Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 11 • Unit A: Foundations — The Design Process & Purpose

Design Is Art With a Purpose

Today's focus: Design Is Art With a Purpose

✅ Before Students Arrive

Materials needed today:
- 3 printed examples: a fine art piece, an ad, and a piece of wayfinding/signage
- Notebook/journal
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.

🗣️ Opening: Do Now

Write or project this, and have students start immediately:

“Look at the 3 images posted. Which one do you think is "art," which is "design," and which could be both? Explain your choice.”

📋 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: introduce the course philosophy -- design is art with a purpose, created for a client and an audience, and built using a repeatable process (12 min).
Step 2 — 15 min

🗣️ Say: "Get into your groups."

📋 Small groups: for each of the 3 example images, identify the client, the audience, and the purpose (15 min).
Step 3 — 10 min

🗣️ Say: "Let's hear from a few people before we move on."

📋 Whole-class share and preview of the year ahead: history, typography, color, Photoshop mastery, real client projects, and the PBAT/portfolio at the end (10 min).

🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today

Design: Visual problem-solving created for a client and an audience, not only for self-expression.
Fine Art: Work primarily created to express the artist's own ideas or feelings.
Purpose: The problem a design is meant to solve or the action it's meant to inspire.

✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket

A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."

“In your own words, finish this sentence: "Design is art with a purpose because ___."”

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: ______________________________