Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 11 • Unit C: Typography Mastery
Type Classification & Pairing Fonts — Day 1 of 2
Today's focus: Type Classification
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Printed font classification sheet
- Sample layout template with a headline + body text placeholder
- Google Fonts printouts or device access
- 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), add your best finished or in-progress work to a running portfolio folder with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what skill or standard it shows. This becomes your formal Google Sites portfolio in Unit F -- keep it current all year so you're not scrambling right before your PBAT and portfolio review.
🗣️ Opening: Do Now
Write or project this, and have students start immediately:
“Would you put a script font in a legal contract? Why or why not?”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
-
Step 1 — 20 min
🗣️ Say: "Here's what we're doing next." Then read the instructions below to the class.
📋 Sorting activity (20 min): sort a mixed set of font samples into the correct categories.
-
Step 2 — 5 min
🗣️ Say: "Let's hear from a few people before we move on."
📋 Share (5 min).
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Serif / Sans-Serif
- Serif fonts have small strokes at letter ends; sans-serif fonts do not.
- Script
- A typeface that mimics handwriting or calligraphy.
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“Name your strongest font pairing from today and explain, using vocabulary from today, why it works.”
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: ______________________________