Lesson Planning Form for Accessible Instruction Calvin College Education Program

Teacher Kendra Walters

Date April 28, 2017 Subject/ Topic/ Theme High School Choir, Culmination, multi-tasking Grade __9-12_____

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
The unit plan is about choral habits and this is the final lesson that will be a culmination of everything weve learned so far. The idea is to show the students that these
are all habits and are not meant to be done once in awhile, but simultaneously all the time. Singing is hard and involves lots of multi-tasking and we need to be smart
singers.

cognitive- physical socio-

Learners will be able to: R U Ap An E C* development emotional
Remember concepts from the previous classes like posture, breathing, tone, vowels, dynamics, etc. and apply them to R, Ap x
what we sing in class today.
Sight-read to a small degree U, Ap
Understand that everything weve learned are habits to be used in all choral music U
Hear and evaluate the differences between their own choir and a professional choir to try to improve An, E

Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:
-Sing music written in four parts, with and without accompaniment
-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
-Demonstrate extensive knowledge and use of the technical vocabulary of music
-Evaluate a performance, composition, arrangement, or improvisation by comparing it to similar or exemplary models.
(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 music to a small degree. They also should remember how to
knowledge and skills. stand/sit with correct posture, breathe correctly, produce an even tone, sing with correct vowel shape,
blend with the group, and sing with dynamics and expression.
Pre-assessment (for learning): None.

Formative (for learning): Teacher will ask students to rate themselves on a scale of 1-5 with their eyes closed as
to how well they know the song thus far. Teacher will also be intently listening throughout the rehearsal to
whether theyre singing the correct notes with the correct habits.
Outline assessment
activities Formative (as learning): Students will name all of the things that weve worked on up to this point and I will
(applicable to this lesson) write them on the board. Then we will do them through warmups.

Summative (of learning): Students will listen to a video of themselves singing the song, analyze it,
evaluate it, then compare it to that of a professional choir through a rubric. They will use the same
areas that weve been working on to evaluate to prove whether they know what it should sound like.

What barriers might this
lesson present?
What will it take
neurodevelopmentally,
experientially, emotionally,
etc., for your students to do
this lesson?
Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of
Representation Action and Expression Engagement
Provide options for perception- making Provide options for physical Provide options for recruiting
information perceptible action- increase options for interest- choice, relevance,
interaction value, authenticity, minimize
-Ask students what weve talked about threats
so far
-Say them out loud
-Write them on the board and leave them
there for the rest of the period
-Name them throughout the rehearsal as
needed
-Use physical motions to represent each
habit

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 Provide options for language,
mathematical expressions, and symbols-
clarify & connect language
Provide options for expression and
communication- increase medium
of expression
Provide options for sustaining
effort and persistence-
optimize challenge,
collaboration, mastery-
oriented feedback

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

-Students will see a video of

themselves and compare it to
a video of a professional
choir.
-Students will reflect on what
they can do differently/better
to improve their overall
sound.
-Students will rate themselves
based on how well they think
they know the song.

-The music, The Seal Lullaby

Materials-what materials -Chairs
(books, handouts, etc) do -Pencil
you need for this lesson and
are they ready to use?

In two rows with S T A

How will your classroom be S B A
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- -Ask students to name everything weve worked on up to -Thinking about what weve been learning
10:36 Motivation this point (posture, breathing, tone, vowels, blending, about and seeing the words on the board
(opening/ dynamics, expression, etc.)
introduction/
engagement)

Development
10:36- (the largest -Posture. Remind students of the parts of their body that are -Fixing posture
10:38 component or important in a singers posture. Scan the room for anyone
main body of who doesnt have correct posture.
the lesson) -Feet: shoulder-length apart, one slightly in front of the
other, weight evenly distributed
-Knees: slightly bent, relaxed
-Chest: raised comfortably
-Shoulders: relaxed and lowered comfortably, parallel to
your chest
-Arms: resting at sides, hanging relaxed, fingers hanging
-Chin: resting on a table, parallel to the ground
10:38- -Breathing -Hissing
10:39 -Hiss for 30 seconds, stagger breathe

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10:39- -Tone -Singing, pulling string from head
10:40 -Noo on so-fa-mi-re-do, pull golden string from head
10:40- -Vowels
10:42 -Review hand signs with mee, meh, mah, moh, moo -Singing with hand signs for vowels
on so-fa-mi-re-do
-mee eh, mee ah, mee oh on so-do, so-do, so-do-so-
mi-do
10:42- -Dynamics -Singing on different dynamics using
10:44 -Sing hello on so-do three times: forte, mezzo piano, focusing hand motion. One student will
then piano. Then write f, mf, mp, and p on the board and come up and point to different markings
have them sing it three times like before, but I randomly for the class while the class focuses
point at one of the markings and they have to sing it at that intently.
level. Invite a student to come up and do the same thing.
Use focusing hand motion in front of eyes.

10:44- Review what weve learned so far -Listening to the teacher and reading the
10:46 -Posture, breathing, tone, vowels, blending, dynamics, words on the board to remember.
expression. Refer to the board.
-We want to be smart singers.
-Theres so much to remember when singing, all of these -Students are expected to listen and think
things need to constantly be on our minds and thats hard. about how they can bring these habits into
Singing involves lots of multi-tasking. After awhile it will their other songs.
come more naturally. Its not all going to come right now,
but these are habits that were building so that you can
bring them into other pieces.

10:46- All sing the Seal Lullaby (30 minutes) -Singing the Seal Lullaby thinking about
11:16 -Review the whole song up to the top of page 6 with all of the habits weve been working on.
words. Bring back everything weve been talking about
tall posture, getting support, breath management, clear tone,
breathing in the vowel, blending, phrasing. Go through
individual parts as needed to review notes. Be actively
listening to every section in the choir to make sure they are
blending, know the notes, following breath marks, etc. Use
the accompaniment recording so I can conduct and listen
closer.
-Play Choir Survivor where anyone who is goofing -Focusing and paying attention so they
off/poor posture/etc. needs to stand while everyone else is dont need to stand up in the middle of the
sitting. class.
-During this time, take a short video of them singing the
first few pages. (This is the intended technology portion of
the unit plan)

11:16- -Have the students sit down, play the video for them. Ask -Watching the video and
11:22 them what they hear? What are some things we could work thinking/answering what we can work on
on? (tone quality, blend, vowels, dynamics, diction, etc.) as a class and individually.
Closure Write these on the board. Encourage them to think about
(conclusion, these things while working on this song in the future
culmination, remember what the professional choir sounded like and try
wrap-up) to imitate that sound in your own way.
-Email the students a link to this video and a link to the -Listening to the instructions for the
professional choir with a copy of the rubric. Ask them to homework.
compare each choir separately with two separate rubrics,
then to write one page about what they think their choir
should work on the most and what they individually can do
to improve.

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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.)
I was honestly really happy about how this lesson went. This was the first time that I had the full 50 minutes all to myself and I
ended up using all of them. I was excited for this lesson because this was the culmination of everything that wed done up to this
point so I was curious to see how much they retained. But almost every time I asked about something that referred to something wed
done earlier, they seemed to remember and respond to. I also changed it up a little bit because I ended up singing Set Me As a Seal
at the end rather than The Seal Lullaby like before because this is the song that Ill actually end up conducting at the concert and I
thought it would be good for them to think about all of these choral habits with a song that theyd perform in a week. They ended up
doing pretty well with it since they didnt have to worry about the notes as much, but I still can do plenty more with it. Overall I
thought this was a great lesson.

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