12th Grade — Phase 1, Unit Y2: Content Collection: Planning & Running In-School Photoshoots

🗓️ Before Class: Teacher Prep

Gather/set out: Camera(s) (photo), Backdrop/lighting setup, Class schedule/room access for shoot days (confirmed with each teacher in advance), Tracking spreadsheet (for check-in).
Pull up today's slide deck (see 🖥️ Slide Deck below) so it's ready to project.
Heads-up -- Plan With Teachers, Not Around Them -- and Know the Content Rules: Every in-school photoshoot needs a teacher's advance permission and a plan that fits into their class rather than disrupting it -- coordinate the exact time, location, and how long you'll need well before shoot day, not after the fact. A teacher who wasn't given a heads-up (and whose class got interrupted because of it) is far less likely to say yes next time. Every photo also has to follow the school's content policy before it can be printed: only a peace sign or a thumbs-up are acceptable hand gestures in a yearbook photo. Any other hand sign means that specific photo doesn't get printed -- and enough violations put the entire yearbook's printing at risk. Make sure every student knows this rule before a camera comes out, at every single shoot.

🖥️ 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.

🧑‍🏫 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.

Plan With Teachers, Not Around Them -- and Know the Content Rules

Every in-school photoshoot needs a teacher's advance permission and a plan that fits into their class rather than disrupting it -- coordinate the exact time, location, and how long you'll need well before shoot day, not after the fact. A teacher who wasn't given a heads-up (and whose class got interrupted because of it) is far less likely to say yes next time. Every photo also has to follow the school's content policy before it can be printed: only a peace sign or a thumbs-up are acceptable hand gestures in a yearbook photo. Any other hand sign means that specific photo doesn't get printed -- and enough violations put the entire yearbook's printing at risk. Make sure every student knows this rule before a camera comes out, at every single shoot.

🎯 Essential Question

How do we plan and run photoshoots at school so every senior actually gets their portrait taken -- without disrupting anyone else's class?

📈 Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson (3 Days), students will be able to:

Get a receiving teacher's advance permission for every photoshoot location/time, and build the schedule around their class, not around our own convenience.
Brief every student on the yearbook's photo content policy (only a peace-sign or thumbs-up hand gesture is printable) before any camera comes out.
Assist in running at least one in-school photoshoot session as photographer, coordinator, or reviewer.
Cross-check attendance against the tracking spreadsheet to catch students who still need a photo.

📐 Standards Alignment

CDOS (Career Development & Occupational Studies)

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.
CDOS 3b — Career Majors -- knowledge and skills required for success within a specific career pathway (here, Digital Design).

Industry Standards (CCTC)

AR-PRT 1-3 — Analyze scheduling processes to ensure timely completion of projects.

📚 Key Vocabulary

Photoshoot: A planned, organized session for capturing photos, as opposed to unplanned candid photos.
Backdrop: A simple, consistent background used behind subjects so portraits look uniform.
Coverage Gap: A student or section still missing a required photo, tracked in the spreadsheet.
Advance Permission: Getting a teacher's explicit go-ahead for the exact time, place, and length of a photoshoot BEFORE it's scheduled -- planned with them, never sprung on them.
Photo Content Policy: The school's rule for what's allowed in a printed yearbook photo: only a peace sign or a thumbs-up hand gesture. Any other hand sign means that photo can't be printed, and the whole book's printing is at risk if it isn't caught.

🧰 Materials & Tools

Camera(s) (photo)
Backdrop/lighting setup
Class schedule/room access for shoot days (confirmed with each teacher in advance)
Tracking spreadsheet (for check-in)

🧠 Do Now (Warm-Up)

What could go wrong during a photoshoot day if we don't plan ahead, and how could we prevent it?

📁 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 “Planning & Running In-School Photoshoots.” This project asked: “How do we plan and run photoshoots at school so every senior actually gets their portrait taken -- without disrupting anyone else's class?” I used Photoshoot 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

This lesson spans 3 Days. Suggested pacing:

Day	Focus	Plan
Day 1	Plan	Do Now (5 min): what could go wrong on shoot day if we don't plan ahead? Mini-lesson (10 min): what makes a good photoshoot session (backdrop, lighting, flow) -- and why we ask a teacher's permission for a specific time/place/duration well in advance instead of just showing up. Planning (25 min): as a class, reach out to the teachers whose rooms or class time we'd need, schedule shoot dates/locations only once they've said yes, and assign roles (photographer, line coordinator, spreadsheet check-in) for each session. Confirm (5 min): double-check the full plan with our own teacher, and review the photo content policy (peace sign or thumbs-up only) so everyone knows it before shoot day.
Day 2	Shoot Day 1	Do Now (5 min): review your role for today, and the photo content policy. Shoot session (35 min): run the first in-school photoshoot on the schedule the receiving teacher approved, checking students in against the spreadsheet and reminding anyone who forgets to keep hand gestures to a peace sign or thumbs-up. Debrief (5 min): what worked, what didn't, and did the receiving teacher's class go undisturbed?
Day 3	Shoot Day 2 / Makeups	Do Now (5 min): check the spreadsheet -- who's still missing? Makeup shoot session (35 min): run a follow-up session (again, only in a teacher-approved time/place) targeting flagged students. Final check (5 min): confirm coverage in the spreadsheet.

✅ Assessment & Exit Ticket

Spreadsheet coverage checked after each shoot day: every student either has a photo or is specifically flagged for follow-up; every shoot ran in a teacher-approved time/place with no reported classroom disruption.

Exit Ticket: How many students were missing a photo after our first shoot day, and what was our plan to catch them?

📊 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.