1. Youth-Led Tech Curriculum
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.
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.

2. 2
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.)
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

3. 3
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 shouldtreat 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
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.

4. 4
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
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:

5. 5
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.
Please note that the currently selected theme will not appear in
the results when browsing or searching for other themes.
Browse Themes

6. 6
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
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.

7. 7
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.
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.

8. 8
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
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)
3:20 PM Telephone Charades

9. 9
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?
3:45 PM Reflection

10. 10
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.