Substitute Teacher Guide • Grade 9 • Unit 1: The Client & The Designer
Managing a Design Project — Day 2 of 2
Today's focus: Mapping a Project
✅ Before Students Arrive
- Materials needed today:
- Large paper or poster board (1 per pair/group)
- Markers
- Sample project brief (teacher-provided, 1-paragraph scenario)
- 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:
“Put the 5 project steps in order from memory.”
📋 Class Plan (step by step)
-
Step 1 — 25 min
🗣️ Say: "Get into your groups."
📋 Group project (25 min): build a paper flowchart mapping the sample brief onto all 5 steps, with at least one specific detail per step.
-
Step 2 — 10 min
🗣️ Say: "We're doing a gallery walk -- quietly walk around, look at everyone's work, and jot a note as you go."
📋 Gallery walk (10 min): groups post their flowcharts and compare approaches.
-
Step 3 — 5 min
🗣️ Say: "Before the bell, everyone needs to finish the exit ticket."
📋 Exit ticket (5 min).
🔑 Vocabulary Introduced Today
- Scope Creep
- When a project keeps growing beyond its original plan, threatening the timeline and budget.
- Timeline
- A schedule that lays out when each part of a project should be finished.
✅ Wrap-Up: Exit Ticket
A few minutes before the bell, say: "Time to finish your exit ticket."
“Put the 5 project steps in order from memory, then circle the one you think is easiest to skip by accident (and explain why that's risky).”
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: ______________________________