Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 9 • Unit 2: Understanding Digital Images
Typography & Color Basics — Day 2 of 2
Today's focus: Color Basics
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Printed type samples (good and bad contrast/legibility examples)
- Blank color wheel template (paper)
- Crayons or colored pencils (primary + secondary colors)
- Hand-lettering practice 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.
🗣️ Opening: Do Now
Write or project this, and have students start immediately:
“What's the difference between a typeface and a font?”
📋 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.
📋 Color wheel activity (20 min): color in a blank color wheel template and label warm/cool/complementary pairs.
-
Step 2 — 8 min
🗣️ Say: "Before the bell, everyone needs to finish the exit ticket."
📋 Exit ticket (8 min).
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Complementary Colors
- Colors opposite each other on the color wheel that create strong contrast when paired.
- Analogous Colors
- A group of 3 colors sitting next to each other on the color wheel -- naturally harmonious together.
- Monochromatic
- A color scheme built from a single color, varied only by tint (adding white) or tone (adding gray/black).
- Tertiary Colors
- A color made by mixing a primary color with a neighboring secondary color (e.g. red-orange).
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“Name one "rule" about type or color from today, and explain what could go wrong if a designer ignores it.”
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: ______________________________