Jessica Kendall

      As an educator, I believe that in order to deliver an efective lesson, it needs to be thought out. It is fine to stray from a written plan if there is additional learning that can be done, or if the class just happens to go another direction. It is important to be flexible. However, if you sit and actually plan out your activities, sequences, possible problems, and have a few different solutions to these problems, you and your students are far more likely to succeed. 

     While early in my experience I found lesson plans to be aggravating to write and super tedious, I have come to appreciate them. Experimenting with a few different formats for different subject areas is also very helpful. For Elementary General lessons, as you will see above, the more narrative format is more helpful. Whereas in an Orchestra rehearsal plan, having the charts that seperate and state spacific goals is much more useful and succinct. 

    One of the most valuable parts of any lesson plan is clearly stating the learner outcome. It took a little while to actually figure out how to state a true learner outcome, and you may see that in some of my earlier plans, but in the later, more recent ones, youc an see a distinct difference in my thoughts about the goal of the lesson. I'm not just tecahing a song. the goal is that the students can sing the song with accurate pitch and rhythm and perform it solo or in a small group. 

    Also, having written several CMPs (Comprehansive Musicianship Plan) for varying levels of pieces, I can honestly say that the more you study a piece of music and the more background that you as a teacher have on the work, the better you will be able to present its content. Understanding historical significance, harmonic structure, teachniqies used, and composer history is so important in understanding a piece. If you want your students to really connect and give an authentic performance of a work, they will need to know these things, and how else will they learn them if not through their teacher? 

    The above linked pages contain several different kinds of lesson plans to demonstrate my different experiences and takes on each kind of ensemble and lesson planning.