12th Grade — Specialization Sprint: Choose Your Lane

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Of video, 3D/product design, and large-format print, which one do you actually want to get better at -- not which one is easiest?

🎯 Today's Big Question

What happens when we take one production skill from 'competent' to genuinely strong?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Choose one specialization (video, 3D/product design, or large-format print) based on real interest and career direction.
Plan and produce a single, more ambitious piece in that specialization than anything attempted earlier in the program.
Connect the specialization to a specific career from the Careers in Design hub, including its real entry requirements.

🧰 What You'll Need

Access to specialization equipment (camera/editor, 3D printer, or large-format printer)
Careers in Design hub (site/careers.html)

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Choose & Plan

Do Now (5 min, above).
Research (15 min): read the matching career page on the Careers hub for entry requirements and typical projects.
Plan (20 min): scope a specific, ambitious piece in your chosen specialization.

Day 2: Produce

Independent production work (40 min), teacher circulating for technical support.

Day 3: Produce & Refine

Independent production work (40 min), pushing the piece further than a first draft.

Day 4: Finish & Reflect

Finish (25 min).
Write (15 min): a short reflection connecting this piece to the career page's stated entry requirements -- which ones does this piece prove you can meet?

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

📚 Key Words

Specialization: Choosing to go deep in one production area instead of staying general across all of them.
Ambitious Piece: A project scoped to be genuinely harder than your past work, not just another version of something you've already mastered.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Finished specialization piece assessed for genuine ambition and technical control; reflection checked for a specific, accurate connection to real entry requirements.

Exit Ticket: Where does this piece put you against that career's real entry-level bar -- ahead, on track, or with a specific gap to close?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

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.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Specialization Sprint: Choose Your Lane.” This project asked: “What happens when we take one production skill from 'competent' to genuinely strong?” I used Specialization by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🔗 Want to Learn More?

The Motion Path (companion book) -- for the video lane specifically

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: Depends on the lane chosen — Physics/Film (video), Geometry/Engineering (3D), or Shop/Tech (print).

Career Connection: Direct tie to whichever specialization career page matches your lane.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Pitch the finished piece to a real audience (a client, a teacher) as if it's professional work. Start here: rehearse the pitch out loud once, timed, before presenting it to the real audience.
Write a short "why this lane" reflection tied to a specific career page's stated requirements. Start here: pull up the actual requirements list on your chosen career page and check off which ones this project covers before writing the reflection.
If you chose the video lane: read one full part of the free companion book The Motion Path (Premiere Pro, Animate, or After Effects) and name one real technique from it you didn't use in this piece but could next time. Start here: skim that part's table of contents and pick the one chapter title that sounds most relevant to a weak spot in your own piece.