Impact on Student Learning Unit Design

Student Teaching – Adv. Women’s Choir

Week of September 30, 2019

An introduction to minor scales and solfege – Advanced Women’s Choir

Unit Goals and Objectives:

 I can identify the relative minor of a given Major key

 I can sing a minor scale on solfege in La-based minor

 I can build a natural minor scale based off of the formula, W H W W H W W

 I can tonicize a minor triad (La Do Mi Do La Mi La)

 I can identify the difference between natural minor and harmonic minor

Pre/Post-Assessment:

On a sheet of paper/notecard, students will answer the following questions on Monday, prior to any of

the lessons, and again on Friday after the completion of the unit:

 Identify the relative minor of the following keys: C Major, G Major, F major, D Major

 Write the solfege syllables for a natural minor scale

 Write the solfege syllables for a harmonic minor scale

 What are the solfege syllables of a minor triad?

 What is the formula of half steps and whole steps for a minor scale?

Pre-Assessment Results:

Class average score: 1.05 out of 8 (13.2%) - 13 students scored 0/8, 2 students scored 1/8, 1 student

scored 3/8, 2 students scored 4/8, and 1 student scored 6/8

My goal for post-assessment improvement: Class average 5.6/8 (70%)

Post-Assessment Results:

Class average score: 5.44 out of 8 (68%) – 6 students scored 2/8, 1 student scored 3/8, 1 student scored

5/8, 2 students scored 7/8, 8 students scored 8/8

 Day 1 Lesson Plan
Adv. Women’s Choir
September 30, 2019

Goals and Objectives: At the beginning of class, students will take a pre-assessment that will be used in
comparison with a post assessment later to see student learning throughout the unit. For day one of this
unit, we will be introducing minor scales. Today we will talk about the formula of a minor scale vs. the
formula of a major scale. We will also talk about how to find the relative minor of a given major scale
and why the solfege of a minor scale is based on La.

Materials:
Notecard or loose-leaf paper for pre-assessment
White board and dry-erase keyboard
Piano

Procedure:
 Pre-Assessment:
o Pass out notecards
o Explain reasoning for pre-assessment, inform students that it will not affect their grade
and that it is simply a tool for me to document their growth through the unit
o Begin pre-assessment quiz
 Students put their name and date on the card so they don’t get mixed up with
the post-assessment later
 Ask each question and give time in between for students to write answers
o Collect pre-assessment from class
 Introduction to minor scales
o Review major scale formula
 Have student come to the board and write C major on the piano in solfege
 A second student comes to the board to label the half steps and whole steps
o Introduce concept of relative minor – ask for questions and concerns as we go
 Show students on the piano – a minor third (or three half steps) down from
tonic, a major sixth up from tonic, Do to La
 Show students on the staff
 Sing down from Do to La
o Sing minor scale, reminding students that it starts and ends on La instead of Do
o Erase Ti and Do from the C major scale on the piano
 Student comes up and adds La and Ti at the bottom of the scale and re-writes
the half steps and whole steps
 Students identify pattern of half and whole steps in a minor scale
 Write new pattern on the board
 Point out how the solfege relationships stay the same, just starting on La
instead
o Repeat board work in F major, showing the change to the relative minor

Assessment: Informal assessment will take place during lesson by asking students questions, allowing
them to work through the concepts on the board, and pausing for questions/concerns throughout the
class.
 Day 2 Lesson Plan
Adv. Women’s Choir
October 2, 2019

Goals and Objectives: For day two of our unit, we will talk about the difference between a natural minor
scale and a harmonic minor scale. After reviewing the minor scale formula from the previous day, we
will look at how harmonic minor changes the formula as well as how it changes the solfege syllables.

Materials:
White board and dry-erase keyboard
Piano

Procedure:
 Review
o What solfege does a minor scale start on?
o How do we find the relative minor of a major scale?
o Volunteer to write the whole/half step formula for a natural minor scale on the board
 Finding more relative minors
o Have student come to the board and write G major on the piano in solfege
o A second student comes to the board to label the half steps and whole steps
o Erase Ti and Do from the G major scale on the piano
 Student comes up and adds La and Ti at the bottom of the scale and re-writes
the half steps and whole steps
 Sing e minor scale
o Repeat with D major/B minor
 Introduce Harmonic Minor
o Explain what harmonic minor is (raised 7th scale degree, SolSi or TeTi)
o Write solfege on board and show change from Sol to Si
 Write half and whole steps formula
o Play natural minor and harmonic minor, emphasize and point out the difference
 Students sing both minor scales
 Introduce Minor Triad
o Write c major scale in solfege on dry-erase piano
 Discuss major triad – do mi sol aka scale degrees 1, 3, and 5
o Have students talk through turning C major into the relative minor – write solfege on
piano for A minor
 Ask students what the 1st, 3rd, and 5th scale degrees are (la do mi)
 Sing minor triad
 Review
o Ask students to identify relative minors, what solfege minor scales start on, and what
the minor triad is

Assessment: Informal assessment will take place during lesson by asking students questions, allowing
them to work through the concepts on the board, and pausing for questions/concerns throughout the
class.
 Day 3 Lesson Plan
Adv. Women’s Choir
October 4, 2019

Goals and Objectives: On the final day of our unit, we will review all that we have learned and practice
finding relative minors, as well as practice building both natural and harmonic minor scales based off of
a given pitch. At the end of the lesson, the students will take the assessment test again to see student
learning throughout the unit. We will also be learning a short part song in a minor key to cap off our
unit.

Materials:
Notecard or loose-leaf paper for post-assessment
White board and dry-erase keyboard
Piano

Procedure:
 Review
o Begin by reviewing the formula for a minor scale (W H W W H W W)
o Review solfege of a minor scale and sing through
 Discuss the change that makes it a harmonic minor, sing through
o Relative minors review
 Switch and ask them to identify the relative Major of a minor, d minor, e minor,
and b minor
o Review the minor triad
 Post-Assessment
o Pass out notecards
o Students put name and date (to differentiate from pre-assessment)
o Ask all 8 questions, giving time in between for students to answer
o Collect post-assessment (to be graded later for student learning impact results)
 Minor tonality part-song – Ghost of John
o Quick warm-up (sirens, oo-oh-ah)
o Sing through Ghost of John (e minor)
 Students listen first time through
 Second time, students tap rhythms on their hand while teacher sings
 Third time, students continue to tap rhythms and mouth the words
 Fourth time, sing all together (2x)
o Add ostinato parts one at a time
 Have students stand
 Switch around who sings what
 Let students improvise if they seem comfortable and time allows
o End of last time through – build a minor a chord from the bottom up

Assessment: Informal assessment will take place during lesson by asking students questions, allowing
them to work through the concepts on the board, and pausing for questions/concerns throughout the
class. There will also be a formal post-assessment quiz to compare with the scores of the pre-
assessment.
Summary Reflection:

At the beginning of this unit, students were given a pre-assessment to analyze prior knowledge

of the subject content. The pre-assessment results showed an average of 13.02% proficiency. Higher

scoring assessments, in general, came form students with piano or theory backgrounds. My projected

goal for student improvement was to reach 70% proficiency by the end of the unit. After giving the

students the post-assessment, their average score was 68%. The results showed great improvements for

most students, however there were quite a few that scored fairly low still without a whole lot of

students in the middle range. This was somewhat surprising to me; I anticipated having more students in

the middle range with just a few low scorers. The group of low scoring students, however, was

comprised mostly of students with some type of learning disability and students who regularly have a

hard time focusing during class.

Throughout teaching the unit, I tried to incorporate as many modalities of finding relative minor

scales as possible. We talked about the notes on the staff, counting half steps on the piano, counting

down a minor third, using solfege to go from do to la, and counting up a minor sixth. In the future,

teaching this unit, I would probably extend it by a day or so and do a mid-assessment or an exit slip

halfway through the unit to gauge their level of learning so far. I think that would help me determine

better what individuals are struggling with and review those topics better. It is difficult in a full class

setting where only certain students are willing to answer questions and come up to the board to

determine who is struggling with what.

Another change I might make in the future is to stick to natural minor scales and introduce

harmonic later, after we were able to practice with natural minor scales more. I think the introduction of

both at once seemed to confuse and overwhelm some students. There were a few who did not struggle

with it, but the class as a whole would probably benefit from more practice with one type of minor
before learning another. If I taught this unit again, I think it would also be beneficial to add some simple

sight-singing in minor keys and an Echo, Discover, Decipher activity or two in minor modalities as well.