Kent State University

Student Teaching Experience

Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, University Supervisor
Fall 2015

Lesson Plan Template

Student Teacher: John Slike
Class name:
7th Grade Band
Jr/Sr High
Start time: 1:05
End time: 1:49

Date of lesson: 3/07/16

District: Mogadore

School:

Room: Band Room

Information about the class:

Grade levels in this class: 7th Grade
Groupings: 7 Girls, 2 Boys.
Prior Academic Knowledge and Conceptions: Students have learned all rhythmic

concepts up to dotted-quarter and 8th note patterns, as well as 16th note patterns. They are
familiar with all the notes on the staff. Students have learned the name, meaning, and symbol
for the articulations; Marcato, Staccato, Slur, Accent, and Tenuto, as well as how to play them.
However, consistent identification, definition, and performance these articulations has not
been achieved. Students have learned how to play all the fingerings and notes on their
instrument, and can read fingering charts when the fingering is forgotten. Students are familiar
with most rhythmic, pitch, and dynamic terms, such as quarter-note, pitch, bar line, forte
etc.

Special modifications and/or accommodations for exceptional students:

IEP:
-Student 1: Student deals with a cognitive impairment, and may need any written directions
read aloud. Student must be allotted extra (up to double) time to complete any type of test or
assessment. Also, test questions and parameters may be altered to allow for student success.
-Student B: Student has a learning disability, and may need directions read aloud. Distractions
must be eliminated in the case of an assessment.
-Student 2: Student has a learning disability, and may need tests read aloud. Distractions must
be eliminated in the case of an assessment, and a study guide should be provided for a test.

Differentiation/ Planned Support

Whole class: If the entire class struggles with rhythmic issues, modelling by voice and/or
counting and clapping will likely be initially used to remedy the issue. Active listening will be
used with the class to engage students in self-assessment and correction. If students continue
to struggle, then students will be asked to count and clap. If articulations are incorrect,
modelling by voice or instrument if necessary will be used to remedy the issue. Students will
be engaged in active listening, being asked to tell the difference between what they had
played and what they have heard the teacher play. Students may be asked to echo with voice
or instrument what was played by the teacher. Pitch accuracy issues will likely be solved by
correcting fingerings, or modelling correct pitch with voice.
Groups of students with similar needs: If a group of students struggles with rhythmic issues,
modelling by voice and/or counting and clapping will likely be initially used to remedy the
issue. If students continue to struggle, then students will be asked to count and clap in groups

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which are having similar difficulties. If articulations are incorrect, modelling by voice or
instrument if necessary will be used to remedy the issue. Students will be engaged in active
listening, being asked to tell the difference between what they had played and what they have
heard the teacher play in groups which are having similar difficulties. Students may be asked
to echo with voice or instrument what was played by the teacher. Pitch accuracy issues will
likely be solved by correcting fingerings, or modelling correct pitch with voice.
Individual students: Individual students will likely be asked to play alone or with another
student who is more successful to assess what the cause of a given issue may be. Next, if the
student struggles with rhythmic issues, modelling by voice and/or counting and clapping will
likely be initially used to remedy the issue. If students continue to struggle, then students will
be asked to count and clap. If articulations are incorrect, modelling by voice or instrument if
necessary will be used to remedy the issue. Students will be engaged in active listening, being
asked to tell the difference between what they had played and what they have heard the
teacher play. Students may be asked to echo with voice or instrument what was played by the
teacher. Pitch accuracy issues will likely be solved by correcting fingerings, or modelling
correct pitch with voice.
High Achieving Students (Student C): May be asked to model for other student,
or be asked to play with/clap/count with a struggling student to allow for extra
challenges for high-achieving student. The strategies in the Individual
Students section of differentiation will be used as well.
Middle Achieving Students (Student B): The Individual students section was
designed to target this type of individual student mostly, and will be used as a
basis for the differentiation of the Middle Achieving Student.
Low Achieving Students (Student A, 1, 2): These students will be allowed extra
time and a greater degree of leniency. More individualized attention will be
allotted, and the strategies in the Individual Students section of
differentiation will be used as well.
Students with IEPs or 504 plans:
-Student 1: When assessing (formatively or summatively) the section in which this student
resides, extra time will be allotted and any level of success will count as enough to move on.
Great leniency must be taken with this student, as kinesthetic awareness of instrument is
limited, greatly impairing range, and music-reading ability is nearly non-existent. Extra time
and attention will be diverted to help this student, and teacher modelling will be the most
common form of intervention. In this lesson, the student will likely need the instructor to play
her articulations with her, as well as help her decide which to use and write them in the music.
-Student A: In the case of this lesson, no differentiation will be needed for this student other
than the standard differentiation for individual students. In fact, except in matters of written
tests, this student can excel in his musicianship.
-Student 2: In the case of this lesson, no differentiation will be needed for this student other
than the standard differentiation for individual students.
Strategies for responding to common errors and misunderstandings, developmental
approximations, misconceptions, partial understandings, and/or misunderstandings: Modelling,
counting and clapping by both students and teacher will be used to address rhythmic, pitch,
and articulation issues. Modelling opposite of desired effect may be used in conjunction with
active listening, allowing the students themselves to differentiate between what is desired or
correct and what is undesired.
Common Errors, Developmental Approximations, Misconceptions, Partial
Understandings, or Misunderstandings / How will you modify/accommodate
instruction to take these concerns?
Rhythmic errors: Counting and clapping will be done with student and teacher. Modelling is to
be used first, then include students by echoing. Repetitive instruction and practice of a given
problem area will be used to maximize retention potential.
Pitch Errors: Errors in hearing/playing the correct pitch will be corrected first by engaging
student in active listening. Student will be asked if they know what they are doing wrong. If the

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issue is a fingering issue, ask the student to attempt to correct it. If the student cannot correct
the issue, either have another student model the correct fingering or verbally instruct the
student on the correct fingering. If the issue is a partial (sounding pitch) issue, sing the correct
pitch for the student and help the student match the pitch by giving the direction the student
needs to go, such as higher or lower.

Gap in understanding of musical concepts and execution: Engage students in active listening in
order to help students assess their own understanding of a concept. This will help struggling
students work with other students in a group of guided discussion to target and solve issues of
misunderstandings of the definition, name, and execution of a musical concept.
Articulation errors: Student errors in consistent articulation performance will be corrected by
modelling, by voice or instrument by teacher or fellow student. Modelling both the correct and
incorrect way to perform an articulation will make more clear what mistakes to avoid, so that
the correct execution becomes more obvious. Instructing the student verbally will also help to
reach a student who struggles distinguishing between the two (correct and incorrect)
executions by pointing out the differences.
Misunderstanding of activity: Review directions often and without reservation. Help students by
hinting at answers and modelling articulations when needed.

Learning Central Focus:

Central Focus: Students will correctly perform, identify, and define the articulations;
Marcato, Accent, Tenuto, Staccato, and Slur in The Thunderer and Bunker Hill
Overture.

Standards/Objectives for this lesson:

Ohio Fine Arts Standards addressed:
7: 1PR, 2PR, 4PR, 1RE, 3RE
HS I: 2CE, 4PR

Student Learning Goal(s)/ Objective(s):

Students will correctly perform, and identify/define articulations from The Thunderer and
Bunker Hill Overture in class activity with Au Claire De La Lune.
-The student will correctly identify and describe articulations in class activity with Au Claire De
La Lune.
-The student will correctly write applicable new articulations in musical notation in Au Claire
De La Lune
-The student will accurately perform correct pitches, rhythms, and articulations in Au Claire De
La Lune
Skills/procedures:
-The student will be engaged in active listening, using examples from the written score
to ask for interpretations of articulations in relation to his/her own playing.
Concepts and reasoning/problem solving/thinking/strategies :
-The student will play correctly by drawing on prior learning of pitch, rhythm, dynamics,
and articulations and synthesizing the new information by utilizing this prior learning.
This is based on the idea of Spiral Learning Theory and Scaffolding theory, which draw
on prior knowledge to apply to new information.

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Equipment and/or Technology to be used:

-11 Chairs, 11 standard music stands, 1 Large Conductors Stand, 1 Baton, 1 Score,
11 individual parts of music (2 Tpt, 1 Percussion, 2 Cl, 1 Hn, 3 Fl), 1 Podium, 1
Whiteboard with melody for Au Claire de la Lune written on it twice, 12 Pencils, 1
set dry erase markers, 1 video recording device, 1 tripod.
Repertoire to be used:

Warmups: Essential Daily Exercises for Band by Laury Lafferty, Gene Milford
Method Book: Standard of Excellence, ex 17 Au Claire De La Lune
Performance Works: Bunker Hill Overture James Swearingen/The Thunderer John Philip
Sousa arr. Michael Story

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks: Direction by the teacher, as well as modelling
and targeted problem solving by breaking ensemble and music into smaller sections will allow for
better assessment and correction by teacher and students. Students will also be engaged in active
listening in order to create a cooperative learning environment through student guided instruction.

Opening set and warm-up also called Launch:

5:00m in all

Greeting:
Greet students, instruct to get warmup sheets out

30s

Warmup:
-Long Tones
-Scale (Concert B-flat, 2 Quarter notes per scale degree, staccato)
-Lip slurs
-Au Claire De La lune (Standard of Excellence ex. 17)

3m

Briefing:
1:30m
-Discuss objectives for the day:
Today, we will be playing an articulation creativity and guessing game with Au Claire De La
Lune.
-Discuss rubric

Procedures & Activities:

Explain/Model Activity
10m
The rules are pretty simple;
First, we will open our Red Books (Standard of Excellence) to exercise 17. With pencil, cross out
measures 5-8.
Next, we will choose 3 from these 5 articulations , which are all of the articulations we see in The
Thunderer and Bunker Hill Overture (Draw on board symbols for: staccato, marcato, tenuto, accent,
and slur, but ask students to name them and define them as they are written. Write the name and
definitions next to symbol as they are defined)
Choose 3 different choices of these 5 articulations, and write them in your music in measures 1-4 on
whatever notes you would like to add them to. For example, I could write this: (See LP2 ex 1) Go
ahead, try writing in your own articulations. (Give the students a few minutes to write 3 articulations
in their music. Make sure Percussionist knows she should use a keyboard instrument)
Now, you wont be showing anyone what you wrote, like I am doing right now, but I want you to see
what your finished idea might look like. Remember, you cant slur from one note, like this C, to the
same note, because that would be confusing, since you would have to tongue the second note so it
doesnt sound like a half note. If you decide to use a slur, make sure you are slurring from one note to
a different note, like this E to a D.

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So, after you are finished writing your articulations, like I did on this paper, youre going to play it for
the class. This is where the guessing game comes in! Since only you have seen your music, you have
to play it the best you can to show them without telling them what articulations you wrote in. So, Ill
play what I have written down. (Play example)
Now, you, as a class get to guess what articulations I just played, and when in the music I played them.
So, (point to the board, erasing any written articulations, but keeping the notes) what articulations did I
play, and when? Do you want me to play it one more time for you? (Play it for the kids as many times
as it takes. Help them figure out the articulations.) Great! Now we can compare what we just guessed
to my original! (Show them that it is the same.)
(After the class has gotten the answer with instructor help) Now, you all are going to do what I just did!
Remember that this is a team effort, and you want to play the articulations as clearly as possible so
that your classmates have the best chance at guessing correctly the articulations which you chose!
Elena, would you be willing to start, since you seemed to be the most interested in this activity
before?
Run Class activity, as described above:
25m
-Invite student to front of the class
-Check articulations written by student
-Ask student to play the exercise with their added articulations
-Ask class to guess where/what articulations were played (Repeat this step and last step as needed,
pointing out to students, including player, how the articulations were played if at all, and how they
could be made more clear for the other students. If student is playing exercise correctly and clearly,
help class by pointing out how student played the articulations well, in order to highlight the
articulations to be made more easy to guess. It is likely that the students will need a lot of help
towards the beginning of the activity.
-Write class guess on the board. After class has come to final conclusion, compare guess of the class to
the original student-written articulations. Write students articulations in with different colored marker.
-Discuss why the articulations guessed were correct or incorrect.
-Have class play the articulations that the student chose all together.
-Repeat this Class Activity section until time runs out.

Structured Practice and Application

Students will apply newly learned information and skills to the entire activity. They will use
their knowledge of articulations to guess, and write in articulations. They will use the
knowledge of application of the articulations to play their articulations for the rest of the class.
When playing their instrument, students will have the opportunity to practice the newly
polished skills and receive feedback from the instructor. Students will also practice their
knowledge on the concepts by being engaged in active listening.

Closure: Engage Students in active listening.

4m

-What did we learn from this game today?

-Did we practice how to better identify articulations by sound?
-Did we learn how to better play the articulations so that they can be heard by others?
-This will connect to all of our playing of articulations, since were now more aware of how we can play
them more clearly.

Theoretical Principles and/or ResearchBased Best Practices

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Bruner Scaffolding/Spiral Curriculum: Students will be using previously assimilated knowledge and
skills for the basis of learning and mastering newer and more challenging knowledge and skills. This
principle is based on a cumulative approach to teaching, and is essential in any music class, as all
skills learned must be applied in the future.
Chunking The organization of information into smaller, more digestible groups called Chunks, which
allow for more productive and approachable student learning.
Gordon Music Learning Theory: Audiation (or hearing the sound desired before it comes out) is
promoted heavily when working with articulations. It is important to have a good mental construct of
the type of articulation desired before playing it, and modelling as well as active listening promotes
early forms of audiation.
Bloom Taxonomy of learning: In this theory, there are 6 levels of learning: Remember, Understand,
Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. Depending on where a student stands on these levels of
learning, they may have different types of differentiating applied to them. For example, a student
struggling with the Remember and Understand levels of learning, even at a later stage of instruction,
will likely receive differentiation designed for a lower-achieving learner. On the other hand, a student
who shows the ability to Evaluate and Create at an early stage in instruction is likely a high-achieving
learner, and will be differentiated accordingly.

Academic Language Demand(s):

What content specific terms (vocabulary) do students need to support learning of the learning
objective for this lesson
Students are familiar with most rhythmic, pitch, and dynamic terms, such as quarternote, pitch, bar line, forte etc. However, the following words will play special
importance in todays lesson:
-Marcato
-Accent
-Slur
-Staccato
-Tenuto
What specific way(s) will students need to use language (reading, writing, listening and/or
speaking) to participate in learning tasks and demonstrate their learning for this lesson?
Students will be listening to the language, and displaying understanding by translating
that into their playing.
What are your students abilities with regard to the oral and written language associated with
this lesson?
Students are able to describe as well as understand and play in relation to the
vocabulary terms with which they are presented.
How will you support students so they can understand and use the language associated with
the language function and other demands in meeting the learning objectives of the lesson?
Students will be supported by consistent use of vocabulary and synonyms, as well as
modelling to aid in applying vocabulary to music

Evaluation and Assessments:

What types of evaluation and/or assessment tools do you plan to use for your lesson?
Will assessment by (x) formative or ( ) summative?
Students will create, perform, and respond using articulations from The Thunderer
and Bunker Hill Overture in Au Claire De La Lune playing alone and with others.

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How do you plan to evaluate and assess your students based upon your goals and
objectives?
Students will be observed and listened to for correct performing, identifying, and
describing of articulations. Written music will be observed for correct writing of
articulations in music.

What steps will you take to insure that your students know that they have been
successful in reaching your goals and objectives?
Student will be informed if they have successfully (or unsuccessfully) met objectives
for the class. Student will also know they have successfully played their written
articulations by class being able to correctly identify articulations which the student
chose.

What intervention steps will you take to insure that your students are able to reach
the goals outlined in your lesson plan?
Extra time will be spent on students who need extra attention when playing their
articulations, as well as those who need extra attention with writing articulations.
Modelling and playing along with student will be used, as well as verbal suggestions for
how to improve the articulations. Students may need directions explained more than
once.

Evaluation Criteria
Students will be evaluated based on their ability to perform AND identify/define
rhythms, pitch, dynamics, and articulations.

Rubric:
Beginning

Developing

Accomplished

Exemplary

Student
identifies the
articulation,
but can only
partially
describe it.

Student
identifies and
describes the
articulation
correctly and
completely

The student
will correctly
Student identifies
identify and
Student either
or describes the
describe
describes or
articulation, or
articulations
identifies the
identifies/describes
in class
articulation, but not
a different
activity with
both
articulation
Au Claire De
La Lune
(HS I: 2CE)

The student
will correctly
write
Student writes
Student writes no
Student writes in
applicable
in articulations
articulations in
articulations
Student writes
new
taking into
because student
without
in correct
articulations
account how
cannot
remember
sensitivity/knowled
articulations
in musical
they must be
notation in Au how to write them ge of their meaning
played
Claire De La
Lune
(HS I: 2CE)

The student

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Pitches are

Pitches are either

Pitches are

Nearly no

Score

will accurately
mostly correct,
perform
with minor (one
errors, or
correct
incorrect due to
somewhat correct or two) errors
flawless
pitches in Au embouchure/fingeri with some errors in in fingerings or
performance of
Claire De La
ng errors, and
fingerings/accident embouchure
pitches.
Lune (7: 1PR,
intervals are not als or on the wrong
placement
Correct
2PR, 4PR)
correct
partial
resulting in
fingerings.
small pitch
errors
-The student
Rhythms are
Rhythms are
Nearly no
will accurately
somewhat correct, mostly correct,
errors, or
perform
Rhythms are
with multiple
with minor (one
flawless
correct
neither correct nor
noticeable
or two) errors performance of
rhythms in Au
in tempo.
fluctuations in
in rhythm or
rhythms. In
Claire De La
tempo
tempo
tempo.
Lune (7: 1PR,
2PR, 4PR)

-The student
will accurately
perform
correct
articulations
in Au Claire
De La Lune

Articulations are
nonexistent or
unrecognizable

(HS I: 4PR)
(7: 1PR, 2PR, 4PR)

Articulations are
Articulations
Nearly no
present, but are
are mostly
errors or
not consistent or
correct with
flawless
are not contrasting
minor errors in performance of
from different
consistency
articulations.
articulation types

Teacher reflections:
The lesson worked extremely well for all students who participated. This led me to run the
lesson again on another day, forgoing the long explanation, so that there would be time for
more of the class to participate. Students were able to use the exercise to show much greater
awareness of their own knowledge and performance of articulations. This worked well for both
the student performing and the rest of the class, as the rest of the class had to use
comparative thinking in order to guess the articulations of the performer.
Adjustments (What instructional changes do you need to make as you prepare for the lesson
tomorrow?)
I did not make any changes to the lesson as I ran it again. The success shown in the students
only seemed greater the second time around, and the methods remained the same. This is
likely because more students had gone before, so there was less pressure to try something
new.

Proposed Changes. (If you could teach this lesson again to this group of students what
changes would you make to your instruction?)

Whole class: I could have been more concise in my directions at the beginning of class.
Although it is not seen in the video, it took more than ten minutes to actually have a
student begin the exercise.

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Groups of students: I should have planned more ahead of time to help lower achieving
students write the articulations in. I spent more time on some students while
instructing the students on writing in the articulations than I would have liked.
Individual students: I should have planned more ahead of time to help lower achieving
students write the articulations in. I spent more time on some students while
instructing the students on writing in the articulations than I would have liked.

Justification (Why will these changes improve student learning? What research/ theory
supports these changes?)

Changes verbal instruction by adding conciseness and limiting the amount of words used is an
example of Chunking. This will allow students to absorb the information in smaller, shorter
chunks, which will help them to be more successful in learning and applying information.

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