Questions to Ask Oneself While Designing Learning Activities

I absolutely love planning lessons from scratch.  I just got a job teaching technology units for a summer camp for elementary age students. I can design and teach whatever I want – planning for a different theme each week. Some of the themes I am planning are: Expanding and Showing Your Personal Interests Through Blogging, Photos, and Videos; Coding and Creating Online Games; Tinkering and Making – Simple Robotics; Hacking Your Notebook; and Creating Online Comics, Newspapers, and Magazines.  I have begun the process of planning these classes through reflecting on what the lessons will look like.  Here are some questions I ask myself as I go through this process:

• Will the learning activities provide learners with opportunities to tap into their own personal interests and passions?
• Will the learning activities offer the learners the chance to put them “selves” into their work?
• Will the learning activities provide learners with opportunities to express themselves using their own authentic voices?
• Will the learners find the learning activities engaging? interesting? relevant? useful?
• What “cool” technologies can be used to help meet both the instructional and the learners’ goals?
• Will the learning activities provide learners with opportunities to have fun and to play?
• Will learners be able to do at least some of the work independently?
• Will the learning activities give all of the learners opportunities to shine?
• Will the learners get the chance to share their work with other learners, with a more global audience?