Emily Wylie MUED 376

Fall 2019 December, 2019

Reflection on Lesson-Planning Documents

Lesson planning is one of the most important portions of being a teacher. The opportunity

to be fully prepared and organized before entering the classroom is of utmost importance.

Learning something so vital to teaching can start out as a challenge and requires practice. I am

lucky to have had several assignments in various music education courses involving a range of

lesson-planning templates. For many of these assignments, I have been able to practice

incorporating my preparation into the classroom’s context. While looking to apply a cognitive

process for this, I was provided several documents from my “Choral Music Materials and

Techniques” course.

Two of the documents that I will use in the future, as they allow me to be well organized

across whole units and years is a “10-day plan” and the “perfect lesson plan document”. I have

had the opportunity through the same course to fill out the lesson planning document and I have

found parts of the format that work extremely well for me in context, and parts that I either need

to adjust or practice more in order for my focus as the instructor to be on the students through the

use of my plan. I truly enjoyed having a set list of activities with a brief description of how they

would be facilitated and how long they would theoretically take. Being able to incorporate Dr.

Alice Hammel’s winding for each activity was also useful in being mindful of where students

were in their learning. These are what I know I will use while planning and practicing so that I

can interact with students. While in the Choral Music Materials and Techniques course, I would

practice with the document to properly sequence for the ensemble I worked with without

overwhelming myself in class time.

 A difficulty I saw with using this lesson planning document came from scripting what I

would say. It wasn’t the fault of the document itself but also came from my own perfectionism

and need to do things exactly the way I planned. I will continue to script my lessons as doing so

is necessary while practicing. The concern I have with the way I present my script rather than

trusting the learning process has taken away from my connection to an ensemble during

rehearsal. That being said, continuing to write scripts and the ability to practice scripting lessons

how I speak as a teacher rather than how I believe I should speak will give me the freedom to

connect with students as I am, which is what students deserve.

There were several sequential lists following that for both short and long-term goals for

an ensemble. This included using the Golden Mean for sequencing where each level of work

would be placed in a lesson. I have seen these lists in practice, and they have worked. I do plan

on having a collection of “10-rehearsals” plans for repertoire I bring to my future classroom. I

find that front-loading information onto myself keeps me confident and organized in the

classroom. I know that reading a specified script where I am now in my journey has been

uncomfortable due to it currently affecting the connection I make during rehearsals with singers.

I will continue to work on incorporating those personal interactions and integrating my

personality for my future lesson plans so that it may no longer pose as an issue.

The calendaring document, when presented in class, was a Godsend. Thinking about

entering a school that has their own culture and schedule as a brand-new teacher can really

become overwhelming. Knowing the tasks needed to get done and knowing how to accomplish

them before the school year even begins can be a daunting hurdle to teaching. Luckily, this

document outlined when and what exactly goes into planning the school year, which can easily
be passed from one teacher to another. I know that I was calmed by it. I will hold those files

closely and use them regularly while I enter my first year as a music educator.

I have saved discussing the article on teaching for transfer until the very end. It ties

together all of my beliefs in facilitating music learning in the classroom. The goal from that

article was to scaffold the learning process so that students could look back on earlier activities

to make the repertoire they sing appear easier. Students will still develop musical skills and put

in hard work, but scaffolding gives them the ability to learn through fun experiences. I truly hope

to bring this mindset and goal into my future music classes.