Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 10 • Unit 7: Meet Photoshop (Before You Touch It)
Photoshop Toolbar: Learning the Tools on Paper First — Day 1 of 2
Today's focus: Meet the Tools (No Computers)
⚠️ Heads-Up: Why paper first
This project is intentionally done with pens and paper, not computers -- students learn what each tool does and looks like before ever opening the software, so the first real Photoshop session (next lesson) is about finding familiar tools, not decoding a brand-new interface.
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Large paper or poster board (1 per pair/group)
- Printed reference sheet of the Photoshop toolbar
- Markers, pencils
- Sticky notes or index cards for labeling
- Most students keep their class notebook at its usual spot in the room and use it every day (see routine below) -- but it's each student's own notebook, so a few may bring theirs from home instead. Either way, everyone should have one out.
- Write today's Do Now on the board before the bell rings (see below).
📓 Daily Notebook Routine (students already know this)
Keep this going every day, in your class notebook: date today's entry, jot your Do Now response, add any new vocabulary word(s) from today's Key Vocabulary section (word + a quick picture + a simple definition in your own words), and take 60 seconds to sketch something connected to today's topic. This notebook is yours to study from, reference on projects, and pull evidence from later for your portfolio.
📁 Portfolio Update Reminder
Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.
🗣️ Opening: Do Now
Write or project this, and have students start immediately:
“Guess how many total tools are in Photoshop's toolbar.”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
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Step 1 — 15 min
🗣️ Say: "Today we're looking at ___." Then walk through the point(s) below at the front of the room.
📋 Mini-lesson (15 min): introduce tool groups (selection, crop, retouching, drawing/painting, type, shapes) using the printed reference sheet. Poster build, part 1 (20 min): in pairs, start the large paper "toolbar poster" -- draw an icon, name, definition, and shortcut for the first 2 tool groups.
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Step 2 — 5 min
🗣️ Say: "Here's what we're doing next." Then read the instructions below to the class.
📋 Check-in (5 min): compare progress with another pair.
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Toolbar
- The panel of icons in Photoshop's interface that holds all of its tools.
- Keyboard Shortcut
- A single key or key combination that activates a tool instantly without clicking it.
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“Pick your favorite tool from today's poster and explain what you think you'll use it for.”
Collect exit tickets (or have students leave them in the usual spot) for the regular teacher to review.
⏳ If You're Short on Time
Protect the Do Now and the Exit Ticket above all else -- those are how the regular teacher tracks daily progress. If a step above is optional/homework, or is a "share out"/discussion step, shorten or skip it first.
⏳ If Students Finish Early
Have them keep working in their notebook: add extra detail to today's vocabulary sketch, review previous vocabulary, or -- if this is a portfolio update week for this class -- work on their portfolio. Early finishers should never be idle or distracting to classmates still working.
📝 For the Regular Teacher (fill in ahead of time)
- Regular teacher's name / how to reach them: ______________________________
- Where finished work / exit tickets go: ______________________________
- Front office extension / emergency contact: ______________________________
- Anything else this class needs to know today: ______________________________