Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 9 • Unit 3: Elements & Principles of Design Studio
How to Talk About Design: Critique Language & the Growth Mindset — Day 2 of 2
Today's focus: Practicing & Connecting to Client Work
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Printed vague-vs-specific feedback examples
- One shared sample piece (printed) for guided practice
- Sticky notes
- An early sketch/doodle from earlier this year, for self-critique practice
- 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 (e.g. every Friday, or your class's last meeting of the week), photograph or save your best finished or in-progress piece from that week into your portfolio folder (a physical folder for now, or a Google Drive folder once one is set up) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, and one skill it shows. In Grade 10 this becomes your Google Sites portfolio -- keep adding to it weekly from here on so you're not trying to reconstruct a whole semester of work at the end.
🗣️ Opening: Do Now
Write or project this, and have students start immediately:
“Reread your self-critique from yesterday -- does it still feel true?”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
-
Step 1 — 20 min
🗣️ Say: "Turn to a partner and do this together."
📋 Partner critique practice (20 min): trade a piece of work with a partner and critique it in writing using the protocol.
-
Step 2 — 10 min
🗣️ Say: "Take a quiet minute to think and write before we move on."
📋 Reflection (10 min): read your partner's critique and write 1-2 sentences on what you'd change.
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Growth Mindset
- The belief that a skill grows through practice and feedback, not something a person either "has" or doesn't.
- "I Notice / I Wonder"
- A critique sentence frame that separates plain observation ("I notice...") from a suggestion phrased as a genuine question ("I wonder what would happen if...") instead of a command.
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“Rewrite this vague comment into a specific one using "I notice / I wonder": "I like it, it's cool."”
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: ______________________________