Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 12 • Unit S3.5: Extension & Enrichment (Optional)
Design for Social Media: School Announcements & Promotion — Day 1 of 2
Today's focus: Planning & First Graphic
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Computer with Photoshop, Canva, or Figma
- A real upcoming school event to promote
- 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 yearbook (or, later, studio) work to your portfolio with a 1-2 sentence caption -- and once you're in the Design Studio phase, a photo of the piece in its real, installed location if possible. This is the same evidence trail you'll use for Archive & Portfolio and any PBAT/portfolio review.
🗣️ Opening: Do Now
Write or project this, and have students start immediately:
“.”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
-
Step 1 — 12 min
🗣️ Say: "Today we're looking at ___." Then walk through the point(s) below at the front of the room.
📋 Mini-lesson (12 min): social media graphic sizes/formats, and what makes a post stop the scroll. Independent build, part 1 (23 min): design the first graphic in a series promoting a real school event.
-
Step 2 — 5 min
🗣️ Say: "Here's what we're doing next." Then read the instructions below to the class.
📋 Save progress (5 min).
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Social Media Graphic
- A design sized and formatted specifically for a social platform (e.g. an Instagram post or story).
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“What did you keep consistent across your post series, and why does that matter?”
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: ______________________________