What Matters to Us

Learning goals

• To reflect upon and identify topics that are important to participants.
• To communicate and explain what matters to participants in their lives.
• To encourage participants to start advocating for what they care about.

Duration

• 150 minutes (depending on the size of the group), including 10 minute break

Outline

Part 1: Opening and Interactive storytelling / 20 minutes

Purpose: To orient the participants into the session, so they understand the overall focus and ground rules. This is also the time for the participants to introduce themselves, and become more comfortable with the group.

• Introduce yourself and what this session is.

• Interactive storytelling: set the scene in an engaging way. For example you could say:

  • “We are all complex. We exist as individuals, within communities, and the entire world.”

  • Individual: “This morning you probably woke up, got dressed and then...”

    • Ask the room “what else do you do to get ready for the day?”
    • For each respondent, ask them to say their name.

  • Community: “Then you went to school with your peers, learned new things from your teachers. Maybe after school you... with others?”

    • Ask the room “what do you like to do with others (friends, family etc.)?”
    • For each respondent, ask them to say their name.

  • Global: “While watching some videos, you noticed a town that looked so different from yours with unique buildings, plants, and animals there...”

    • Ask the room “what’s the next video you’d want to watch or information you’d want to research about another place? Do you want to travel to another place one day?”
    • For each respondent, ask them to say their name.

  • “You are not only an individual, you are connected to communities, society, and part of the greater globe which we share with not only other people but also other lifeforms—animals and plants.”

  • “In this session, I’ll be asking you to think about yourself not only as an individual, but also your place in your community and in the world. Here you will explore the topics you care about and through that, we’ll learn more about each other. But first, let’s get to know who is in the room right now.”

  • For anyone who hasn’t spoken up yet, ask them to say their name.

• Facilitator tips:

  • During this introduction, the answers don’t have to be thorough, you just want to try to encourage some people to answer for each question to engage the room slowly.
  • If anyone isn’t speaking up, you can also encourage them to speak up and ask them directly “what about you?”.
  • Adapt the storytelling according to the age of the participants.

• Go over the ground rules of the session. Feel free to add your own and ask the group if they’d like to add something. A few simple ground rules we would suggest are:

  • We respect each other.
  • We listen and give space to others.
  • Everything is voluntary.

Part 2: Warm-Up Reflection / 20 minutes

Purpose: This warm-up intends to prepare participants for the rest of the workshop by giving them a chance to think about what they care about in pairs and individually.

• [10 minutes] In pairs (groups of two) ask participants to begin articulating what they care about, answering the prompt:

  • “Think of topics that matter to you. These topics can relate to yourself as an individual, in connection to the wider society, and in connection to the world around you. Which topics do you care about or are interested in exploring? (Think of what you like to watch, read, talk about...)”

  • Facilitator tips:

    • The answers to this question could be wider topics like “climate change” or “AI” or more specific points like “learning to drive” or “finding a job”. Basically, there is not a “wrong” answer, as long as they are genuine.
    • During this time, walk around the room and listen in to make sure pairs are staying on topic. In case anyone is stuck, these additional prompts may be helpful: “What books are you reading? What are you talking to your friends about? How do you spend your time?”

• [2 minutes] Explain the next part of the activity: They will individually reflect and write one of their points briefly on each sticky note—no need to write the points of the other person they just talked to, unless they agree; the fewer the words, the better.

  • Then walk around handing out sticky note stacks and pens for them to begin.
  • Facilitator tip: Before the session, you can prepare the materials for each participant so it is easier for you or an assistant to hand them out when you are ready. Prepare stacks of approx 20 sticky notes and clip a pen or marker through each. If anyone needs more sticky notes during the session you can hand out more.

• [5 minutes] Individually, participants write on sticky notes (one point on each sticky note), answering the prompt.

  • For example, they might come up with a variety of topics and issues like this:

• Facilitator tip: During this time, walk around and make sure that everyone is on track, writing just one point per sticky note.

• Participants put all of their sticky notes up on the table, wall, board, or poster altogether.

  • Facilitator tips:

    • Make sure your table, wall, board, or poster is a large enough space because you will be moving around the sticky notes.
    • Clustering on a table is a good choice for not-so-sticky notes as well as a easy way to get the group to stand around and really participate in the next part.

Part 3: Topics Clustering Activity / 20 minutes

Purpose: This activity builds upon the previous section by combining all of the topics which the participants came up with and finding commonalities and patterns among the responses.

• Ask for 1-2 participants to volunteer and help cluster sticky notes based on similarities—but the clustering should involve the whole group (not only these assistants). Label the clusters even if it seems obvious.

  • Facilitator tips:

    • For topics that seem random, ask for more clarification--maybe they actually fit to another big topic already present. For example “advance in my favourite online game” might be related to belonging within their social group, or a feeling of accomplishment during a stressful period of life.
    • You may need to do some mental gymnastics in order to cluster. For example: "learning to drive" is that fitting best in the "becoming independent" cluster or another cluster, etc? Ask the room if the person who wrote this can help clarify or if others have suggestions.
    • When asking clarification questions, if you learn something new about the point, add the new explanation to the sticky note or make a new sticky note to replace it with.
    • Examples of cluster titles which may arise from the sticky notes: independence, environment, relationships, belonging, politics, hobbies, school and work, self, activism, human rights, entertainment, etc.

• Your clusters might look something like this (for example):

• When all notes are up and clustered, remark about the most popular topics with many sticky notes.

  • Facilitator tips:

    • If there are many within one cluster, ask: Do they make sense altogether or is it better to split them in sub-topics? For example, in the visual, “Human Rights” is a huge topic, and there might be some similarities within it that can be clustered even more accurately. Here is an example of Human Rights being split up into Living Conditions, Equal Rights, and Harm:

    • Also ask the room: Why are certain topics so popular? Have they discussed those topics in school already or seen them in the news or somewhere else?

      • Make note of the answers to include in your documentation and reporting.

    • If some are less similar, it doesn't mean they are less important. Maybe there is one sticky note that holds a really heavy weight like “war” or “negative self-image” for example.

    • Think in advance how you will take care of your participants and deal with heavy topics if they arise (e.g. self-harm, bullying, etc.). You can acknowledge this and give validation, but it is also okay to know your limitations and move on to topics which you feel better equipped to handle during the session—following up on an individual basis afterwards.

• Give a couple of minutes chance for people to add more sticky notes if people thought of other topics that matter to them which they didn’t already include. If new sticky notes are added, ask the participants to cluster them or make a new cluster.

• Facilitator tip: If the participants don’t add something new at this point—it’s okay! If it’s important to the participants, they could always add more after the session ends.

BREAK / 10 minutes

Individual Reflection Activity / 10 minutes

Purpose: To help participants select a topic they care about and would like to advocate for, which they will focus on in the next activity.

• Hand out activity cards and pens for planning out their ideas (this is before they receive the posters which their final decisions will be placed on in the next activity).

• Give participants this scenario:

  • “Imagine this: Suddenly, you have the chance to present a topic that matters to you to other peers who can enact change. How would you convince them of the problem and why it matters?”

• Give them instructions for this activity and an outlook on the rest of the workshop:

  • Now that the group has looked closely at what people in the room care about, each individual selects a topic to focus on for now—or if they want to focus on more than one topic, they should find an angle to connect them.
  • Participants will have a chance to start designing their idea on an activity card now. Remember that the participants should articulate the problem to peers and express why it matters to them (visually or with text) on their posters. (It is not as important to come up with the solution for how to fix it.)
  • The posters don’t need to be beautiful or win any awards! We are just encouraging the participants to articulate what they care about.
  • In a few moments, they will get a poster paper where they can place their polished ideas.
  • Later the room will look at what everyone else is creating.

• Give participants a few minutes to begin thinking about which topic they will focus on, and start planning what they would say or design on their poster. When anyone is ready, feel free to transition them to the next part, naturally. Anyone who needs more time to prepare, can stay on this section for a while longer.

• Facilitator tips:

  • It would be great if there is discussion between participants! But please note that ideally we would like each participant to develop their own poster about what they care about and why.
  • Walk around the room and check on the participants. Maybe someone is stuck and needs help sorting out their thoughts.
  • If any participants are panicking, reassure them. If they don’t finish planning because next they will have 35 more minutes to create their posters—so they can have more time to think, plan, and discuss if they need help.

Advocating for What You Care About / 35 minutes

Purpose: For participants to articulate the topic they care about in their own words to peers and explain why it matters to them—either through visual expression, text, or a mix of both—on their posters.

• Participants will make a poster, advocating for what they care about.

  • The poster they will create should articulate the topic to peers in their own words and express (visually or with text) why it matters to them. (It is not as important to come up with the solution for how to fix it.)
  • Here, you will hand out the posters and markers, as well as any other art supplies you see suitable for this activity (e.g. glitter, glue, magazines, scissors, etc.).

• Facilitator tips:

  • Walk around the room and check on the participants to make sure everyone stays on track.
  • In fact, you can already begin asking individuals clarification questions during this working period, to better understand their ideas.
  • If anyone is stuck or anxious, just remind them that their poster doesn’t need to win any awards and that their thoughts are valid and interesting.

Advocacy Gallery / 20 minutes

Purpose: For the participants to share what they have created, and see what everyone else has done, as well as to ask clarification questions to one another.

• Put the posters up around the room, as a group they walk around and look at the posters. Peers and the facilitator can ask clarifying questions as they go and look around.

• If there is time, and your group isn’t too big, you should ask each participant to share for a few moments about their poster. Please ask them to articulate the topic they have focused on and why it matters to them—as they would be explaining it to peers who can enact change (from the scenario).

• Facilitator tips:

  • Make sure to stand off to the side during this sharing, because we do not want the participants to share their posters to the facilitator—we want the participants to share their posters to the peers. We believe this body placement of the facilitator may influence how the participants express their thoughts (i.e. explaining to an authority figure may be different from explaining to their peers).

Closing / 15 minutes

Purpose: To wrap up the workshop’s activities.

• If participants want to turn their posters into picket signs, you can offer them sticks to tape or glue onto the poster. Or they could recreate them at home for this purpose. Share the idea with them!
• Participants can take their posters home if they want—or they can collaboratively put them somewhere (e.g. hanging in a local school or library) if possible. Either you could arrange this or encourage the participants to arrange it if they want to be proactive.
• Facilitator tip: If you are comfortable with it, we welcome you to take notes of the discussions and photos of the results and share them with us at youth@tacticaltech.org! Each participant should hold their poster in front of their face, and the photo should include the hands of the participant —meaning the face is covered/not seen in the picture (i.e. privacy photo that still has some charm).

Materials

• Sticky notes (approx 20 per participant plus additional ones)

  • Ideally, your sticky notes are really sticky because they will be stuck and unstuck multiple times.

• Pens and markers

• Large table or wall space (or a board or poster—to put the sticky notes on)

• Scrap paper

• Colourful posters (which are made from a thick material)

• (optional) Wooden sticks to adhere to the posters so they can be held up

• (optional) Additional art supplies for the posters (e.g. Glitter, glue, magazines, scissors, etc.)

Facilitator tips

• The duration of each part is an estimation. Be aware that the size of group, how active or passive participants are in the discussions or the option to include the proposed variations can impact the duration of each activity. This outline was designed for 6-16 teenage participants.

Preview the activity card

Download the activity cards and outline

Are you an educator? Do you want to use these activities as part of a lesson or a workshop? See our Further Learning materials page to find guides and mini workshops based around the What the Future Wants activities.