12th Grade — Phase 3, Unit C1: Capstone Orientation: Two Paths to the Finish Line

🗓️ Before Class: Teacher Prep

Gather/set out: Program requirement checklist (per student), Track assignment sheet.
Pull up today's slide deck (see 🖥️ Slide Deck below) so it's ready to project.
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.

🖥️ Slide Deck (project or share with students)

Short, on-the-board pacing slides for today's Do Now, agenda, vocabulary, and exit ticket -- the full detail lives in the handout above, not here.

Open / download this slide PDF

🧑‍🏫 Substitute Teacher Guide

A scripted, step-by-step runsheet for today's class -- hand this to anyone covering the room who doesn't know the daily routine.

📋 Open Substitute Guide

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.

🎯 Essential Question

What does the rest of senior year look like, and which track applies to me?

📈 Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson (1 Day), students will be able to:

Identify whether they are on the in-room studio track or the internship/college-class track for the rest of the year.
Explain what's expected on each track: real job cycles for the studio track, documented outside learning for the other.
Preview the semester's shared deliverables every senior completes regardless of track: a midterm showcase, an after-graduation design plan, and the yearbook's real distribution.

📐 Standards Alignment

CDOS (Career Development & Occupational Studies)

CDOS 1 — Career Development -- students will be able to explain the range of career choices, and identify personal interests, skills, and aptitudes that relate to those choices.
CDOS 2 — Integrated Learning -- students will demonstrate how academic knowledge and skills are applied in the workplace and other settings.
CDOS 3a — Universal Foundation Skills -- basic literacy, communication, and problem-solving skills required for a career.

📚 Key Vocabulary

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.

🧰 Materials & Tools

Program requirement checklist (per student)
Track assignment sheet

🧠 Do Now (Warm-Up)

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?

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

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.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Two Paths to the Finish Line.” This project asked: “What does the rest of senior year look like, and which track applies to me?” I used Work-Based Learning by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

📋 Main Workshop / Lesson Sequence

Do Now (5 min, above). Mini-lesson (15 min): what each track looks like day to day, and the three shared deliverables every senior completes either way. Individual conferences (20 min): teacher confirms each student's track and reviews any remaining requirements with them. Set goals (5 min): each student writes one specific goal for this final stretch.

✅ Assessment & Exit Ticket

Track correctly identified and documented; one specific, realistic goal written for the semester.

Exit Ticket: What's the one design skill you most want to be able to say you're confident in by graduation?

📊 Pull up the anonymous Class Check-In for students to fill out before they go.

🧩 Differentiation & Accommodations

English Language Learners: model every step live, then check in one-on-one; provide translated materials and vocabulary support as needed. Students with IEPs: apply the accommodations and modifications listed in each student's plan (examples include extended time, graphic organizers, speech-to-text tools, chunked instructions, and visual schedules). Students with attention-related needs: break tasks into short, checklist-driven steps and provide brief movement or focus breaks. Students ready for a challenge: take on a leadership role critiquing peers' work, extend the project with a second iteration, or research how today's skill is used professionally in the field.

🔗 Resources & References

None beyond this lesson's materials.