UNIT OUTLINE

Prepare

This stage is the first time students will experience the new concept, which is in this case is
syncopation. Students will not be shown musical notation, rhythmic notation or even be told
what the concept is called. The goals of this stage is for students to experience the new concept
through some outlet such as singing, body movement, playing instruments or listening to it.
Since students will experience the concept before they realize it, this allows students to
establish trust for the instructor and themselves. This allows students to gain the experience of
the concept without having their confidence potentially hinder them.

Present

During this stage, students will have the new concepts shown and their attention focused on it.
This stage is where they will have the concept labeled for them and they will experience it
similarly as it was in the prepare stage. In this case it's Chicka-Hanna, where they were
previously taught this song earlier but now they have an activity where they must write out
upbeats and downbeats, and in the later activity they have to write the up and down beats of
the syncopated rhythm. This allows a visual representation of the beat and rhythm, but also
allowing them to create and have a personal project they made.

Practice

In this final stage, students will be actively practicing the new concept through a variety of tasks
and activities. They will have opportunities to write the rhythm, move to the rhythm, perform,
compose using the new rhythm as well as improvisation. During this stage it's important for
student to practice the new concept in a number of different ways because it differentiates the
instruction for each learner. Different students need different teaching methods, and during
the practice stage each type of learner has opportunities to discover and learn. As the practice
lesson plans progress, students are given more accountability of illustrating the concept
independently.