to know one another better by answering questions in
brief one-on-one conversations.
Play-by-play
1. Have half of the students create a circle, facing outward.
Have the other half students create a circle around them,
facing inward – make sure each has a partner.
2. The facilitator will ask an icebreaker question (see below.)
The partner standing in the inside circle will have about a
minute to answer first, then we’ll switch and the other
partner will have a minute.
3. Share one or two answers
4. After both partners have answered the question, outside
circle will take one step to the right and start the whole
process over again with another question and another
partner.
5. Continue until questions have been answered
Sample questions:
• What person has influenced your life the most?
• If you could be one age for the rest of your life, how old
would you want to be?
• Would you rather never leave the city of Chicago again or
never be able to return to Chicago again?
• If you were going to be stuck on a desert island with one
other person, whom would you want to be stuck with?
• What do you think is the most important value in a
relationship?
• What is the best gift that you have been given?
• What is your favorite singer/band right now?
• If you could travel back through time, what single mistake
would you correct in life?
• What adjective would a close friend use to describe you?

53
11:00 AM Can’t See, Can’t Hear, Can’t Speak
This exercise tests all aspects of a group’s level of communication.
It’s a fun game for students who wish to practice communicating in
different ways.
Set up:
1. If you have a large group, you may want to divide them into
two different groups and run two games simultaneously. In
each group you run this with:
2. One member of the group must be blindfolded. This person
CANNOT SEE!
3. One member of the group must stand with their back to the
blindfolded person. This person CANNOT HEAR!
4. The rest of the group members must put themselves in front
of the person standing with their back to the blindfolded
person. These people CANNOT SPEAK! (mute)
5. Put the props in the general vicinity of the blindfolded
person.
Play-by-play
1. Once you make sure the blindfolded person cannot see what
you’re doing, have the mute group members watch you
manipulate the props in a three or four step sequence. Only
the mute group members should see your movements.
2. EX. Put the stuffed animal in the backpack, bring the
backpack to the hoola hoop, put the backpack in the center
of the hoola hoop, then walk one counter-clockwise circle
around the hoola hoop.
3. Reset the props back to their original locations. Ask the mute
group members if they understood the pattern. When they
nod yes, the game begins.
4. THE WAY THIS WORKS – the mute group members must
motion commands for the blindfolded person to the person
who cannot hear. They can’t actually touch the props or
move from their circle. The person who can’t hear interprets
the motions and speaks the commands to the blindfolded
person to carry out. The mute group can nod or shake their
head to indicate if the person who cannot hear is on the right
track. The person who cannot hear CANNOT TURN AROUND
TO MAKE SURE THE COMMANDS ARE EXECUTED
CORRECTLY. The blindfolded person will take the verbal
commands and try to complete the three or four step
sequence.

54
5. The game ends when the blindfolded person has executed
the three or four step sequence correctly.
6. Play about 3 rounds. Each round you play, switch up the
group members who are blindfolded and cannot hear.
Debrief
As a whole group, have the students reflect on the following
questions:
• What was hard about each of the roles (blindfolded, not able to
hear, not able to speak?
• Have you ever felt as though your attempts to communicate
with others had similar outcomes as moments in the game?
When?
11:50 AM Break
12:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM Zip Zap Zop
Play-by-play
1. Have students stand in a circle.
2. Start passing a “Zip” by pointing joined hands to a person
across the circle and saying “Zip.”
3. The person who receives the “Zip” must now point to a new
person across the circle and say “Zap.”
4. The person who receives the “Zap” must now point to a new
person across the circle and say “Zop.”
5. The person who receives the “Zop” must now point to a new
person across the circle and say “Zip.”
6. Continue this cycle of “Zip,” “Zap,” “Zop.”
7. The key to this game is speed! Any person who says their
word (Zip/Zap/Zop) out of order, or does not pass their
Zip/Zap/Zop to another person, is eliminated. Continue until
only 2-3 students are left.

55
1:20 PM Typing Club
• Logon http://youthledtech.typingclub.com
• Allow youth to practice/develop their typing skills
• This could be a useful time for facilitators to catch up on
• Facilitators can track the students progress to make sure
2:10 PM Break
1. VIDEO: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/creating-wordpress-
page/
2. Distribute the About pages to the youth
3. Have youth create their own About page on their WordPress
site (15-20mins) or until they are done.
4. Ask the youth to think of other Page’s that might be good for
their site. Allow them to explore other WordPress or websites
for inspiration. (15 mins)
5. VIDEO: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/applying-wordpress-
page-template/
6. Youth should decide on template/s that they like and start
creating Pages for their site.
2:20 PM The power of hashtags
7. Divide students into equal groups
8. Each group has to create 5 hashtags to represent the entire
site for the summer youth-led tech program. They should
write their hashtag ideas on a sheet of butcher paper
9. Each team should post their butcher paper somewhere in
the room
10.Give each student 2 sticker dots to vote
11.Explain that they will now vote on the top two hashtags. They
can put both of their stickers on one hashtag or spread them
out, it’s their choice.
12.After all the students voted figure out which one hashtag got
the most votes and that will be your groups hashtag for the
summer. Along with #youthledtech

56
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out

57
Day 7: Adding media to WordPress
Content Goals: Youth will learn to add media to their WordPress site
Leadership Goals: Youth will participate in exercises that build team collaboration
skills.
Materials: Markers, pens, paper
Date: July 8, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.
10:15 AM Crossword Game
Give a pen and paper to each young person in your group. Ask them
to write their first name in capitals, in the middle of the paper. Each
person then moves around the room, inviting others (including
leaders) to attach their name, where the first letter matches a letter
on the paper. The names are then added like a branching crossword
puzzle. The person who is able to attach the most names in the
given time is the winner.

58
10:30 AM Power of the Youth Voice
Framing: Every generation adults have negative perception of youth
(1960’s) on. By promoting negative stereotypes of young people
adults with power are able to brush of the opinions of young people
and not take them seriously.
• Ask students to think of one negative stereotype that they’ve
heard adults say about young people? (Addressed to them,
their friends, or on TV/Media)
• Write answers on board or chart paper
• Ask students if they think these stereotypes represent youth?
• Can you name you a time in history that young people
affected change?
• Gallery walk with pictures with questions
• Walk around create a headline for each picture
• Groups consolidate into one headline for each picture.
• Then groups receive a blurb about what’s actually happening
• How similar to your headline was the actual event?
• What surprised you about the actual event that wasn’t
conveyed in the picture?
• How might different people at the time might have
interpreted this image differently? For example, a students, a
business owner, a politician.
11:30 AM Break
11:45 PM Mingle
Everyone walks around in the designated area saying “mingle,
mingle, mingle, mingle…” until the leader yells a number. When a
number is given, everyone must quickly try to get into a group of
people that matches that number. After a few seconds, anyone not
in a group is “out.”
• Can modify to characteristics: same age, live in same city,
same shoe size, same eye color, single letter that is the
same in their first names, love to eat the same food, root for
same sports teams
12:00 PM Lunch

59
1:00 PM Hamburger Hot Dog
This quick icebreaker has students race to ask and answer
questions. It’s a great way get students laughing and have them
learn more about each other.
Play-by-play
1. Have students sit or stand in a circle
2. Introduction: We are going to play a game called hot dog
hamburger. In this game you are going to go around the
circle asking each other questions.
3. Explain the types of questions. These are going to be
“either/or” questions. So hot dog or hamburger? Chocolate
or vanilla? Adidas or nike?
4. Students should answer which is their preference and then
turn to the person next to them and ask another question.
5. Go over rules:
a. Don’t use people’s names in this room
b. Don’t repeat a question that was already said
c. Don’t ask a question you wouldn’t ask your
grandmother (be appropriate)
6. Play! It works much better if you time them. Give them a
time challenge (under one minute.) If they achieve it have
them try to beat it in a second round.
1:15 PM Typing Club
1. Logon http://youthledtech.typingclub.com
2. Allow youth to practice/develop their typing skills
3. This could be a useful time for facilitators to catch up on
4. Facilitators can track the students progress to make sure

60
1. You ever had something to say, but you think someone else
said it better? Online you can add what that other person
said easily with a hyperlink.
2. VIDEO: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/adding-links-in-
wordpress/
3. Youth will create a post for their site and insert a hyperlink
(30 mins)
4. Write post on paper
5. Research article or media to support the post
6. Insert hyperlink
7. Post
8. IF some youth finish sooner they should create a second
post.
Debrief
• Why might you use a hyperlink in a post?
• What might using hyperlinks be problematic?
1. Ask youth how might we make our WordPress sites more
entertaining for our users?
2. MEDIA
3. VIDEO: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/adding-images-in-
wordpress/
4. Youth will create a post for their site and insert a hyperlink
(30 mins)
5. Write post on paper
6. Research article or media to support the post
7. Insert hyperlink
3:45 PM Reflection
3:55 PM Sign Out

61
Day 9: Is the Internet Down?
Content Goals: Youth will learn how to determine if the Internet is down
Leadership Goals: Youth will participate in exercises that build team collaboration
skills.
Materials: Deck of index cards
Date: July 9, 2015
10:00 AM Sign-in
note any issues.
answers.
10:15 AM Group statues
1. Ask the group to move around the room, loosely swinging
their arms and gently relaxing their heads and necks. After a
short while, shout out a word. The group must form
themselves into statues that describe the word. For example,
the facilitator shouts “peace”. All the participants have to
instantly adopt, without talking, poses that show what
‘peace’ means to them. Ask a couple students during each
round to explain how their statue represents the topic.
Repeat the exercise several times.
a. Peace, Kanye West, Chiraq, Family Reunion, Power,
Grocery Store, Knowledge, Equality, Lead Instructor,
Childhood, Integrity, Police

62
10:30 AM Arts and Crafts to Show Inequality
Objective: Through the promotion of team building, demonstrate
how certain groups have more power and resources than others
1. Split youth into three groups
a. Group 1 receives the most resources; Group 2
receives just enough, Group 3 barely anything.
b. Estimate of Distribution of Materials:
i. Group 1: paper bag, 2.5 white paper, 4
markers, 5 different colors of construction
paper, 1 orange page, ruler, scissor, glue, tape
ii. Group 2: A piece of a paper bag, 8 paper clips,
2 markers (one that is orange), 2 pieces of
construction paper, .5 white paper
iii. Group 3: A piece of a paper bag,3 paper clips,
1 marker, 1 orange crayon, 2 pieces of
construction paper, .5 white paper, .25 white
paper
2. Pass out the different packets and the instruction sheets to
all participants and explain that the groups have 10 minutes
to complete the activities. (The facilitator should help out the
groups with more resources (group 1) while ignoring and
treating groups 2 and 3 unfairly.)
a. The facilitator should tell Groups 2 and 3 to ask group
1 to share their materials. However the facilitator
should tell Group 1 NOT to share their materials.
3. Step 3: After the 10 minutes are up have each group present
what they have completed.
4. Step 4: After the presentations have a discussion with some
of the following questions:
a. Which group had the most resources?
b. Which group ended up having the best results/why?
c. How do the conditions created during this activity
reflect real life situations?
d. Who might Group 1 represent, who might Group 2
represent, who might Group 3 represent?
e. Why didn’t group 2 and 3 get together and share
resources?
11:30 AM Break

63
11:45 PM Captain’s Call
You must choose one leader to be the captain. This person is
usually outgoing and loud. Then you must have one of the leaders
be a jailer. Have the captain explain all the rules and control the
game. Have the group form lines, one behind the other, facing
front. Then have the captain explain that this game is a lot like
Simon says. You are crew members on a ship and I am your
captain. Whatever I say to do, you do. If you disobey my orders
then you go to jail, where the jailer will make you do push ups and
jumping jacks (This is a good deterrent for the slackers to try).
When the captain says stern, the crew must run backwards. When
the captain says bow, the crew must come to the front. When the
captain says port, the crew must go left. When the captain says
starboard, the crew must go right. Make sure the crew understands
these directions before you go on. The rest of the commands
should be done when the captain says the call and they do not stop
until the captain says captain’s calling. When the captain says this,
the crew must stand back at attention. One of these commands is
captain’s ball, where 2 people get together and dance with one
another. The person who is left out is out. The crew must dance
until the captain says captain’s calling. If the captain says stern
before he says captain’s calling and some people go backwards,
they are out because they must be at attention before they can do
any other action. The other actions are rowboat, where three
people get together and row a boat. The people left standing are
out. There is also octopus, where 4 people get together and sit
back to back and kick their legs up. Then finally there is starfish,
where 6 people link arms and swing around in a circle. The game
ends when there are two people left. This gets the retreatants up
and going and excited about the retreat.
12:00 PM Lunch

64
1:00 PM Partner Tag
Play-by-play
1. Have all students but two stand in a circle. Each student in
the circle should link arms with one other person so that
everyone is part of a linked pair.
2. Of the two remaining students, one (A) starts as ‘IT’ and
begins to chase the other (B). In order to be ‘safe’ and
escape from A, B must run and link one of their arms to an
unlinked arm of another student (C) in the circle. When that
happens, the student who was already linked to C’s other
arm (D) must let go and start running away from A. If A
catches D, D becomes it and must chase A until A links arms
with another student (E), etc.
a. Note: Students being chased must move at least two
people away from where they started before linking
arms with a new pair. (i.e. they cannot just link up
with the person immediately next to them)
3. Play can continue for as much or as little time as required!
1:15 PM Typing Club
5. Logon http://youthledtech.typingclub.com
6. Allow youth to practice/develop their typing skills
7. This could be a useful time for facilitators to catch up on
8. Facilitators can track the students progress to make sure
2:10 PM Break

65
2:20 PM
Is the internet down? (From the Humboldt Park Crew)
Overview
This came up during our initial laptop setup. We had about 14
students on, starting up their laptops and were hella complaining
about HOW SLOW the setup was going. Confused and a bit
concerned with our wifi, I thought, well let me run a quick ping test
and see the connectivity speed and sure enough I was getting a
return time of over 1000ms. One of the student’s asked me what I
was doing and it hit me, “I need to capture this moment” and
walked her through the steps and hotkeys.
Don’t ping me, bro
To run a ping test you’ll need to open up the command prompt.
There are a few ways to get to it. I’ll navigate through two.
OPTION A ( Wandering Mouse )
With your touchpad or mouse, click on the Window’s Icon “Start”
button, select the “Accessories” folder and select “Command
Prompt” option

66
a black pop up window should appear. this is your command prompt
window.

67
OPTION B ( HOTKEY/SHORTCUT Ninja )
On your keyboard press and hold the windows icon button (located
just to the left of the spacebar) and press the “R” button
The “run” window will appear, type cmd and press enter

68
A black pop up window should appear. This is your command
prompt window:
On the command prompt window type the following:
ping google.com
press enter
Your screen should return a packet of data
Engage the youth and ask them what they think the numbers mean
or have them try to read it.
Most of the stuff may seem meaningless, and I’d agree. but
someone might notice the “time” section. encourage that line of

69
thought.
A few mentioned that their numbers were lower the closer they were
to the router……..go with it. It got ours to huddle closer to the main
section of the room. Especially since we were sans projector for
most of the week.
What we are trying to determine is whether or not our device (in this
case the laptop) is currently online and can “talk” to another device
remotely. By pinging, we are sending a signal out ( in this case
google.com) and waiting for a reply back. The time it takes for this to
happen, is SUPER quick; in milliseconds. In our example, each of
those lines is a full loop or round trip from our laptop to google.com
(the server) and back to our laptop.
If your reply time is under 100. you have a pretty strong signal. If it’s
above or returns as “Timed out” it means either the server is down
(unlikely with google) or (most likely) some peeps are eating up your
bandwidth with all them !!!!WORLDSTAR!!!! videos, ONLINE GAMES,
!!!FACEBOOK!!! chatter, etc.
“But, I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT MY INSTAGRAM!!!”
This is great time to talk about how the actions of one might/can
affect all. It can also tie back to the Group Norms - our group ended
up checking each other and asking to pause the videos (mostly
YouTube, I swear) while they were getting the new members setup
and up and running. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Since it’s a relatively light weight program, it’s a good idea for the
instructors to have this running in the background so you can
quickly assess the network connection:
ping google.com -t
Extra
Watching star wars on ascii:
On command prompt type “ telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl “
Press enter and enjoy

71
3:45 PM Listen Up!
The goal of this activity is to learn active listening skills.
Participants will be able to understand the importance of
listening, not just hearing.
Set Up: Prepare a deck of index cards with simple line drawings of
familiar objects. Ex. house, tree, car, etc.
1. Ask the group to get into pairs.
2. Sit back to back.
3. Give one person in each pair a card with a drawing on it, and
the other partner a blank index card.
4. The object is for the person with the pictures to describe, line
by line, the picture on their card without telling the partner
what the object is. For example, an instruction might be
something like this:
5. "Draw a straight line from the top of the page until it
intersects a half circle one inch up from the bottom of the
card…"
6. The listener cannot ask questions, but can only listen to what
is being said.
7. The partner has to draw the object as best they can by
following the directions of their partner.
8. After they are done, they can compare drawings and see how
close they came to the original drawing.
9. Repeat by switching roles.
Debrief
1. What made this activity difficult for the speaker? Listener?
2. Why were some of the drawings not perfectly drawn? What
implications does this have for how we communicate?

72
3:30 PM Thunder Tweet Reflection
1. Everyone log on to your twitter account
2. If students don’t have one, help them make one
3. Ask the students “Who’s ever done a Thunder Clap?”
4. Show what a Thunder Clap is (Count to 3 and everyone
claps at the same time)
5. That’s a powerful sound right?
6. Today we are going to hear all the voices in the
#youthledtech program to reflect on our day
7. We have created a prompt for you to fill in on your Twitter
account and on 3 we will all send our tweets at the same
time.
8. PROMPT: “The highlight of my day was ___________
#youthledtech”
9. Make sure they use the hashtag so that we can view all of
the tweets
10.READY??
11.After you read the prompt give students 1 minute to
complete and tell them to raise their hand once they have
typed their message. Tell them “DO NOT hit send until I
say so.”
12.Once everyone has constructed their tweet then count
down 3, 2, 1, SEND!!
13.Read a few tweets from the screen and then do a live
Thunder clap.
3:55 PM Sign Out

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