Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 9 • Unit 1: The Client & The Designer
Purpose, Audience & Demographics — Day 2 of 2
Today's focus: Applying It Like a Client
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Printed magazine/ad images (teacher-provided, at least 6 varied examples)
- Scenario cards (printed)
- Purpose & Audience worksheet (paper)
- Product cards for the "create your own" activity (e.g. sneakers, phone case, cereal)
- Pencils
- 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:
“Quick vocab check -- match 3 terms to their definitions from memory.”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
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Step 1 — 15 min
🗣️ Say: "Now it's your turn -- work on your own (or with your table) on the following."
📋 Independent/pair practice (15 min): finish the remaining scenario cards on the worksheet.
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Step 2 — 12 min
🗣️ Say: "Now it's your turn -- work on your own (or with your table) on the following."
📋 Create-your-own (12 min): given a random product card, write a 2-sentence target-audience profile and name 1 asset you'd use.
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Step 3 — 10 min
🗣️ Say: "Let's hear from a few people before we move on."
📋 Discussion (10 min): "Every client questions" -- what should you always ask a client before starting? (target audience, purpose, desired reaction).
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Step 4 — 3 min
🗣️ Say: "Before the bell, everyone needs to finish the exit ticket."
📋 Exit ticket (3 min).
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Audience Purpose
- What the audience wants to get out of seeing the design, such as buying a product.
- Audience Reaction
- The first impression or feeling an audience gets from a design.
- Asset
- Any image, color, font, or other element used inside a design.
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“Pick one image from today and write 2 sentences: who is the target audience, and what reaction is the designer going for?”
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: ______________________________