Lesson Planning!

Lesson Planning...everyone's favorite activity...whether during a prep period or outside of school with the abundance of time that all teachers have. (yeah right...)

Lesson planning can be very daunting. For one, which structure of writing one is correct. Many schools and their teachers swear by the Hunter model, which may be the safest place to start as it is known somewhat as the standard.

Here is a sample lesson plan by yours truly:

Objective: Student will be able to sing measures 80 through 95 in “If I Were A Rich Man”

Aim: What are sharps, flats and accidentals?

Listening Piece- Rite of Spring, 2^nd movement

Do Now: What is a #? b? accidental (symbol)? - what do they mean?

Warm-ups: Chops, Massages, Knots

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha- breath/diaphragm movement

Zinga Zoo- Major and Minor- “How do we get to the minor? Is it higher or lower than the major? What type of accidental do we use to go lower?”

Many-Mumbling Mice- Round

“If I Were a Rich Man”

“Open to page 7, measure 80. Girls, sing with the guys” mm 80-87- “What does the accidental on “I’d” do to the rest of the song?”

Add SA- make sure to go over last note it is different

Add SA to Men.

Go on to Measure 88- have them sight-read it the first time. Then go over with rhythms.

Measure 91- work out parts.

Measures 88-92 “What does the flat sign on the word “lives” do to the rest of the song? What comes after this song? Is it in major or minor?”

Guys’ part at measure 92

Measures 71 to the end of the piece

Sing through 95 one more time. Practice transition to “Sunrise, Sunset.”

If time permits: Learn the rest of the song (mm 71 to 79 with repeat)

Assessment: Students will comfortably sing measures 80 through 95 in “If I Were A Rich Man.”

Objective- what are you trying to accomplish with your lesson? What do you ideally want to accomplish at the end of your lesson? This should be your Assessment. Thus, your objective and assessment should can be very similar in wording; just the tenses can be different. It is up to you how you get from the Objective to the Assessment, keeping in mind that they are the outer limits of your lesson plan.

An Aim is a question that that encompasses the idea of the lesson. By the end of the period, the students should be able to answer the Aim, based on all the activities (Warm-ups, Do Nows etc.) employed within the lesson. If the students cannot answer the Aim by the end of the class (either by the teacher directly asking the Aim or by exhibiting proficiency in the day's Assessment, then there need to be more clarity in the way your lesson plan is formatted or the way your relay the information to the students.

A "Do Now" is very much employed by the NYCDOE (New York City Department of Education).

It is a way to get the students involved right when they walk in the classroom. A Do Now can be a question to answer, an activity to do or a video clip to watch. Your Do Now should tie into the lesson for the day, otherwise, it will not make sense.

The same type of ideas used for your Do Now should be used in your Warm-ups. Do not use Warm-ups that have little or nothing to do with the pieces you are working on/lessons that your are teaching. For example, in the lesson above the warm-up focuses on accidentals, which the students will be learning more about in their song (If I Were a Rich Man), which employs many half-steps. Make sure that everything in your lesson connects, almost in an over-obvious way, so that the students can confidently state what they have learned.

Hopefully this blog has helped in formulating a lesson plan, even if you do not employ the same method as I do. A special shout out to my cooperating high school teacher who taught me how to formulate a lesson plan in this way.