Ahhh, the summer holidays. At this point in the year, you’re probably sitting on your back deck, sipping a glass of sweet wine and thinking, “This is the life!”
…Or maybe you’re running around like a crazy person trying to get your children to all their summer sports practices on time while making wholesome meals and at least making sure that there is a pathway to walk through the stuff that keeps piling up in your house. (Can anyone give me an amen!?)
Whichever picture describes you, surely you have the nagging thought that keeps creeping up on you that says, “School’s starting soon…are you ready?”
Well…are you ready?
If the answer is: “Yes! I can’t wait for school to start. I’ve got all my lessons planned out and I know exactly what the first day of school will look like!” – then feel free to skip this post. 😉
If, on the other hand, your answer sounds a bit more like: “I have no idea what I’m doing next year! In fact, I don’t even know what day school starts!” – then please read on!
While I can’t tell what day your school will start on, I can tell you what it will be like. You will walk into the classroom about 30 minutes before the bell rings. You’ll sit down at your desk. You’ll look around the room and smile with a sigh because you are ready!
“How can this be possible?” you ask – because I am going to give you everything you need to feel confident and competent not only on that first day, but for the whole first week!
I’ll be creating 3 blog posts focusing on three different areas of your digital classroom. This first post will zero in on graphic design. Stay tuned to get the resources you need to start your year in digital photography and digital art!
NOTE: Everything listed below will be available in a massive free download! Scroll to the bottom to learn more!
ALSO, the days listed below work well for daily 50 minute classes. If your school runs on block scheduling, see the suggested schedule listed in the free download.
Day 1
Whether you like to start the year with an icebreaker (here’s a post with some good art related ones) you’re going to need a syllabus. Most schools require that you have one and it is a great place to start your year. It is important to have a document handed out to students telling them what they can expect from you and the way that your classroom is run. They may not exactly thank you, but a sense of routine and stability that is provided by a syllabus is important for a student’s security.
For more details on creating a quality syllabus, you can read this blog post.
Day 2
What are your thoughts on giving out bell work? I have several options listed on my blog, but to start out the second day of school, I suggest that you use the Graphic Design Legends series. It will not only introduce your students to some of the big names in graphic design, but it will also show them some of the different career paths that they could follow.
After the bell work activity, you can transition perfectly to the Introduction to Graphic Design unit. Walk through the presentation. Be sure to pause for discussion! You never know when there will be a spark that needs to be blown into a flame. Then give them the Graphic Design Careers worksheet. This will allow the students to dive deeper into what Graphic Design has to offer!
Day 3-4
Bell work! There are 6 graphic designers listed in the Graphic Design Legends series. If you did two each day, you would be finished by day 4 (but you could also draw it out longer so that you would finish them on the 7th day of school).
Allow students to work through their career worksheets. Have them choose one that they are particularly interested in and have them delve deeper into it! Have them ask more questions. What prominent graphic designers have entered your favorite field? Why do you think you’d be good at it?
Day 5
Present! Depending on how many students you have, this may take more than one day. However, this isn’t meant to be a big deal. The idea is just to get them used to talking in front of their peers. Each student should talk for about 5 minutes each. All they need to do is talk through the career that they found interesting and why they liked it.
If you have too many students to finish in one day, you could have them pair up with someone else who chose the same or similar career. Or you could have some of them start on day 4. It may not take 2 full days to do their research.
And that’s it! Done. Simple, to the point, and informative.
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