Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 12 • Phase 3, Unit C1: Capstone Orientation
Two Paths to the Finish Line
Today's focus: Two Paths to the Finish Line
⚠️ Heads-Up: Two Tracks, Same Room
Some of you are heading out to a real internship or college class several periods a week; some of you are still finishing program requirements right here. Both are legitimate paths to the same goal. On check-in days, off-site students document and reflect on outside learning while in-room students keep running real studio jobs -- ask your teacher which track applies to you if you're not sure.
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Program requirement checklist (per student)
- Track assignment sheet
- 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, 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.
🗣️ Opening: Do Now
Write or project this, and have students start immediately:
“Looking at your own requirement checklist, do you think you're on the studio track or the internship/college track for the rest of the year -- and why?”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
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Step 1 — 15 min
🗣️ Say: "Today we're looking at ___." Then walk through the point(s) below at the front of the room.
📋 Mini-lesson (15 min): what each track looks like day to day, and the three shared deliverables every senior completes either way.
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Step 2 — 20 min
🗣️ Say: "Here's what we're doing next." Then read the instructions below to the class.
📋 Individual conferences (20 min): teacher confirms each student's track and reviews any remaining requirements with them.
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Step 3 — 5 min
🗣️ Say: "Here's what we're doing next." Then read the instructions below to the class.
📋 Set goals (5 min): each student writes one specific goal for this final stretch.
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Work-Based Learning
- Structured learning that happens at a real job site or through a real employer partnership, counted as part of a CTE program.
- Dual Enrollment
- Taking a college-level class while still in high school, often for both high school and college credit.
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“What's the one design skill you most want to be able to say you're confident in by graduation?”
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: ______________________________