🗓️ Before Class: Teacher Prep
- Gather/set out: Internet access for research, Sketchbook or paper.
- Pull up today's slide deck (see 🖥️ Slide Deck below) so it's ready to project.
🧑🏫 Substitute Teacher Guide
A scripted, step-by-step runsheet for today's class -- hand this to anyone covering the room who doesn't know the daily routine.
- Day 1: 📋 Open Substitute Guide
- Day 2: 📋 Open Substitute Guide
🎯 Essential Question
- What's actually next for me after this year, and how would I explain it to someone else in one page?
📈 Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson (2 Days), students will be able to:
- Research their real, specific next step after graduation (a college program, a trade, an apprenticeship, the military, a job, or a gap-year plan).
- Identify at least 3 concrete facts about that path (cost, timeline, requirements, or first steps).
- Sketch a rough concept for how to present this plan visually -- not just in words.
📐 Standards Alignment
CDOS (Career Development & Occupational Studies)
- CDOS 1 — Career Development -- students will be able to explain the range of career choices, and identify personal interests, skills, and aptitudes that relate to those choices.
- CDOS 2 — Integrated Learning -- students will demonstrate how academic knowledge and skills are applied in the workplace and other settings.
- CDOS 3a — Universal Foundation Skills -- basic literacy, communication, and problem-solving skills required for a career.
📚 Key Vocabulary
- Post-Secondary Plan
- A specific, researched plan for what comes immediately after high school -- not just a general hope.
- Concept Sketch
- An early, rough visual plan for a design before any final production begins.
🧰 Materials & Tools
- Internet access for research
- Sketchbook or paper
🧠 Do Now (Warm-Up)
If you had to explain your actual plan for next year to a stranger in one sentence, what would you say?
📋 Main Workshop / Lesson Sequence
This lesson spans 2 Days. Suggested pacing:
| Day | Focus | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Research | Do Now (5 min, above). Independent research (35 min): find at least 3 concrete facts about your specific next step (cost, timeline, requirements, first steps). |
| Day 2 | Concept | Mini-lesson (10 min): how a designer turns information into a visual plan (a deck, a poster, a one-pager). Sketch (30 min): rough out 2 concept directions for presenting your own plan. |
✅ Assessment & Exit Ticket
Research checked for 3 specific, accurate facts; concept sketches checked for genuinely different visual approaches, not two versions of the same idea.
Exit Ticket: Which of your two concept directions do you actually want to build, and why?
📊 Pull up the anonymous Class Check-In for students to fill out before they go.
🧩 Differentiation & Accommodations
English Language Learners: model every step live, then check in one-on-one; provide translated materials and vocabulary support as needed. Students with IEPs: apply the accommodations and modifications listed in each student's plan (examples include extended time, graphic organizers, speech-to-text tools, chunked instructions, and visual schedules). Students with attention-related needs: break tasks into short, checklist-driven steps and provide brief movement or focus breaks. Students ready for a challenge: take on a leadership role critiquing peers' work, extend the project with a second iteration, or research how today's skill is used professionally in the field.
🔗 Resources & References
- None beyond this lesson's materials.