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Week 2: Design Your Brand — Graphic Design + First Resume

6th Six Weeks | Arts, A/V Technology & Communications Cluster | 5 class periods (50 min each)

Lesson Objective

Students explore the Arts, A/V Technology & Communications career cluster through Hats & Ladders, write their first professional resume in Xello, practice attention to detail through the H&L Powerskills module, design a branding piece using the H&L "Creative Entrepreneurs" project, and identify the steps of an effective job search to bridge into the job-readiness weeks ahead.

Demonstration of Learning

"I can describe at least three Arts/AV careers, write a complete resume in Xello including education, skills, activities, and career objective, identify the first three steps of an effective job search, and design a brand identity for a creative business."

TEKS Alignment

  • d(7)(A): Write a resume.
  • d(1)(C): Identify various career opportunities within the Arts/AV cluster.
  • d(6)(A): Identify steps of an effective job search.

Materials Needed

Career Connection

Graphic design and digital communication careers are everywhere in our visual world, every website, app, advertisement, social media post, and brand logo was created by a designer. In DFW, companies of all sizes hire graphic designers, animators, video editors, UX designers, and social media managers. This is also THE resume week of the year, students write their first professional resume in Xello, which becomes a living document they refine through the rest of the six weeks.

What is Happening at Irving ISD? Digital Communications and Graphic Design is offered at Irving High School, MacArthur High School, and Nimitz High School, a multi-campus pathway students can pursue regardless of their home school.

Vocabulary

  • Graphic Designer: A professional who creates visual content for print, digital, and social media using tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
  • Resume: A one-page document summarizing your education, skills, activities, and career objective. Used when applying for jobs, internships, or college programs.
  • Portfolio: A collection of work samples that demonstrates a designer's skills and style. Essential for creative careers, often more important than the resume.
  • UX Designer: A User Experience Designer who focuses on how people interact with websites, apps, and digital products. One of the fastest-growing design careers.
  • Branding: How a business shows who they are through logos, colors, fonts, and messaging to make people remember them.
  • Career Objective: A 1-2 sentence statement at the top of a resume that summarizes the kind of role you are seeking.

Bridge to Theory (Hats & Ladders)

H&L Ch 4 (Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications, pp. 55-66) covers three pathways: Graphic Design and Multimedia Arts, Digital Communications, and Printing & Imaging. The chapter includes three named workbook activities used across this week:

  • Digital Storytelling (Day 1): Career Climb. Students plan a podcast episode in groups of 3-4, including episode outline, interview questions, and promotion plan.
  • Powerskill: Attention to Detail (Day 3): Students fix a vague TV commercial script by identifying missing details (product, benefits, where to buy) and rewriting it.
  • Game On! (Day 4): Career Climb. Students work in teams to create a Game Design Document (GDD) for a new video game with assigned roles (Designer, Programmer, Artist, Writer, Sound Designer).
  • Creative Entrepreneurs (Day 5): Career Lab. Students rebrand a struggling Fashion Design, Videography, or Photography business, analyzing brand snapshots, creating a mood board, and writing a 5-7 minute brand pitch.

The Hat Research template (Ch 4, p. 64) provides structured fields for career research used during the week.

IISD Instructional Strategies

  • Modeling: Teacher models a complete middle school resume on the projector using Xello before students begin. Walk through every section. Show students they have MORE to put on a resume than they think.
  • Chunking: Days 1-2 = Arts/AV exploration + first resume draft, Day 3 = Powerskills + resume revision, Day 4 = Game On! + job search steps, Day 5 = Creative Entrepreneurs branding piece. Resume work threads through every day.
  • Two Stars and a Wish: Students give peer feedback on resumes and brand pitches using two strengths and one improvement.
  • Worked Example: Teacher fixes the Mrs. Callahan-style script live on the board for the Attention to Detail activity, modeling the kind of edits students should make.

Week at a Glance

Day Focus Key Activities Deliverable
1 Arts/AV Cluster + Digital Storytelling H&L cluster tour + Digital Storytelling podcast planning (Ch 4) + eDynamic 6.1 intro Podcast episode outline
2 First Resume in Xello Teacher resume modeling + Xello Resume Builder (lesson from 7th-grade task list) Resume draft v1 in Xello
3 Attention to Detail + Resume Refinement Powerskills Attention to Detail script-fix + resume peer review Revised resume + fixed commercial script
4 Game On! + Job Search Steps Game On! GDD team activity (Ch 4) + 4-step job search introduction (eDynamic 8.2) Game Design Document + job search notes
5 Creative Entrepreneurs Branding Creative Entrepreneurs rebranding project (Ch 4) + Canva brand mood board Brand mood board + 5-7 minute pitch

Formative Assessment

  • Digital Storytelling podcast outline (Day 1): d(1)(C)
  • Resume draft completeness in Xello (Day 2): d(7)(A)
  • Resume revision quality after peer review (Day 3): d(7)(A)
  • Game Design Document team contribution (Day 4): d(1)(C)
  • Job search steps recall (Day 4): d(6)(A)

Summative Assessment

Resume + Brand Identity Portfolio (Day 5): Students submit (1) finalized Xello resume, (2) Creative Entrepreneurs brand mood board, (3) one-paragraph reflection connecting their brand identity to a specific Arts/AV career. Scored on resume completeness and professionalism (d(7)(A)), Arts/AV career knowledge (d(1)(C)), and job search steps recall (d(6)(A)).

Differentiation

Scaffolded Learning

  • Provide a printed resume template with section headers and sentence starters for students who struggle with Xello
  • Offer pre-made Canva templates students can customize rather than designing from scratch
  • Allow students to complete the resume in bullet-point format if full sentences are too challenging
  • Pre-built podcast episode outline template with the workbook checklist already filled in

Extensions

  • Students create a complete personal brand package: logo, resume header, and social media banner all in a consistent visual style
  • Research the Adobe Certified Professional exam topics and create a 4-year course plan to earn it through the Digital Communications and Graphic Design pathway at Irving High, MacArthur, or Nimitz
  • Compare the career trajectories of a Graphic Designer vs. UX Designer over 10 years using BLS data

ELL Language Support

  • Pre-teach: Resume = Currículum vitae, Portfolio = Portafolio, Graphic Design = Diseño gráfico, Branding = Identidad de marca, Job Search = Búsqueda de empleo
  • Bilingual resume template with Spanish section headers and career objective sentence stems
  • Canva and Adobe Express have Spanish interface options, show ESL students how to switch
  • Pair ESL students with bilingual peers during resume peer review to ensure feedback is understood