Choice planning

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Choice planning [∞]

Preliminary Stuff (start this the last few weeks of the previous session)

  1. Determine the topic (often pre-determined and given to you by JeVonne). Create a digital or paper space on which to collect ideas as they come to you. Brainstorm corollary topics that might appeal to different ages, learning styles, and interests. Brainstorming topics
  2. If time allows, watch a documentary, listen to some podcasts, read a good book, or otherwise dig into the topic at your own level so you can be excited about the possibilities for curiosity and learning that it offers the heroes. Researching topic
  3. On your idea document, start a collection of:
    • related launch stories as you encounter them (current events news stories, hero stories, moral dilemmas, etc.) Launch stories
    • experiences/field trips, books, kits, or other supplies you might want access to Resources
  4. Make a table/calendar that maps out the weeks of the session, days each week, and any irregularities that will affect quest time.
  5. Find out what related resources and supplies we already own (check supply room, look at Google Drive folders in choiceschoolguides, ask other guides). Keep a running list of these, as well as those you might want to purchase.
  6. Envision possible final events or presentations (“the exhibition”) related to the topic that can be ENTIRELY hero-run.
  7. Read through any Acton-provided quests on the same topic. Acton quests Keep in mind that the timetable on these quests often doesn’t match up with our CHOICE schedule (and sometimes the challenges in them are geared more towards heroes older or younger than the ones you are working with), so you’ll be planning the pacing of the quest yourself and may not use all of the material they provide. Think through the narrative and exhibition ideas they present. Do their ideas resonate? Do they sound exciting for the heroes? If so, run with it. If not…
  8. …Decide what type of “game” this quest will be–
  • an adventure game (where they are seeking a “prize,” progressing in relation to their effort and acquired skill, while also encountering lucky and unlucky circumstances along the way)
  • a strategy game (with defined rules and limited resources that they have to decide how to leverage)
  • a puzzle they are trying to solve (to which you are providing clues or pieces)
  • A cooperative or competitive game or both?
  1. Will there be a role-playing element? Are there characters or props or costumes that would enhance the experience?
  2. If step 7 didn’t provide you with narrative and exhibition ideas you like, try to settle on those now. Occasionally the exhibition stays very loosely defined until the second week or so of the session when you figure out what part of the whole thing the heroes would be most excited to share with their parents and guests.

Planning the First Two Weeks

  1. Working with the kind of “game” you’ve decided to present to the heroes this session, it’s time to start defining the rules of play and what each “turn” (a turn being a day of quest time) will look like and consist of. Here are examples for a few different types of game-play–
    • Adventure game–heroes are making their way along a game-board-like visual on the wall, on which each space directs them towards a particular task that builds their knowledge of and experience with the quest’s topic.
    • Strategy game (team-based)–heroes are given roles and responsibilities in some sort of simulation around the quest’s topic and use resources or game currency they acquire each day to purchase things they need to complete further challenges (building materials, access to knowledge or clues, etc.). They have to make risky decisions on how and on what to spend their time or currency.
    • Puzzle game–some sort of mystery is presented at the beginning of the quest and completion of the daily challenges is rewarded with clues towards solving the puzzle.
    • Competitive or Cooperative–all of the above game types can be done competitively or cooperatively, and it usually works best to include some of both. Same goes with individual challenges vs. group challenges. All of one or the other usually leads to burnout for the heroes.
  2. Use the related Acton quest and any other resources you’ve gathered to create or input about two weeks of launches and challenges (so ~8 days of the quest) into your table/calendar from step 4. ChatGPT can be a great resource for creating launches and challenges. Challenges include everything from:
    • reading or watching and responding to something
    • experimenting with something
    • creating something
    • learning and explaining something
    • experiencing and reflecting on something
    • achieving a goal within set parameters of time or supplies alone or with a group, etc.
  3. Gather, purchase, and/or organize any supplies you will need.
  4. Create whatever tracking system you plan to use and make sure the heroes can use it independently.
  5. Create a Quest Map (or ask a DELTA hero to do so) that you can post for the heroes to have an overall general idea of what to plan on for the next 3-6 weeks.
THE GOAL DURING QUEST IS THAT AFTER A BRIEF LAUNCH (in which heroes do the majority of the talking), THE GUIDE IS BARELY NEEDED OR REFERENCED BY THE HEROES. THIS REQUIRES ADVANCE PREPARATION OF WRITTEN CHALLENGES (on paper or in Journey Tracker) SO THAT HEROES ARE EQUIPPED WITH EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO PROCEED THROUGH QUEST TIME. THE ONLY TIME I’VE JUSTIFIED SIGNIFICANT GUIDE PRESENCE DURING QUESTS IS ON THE ONES WHERE THERE’S BEEN A “STORE” OR WAREHOUSE OF SUPPLIES THAT REQUIRED AN AMOUNT OF RATIONING, MANAGEMENT, AND UPKEEP THAT, TURNED OVER TO THE HEROES, WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THEM FROM BEING ABLE TO COMPLETE THE CHALLENGES.

(Quests involving circuitry supplies and world-building art supplies come to mind.)

  1. On average to keep energy high, each new day of the quest should present about one “new” challenge (or digging deeper on a previous one) so that those who are ready to move on, can, while those who are enjoying the previous challenge or finding it more difficult can continue to work on it another day or longer.
  2. I’ve inevitably found that the game rules and challenges I create need some tweaking after seeing them in use with the heroes the first week (pacing, type of challenges, what is drawing their interest, etc.). So I often adjust things a bit after the first week of a quest and then feel much more confident planning the time out for the remaining weeks.

How to Present the Rules and Challenges

  1. A quest could be entirely presented on a whiteboard or on paper, but it’s usually most efficient and editable to present things digitally. Usually this means creating a badge with a series of milestones and challenges within Journey Tracker. It can be published as a badge that they work through in order, or the badge template can just be used by the guide to organize everything, and then the challenges can be copied and pasted on specific days of the session as “one-off” challenges that appear in the heroes’ Journey Tracker calendar. You can set accountability requirements in Journey Tracker that allow the heroes to check each other’s work rather than them being tempted to reference the guide for approval or praise.
  2. I’ve found that the quests with the highest engagement often involve some sort of economy and currency. Fake money has often been a motivating currency in quests I’ve done, and while it’s tempting to just keep track of money digitally, using fake coins and bills seems better for their math skills development, requires them to practice some responsibility in keeping their fake money safe, and keeps the guide off the hook having to manage a spreadsheet (and get blamed for mismanagement of funds). I’ve done both ways in different quests for different reasons.

Adjustments

  1. I’ve never done a quest that didn’t need some adjustments or sometimes a total course change part way through. So while I’d recommend having a solid plan for the first two weeks, keep your mind and eyes open to changes suggested by direct or indirect feedback from the heroes. If you’ve spent good preliminary time gathering great resources before the quest even begins, plugging those in after needing to adjust things mid-quest shouldn’t be too stressful.

Exhibition

  1. Ideally, the quest portion of the exhibition is a natural outgrowth of the quest “game” you created and is an opportunity for the heroes to invite their parents into the “game” they’ve been playing all session. Less ideally but occasionally, the exhibition ends up being more of a showcase. When this is the case, the heroes should still be determining what they want to show and how doing so will hold them accountable to the CHOICE community. YOU WILL BE VERY TEMPTED TO CARE HOW THE EXHIBITION LOOKS TO OTHER ADULTS. THIS IS NOT YOUR CONCERN. YOU ARE THERE TO FACILITATE AND EMPOWER THE HEROES TO PLAN AND EXECUTE AN EVENT AND LEARN FROM WHAT DOES AND DOESN’T GO AS PLANNED OR HOPED BY ASKING THEM OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS AFTERWARDS. Before the exhibition, you will give them information like the time and space parameters for the exhibition, any deadlines for you acquiring supplies that they need from you, etc. but not much else (like cajoling, taking over as emcee, or asking them to execute a plan that you have made 😁).
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