Lesson Planning Form for Accessible Instruction Calvin College Education Program

Teacher Kendra Walters

Date April 21, 2017 Subject/ Topic/ Theme High School Choir, Breathing/Posture/Tone Grade __9-12____

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
The unit plan is about choral habits and this focuses on breath, posture, and tonethree things that are an essential base line to sing well.

cognitive- physical socio-

Learners will be able to: R U Ap An E C* development emotional
Understand why a singer needs to use his/her whole body to sing U
Understand the importance of singing with support from the diaphragm U
Sit/stand for a lengthy period of time with good posture R, Ap x
Produce an even, blended, mature tone as a group C x

Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:
-Demonstrate extensive knowledge and use of the technical vocabulary of music.
-Sing and play with expression and technical accuracy a large and varied repertoire of vocal and instrumental literature with a moderate level of difficulty, including
some selections performed from memory.
-Perform an appropriate part in large and small ensembles, demonstrating well-developed ensemble skills.
-Sight read accurately and expressively, music with a moderate level of difficulty.

(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to particular learners
write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Identify prerequisite -Students must be able to sight-read to a certain extent.
knowledge and skills.

Pre-assessment (for learning): None

Formative (for learning): None

Outline assessment
activities Formative (as learning): Ask how all these are connected and why I did them in the same day
(applicable to this lesson)
Summative (of learning): Sing through what weve learned so far and I listen to see how well they
know the song.

Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of

What barriers might this
lesson present?
What will it take
neurodevelopmentally,
experientially,
emotionally, etc., for your
students to do this lesson?
Representation
Provide options for perception-
making information perceptible
-I say the information out loud
-I have a slide with a picture of the
diaphragm
-I project the words of the
explanation while reading aloud
-Students take a deep breath with
this knowledge
Provide options for language,
mathematical expressions, and
symbols- clarify & connect
language
Action and Expression
Provide options for physical action-
increase options for interaction
Provide options for expression and
communication- increase medium
of expression
Engagement
Provide options for recruiting
interest- choice, relevance, value,
authenticity, minimize threats
-Multiple ways of showing each
habit in warmups
-Me explaining warmup and
breathing gym video
Provide options for sustaining
effort and persistence- optimize
challenge, collaboration, mastery-
oriented feedback

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 Provide options for Provide options for executive Provide options for self-regulation-
comprehension- activate, apply & functions- coordinate short & long expectations, personal skills and
highlight term goals, monitor progress, and strategies, self-assessment &
modify strategies reflection

Materials-what materials
(books, handouts, etc) do
you need for this lesson
and are they ready to use?
-Learn each habit separately -Think about which was hardest for
-Put them together in the song you.
-Explain that this is a habit, not -Work on these for next time.
just for today
-The music, The Seal Lullaby
-Chairs
-Pencil

In two rows with S T A

How will your classroom S B A
be set up for this lesson?

III. The Plan

Describe teacher activities AND student activities
Time Components for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
prompts.
10:34- Posture warmups: -Warming up, relaxing
10:38 Motivation -Tension release
(opening/ -Get in singers posture with eyes closed (feet, -Eyes are closed, listening to the teacher and being
introduction/ knees, chest, shoulders, arms, chin). Explain each aware of their bodies and their posture
engagement) in detail with what that body part should be doing.
-Then take four deep breaths, in your nose, out
your mouth

10:38- -Breathing warmups: -Following along with warmups

10:48 -Explain importance of breathing
-Breath management: amount of air, pacing of
air, steadiness of air
-Show a powerpoint slide with a picture of -Looking at picture, reading words, listening to
the diaphragm and with words projected about words
breath support. Also read the words aloud.
-Show a powerpoint slide with words -Looking at picture, reading words, listening to
10:48- projected about how breathing from the belly isnt words
10:52 really true. Also read aloud.
Development -Breathe in through nose, sigh out (hands on -Breathing
(the largest chest/stomach). Do this four times.
component or -Breathe in 8 counts, hiss out 8 counts, in 7 -Hissing
main body of counts, out 8 counts, in 6, out 8, in 5, out 8, etc.
the lesson) Point finger out while hissing.
-Pant on quarter notes, turn to f, t, sh, -Panting
ch, etc. Let all out and sigh.
10:52- -Use breathing gym video. Ask students to do -Watching and responding to video
10:53 what the guys are doing in the video as a
continuation of warmups.
-Watch from 3:58-9:40
-Tone warmups: -Continuing to warm up
10:53- -Sing ooh like middle school, high school,
11:18 college, opera. Go back to the college sound.
-Sing ooh on an E, hold for 30 seconds. -Singing and stagger breathing
Match vowels and make sure I cant hear you

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 breathe, stagger breathe.
-Sing ooh down an octave while pulling an
imaginary golden string out of your head. This
helps to think above the pitch and to blend the
vowel.
-In general, say, sing half as loud, listen twice
as much

-Talk about the three things we worked on
posture, breathing and tone. Write them on the
board. How are these connected? Why did I do
them all today? Explain the importance of using
your whole body while singing.
-Answer questions, see the words on the board,
think about how these are connected, understand
the importance of using the whole body

-Guys sectional -Sing with these things in mind. Sitting back while
-Rehearse Seal Lullaby. Start with basses then theyre not singing, but still following along in the
tenors. Start with the oohs at the beginning and music, staying engaged.
remind them of the tone quality we want. Watch
their posture and breathing. Do extra exercises if
needed. Get to the word section this time but stay
on a neutral syllable, loo, remembering the pure
tone we want. Review what the three things are
throughout the sectionalposture, breathing, tone.

-Girls sectional
-Same as above. Start with sopranos then altos.

11:18- -Come back together as a class

11:20 -Ask what the three things we worked on were. -Answer questions, prepare for tomorrow
Closure
Ask which of the three were hardest for you? Close
(conclusion,
eyes and raise hand. Say tomorrow were working
culmination,
on vowels, which of these three things most
wrap-up)
prepared us for that?

11:20- -Do the same posture exercise from the beginning -Relax
11:22 to relax. Take deep breaths.

Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement
for next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.)
This lesson went okay. I took too much time on my first lesson so I felt like I was rushing this one to make sure that it didnt take too
long. The students were really good about staying on task in this one, they were engaged in all of the warmups and seem to have
listened throughout the teachings. There wasnt enough time at the end to separate the class by gender so I worked with the guys
while the girls sat back. This made me nervous because it would be easy for the girls to be distracting, but they were okay. At the
end, we had extra time so I added the girls back in and we sang the whole first page together and it went well which felt really good.
I think having the teaching inside of the warmups was a good idea. It was a lot shorter than the first lesson and it broke up the class a
little bit so they seemed more willing to listen and more ready for a chance to sit. I think Ill do the same thing in my following
lessons.

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