S14: E261 The Summer Blueprint: Long Range Planning

What is a music concept flow chart?

How can it be used for long range planning?

Last week I shared ideas for working on parts of your curriculum in the summer.  Today I’ll be sharing how you can focus your attention on a specific grade level of your choosing and plan a blueprint for long range lesson plans.  I’ll provide ideas for both year-long plans and monthly plans.  Be sure to head to my website at www.jessicagrant.org to purchase the Long Range Lesson Planning Flow Chart.  You’ll get access to yearly and monthly examples as well as fully editable Google Sheets Templates for the year and month.

When you’re crafting long-range lesson plans, consider the following:

1. Identify the Concepts and Skills You Want to Teach: Clearly define the learning objectives you want to teach your students. You want to understand what musical concepts (rhythmic and melodic) and elements (dynamics, timbre, texture, form) that you want students to learn.  You might find a list of expected objectives in your district, state or national standards or you might have the flexibility to decide how you want to structure your class and what concepts you want to teach.  Knowing what your concepts and skills for each grade level is a huge step towards planning your pacing and materials for the year.

2. Determine a Sequence for Teaching Those Concepts and Skills: Determine a logical progression of concepts and skills that builds upon each other. Start with foundational concepts and gradually introduce more complex musical elements. Ensure that your sequence aligns with the developmental level and prior knowledge of your students.  Repeat lessons for each concept and skill rather than teaching it once and moving on.  Students need practice and musical experiences for their understanding to solidify.

3. Plan Engaging Activities: Brainstorm and design a variety of engaging activities that align with the concepts and skills you are teaching. You might incorporate listening examples, games, singing songs, playing instruments, or music reading activities. Incorporating a mix of activities will enhance student engagement and provide multiple ways for them to learn.

4. Assess Along the Way: Consider how you will assess students' progress and understanding as you are teaching.  Integrate formative assessments, such as quizzes, observations, and student self-reflections, to gauge learning and provide timely feedback. Use games to listen for pitch-matching, singing skills, and demonstration of beat or rhythm.  

5. Reflect and Revise: Regularly reflect on the effectiveness of how students are learning and demonstrating their understanding.  Then adjust your plans. If the activities are engaging and aligned with objectives, and if students are achieving desired learning outcomes, you can continue to move forward.  If you notice that students are struggling to learn a specific musical concept or skill, spend more time in that area. 

One of the best tools I learned about is a flow chart.  A flow chart helps you see visually all of the concepts and skills you will be teaching throughout the year.  You create a plan for what to teach first, then second and so on in specific categories such as rhythm, melody, form, texture, meter and expression.  You might also consider evaluating skills related to technology, instrument technique, or other headings.

I recommend selecting one grade level.  Look at the standards for each heading that are recommended to be taught in that grade.  Write these standards underneath their heading.  For example, you might have the following concepts listed under rhythm:

Quarter note, Eighth note pairs, sixteenth notes, separated eighth notes, syncopa, quarter rest

You’ll see the months on the left hand side and the weeks for each month in the second column.  Determine what concept you should either review or begin teaching.  Allow for roughly 2-3 weeks of working on this concept before you introduce another concept in the same category.  For example, I might work on the quarter note with students for three weeks and then begin working on teaching eighth note pairs for 2 weeks and then sixteenth notes after that.

Not every week will have a specific concept listed next to it.  These might be the weeks where you are reviewing all material learned so far in the year.  You can always adapt your pacing - go faster or slower - depending on what the students are showing you that they understand and can do.

Once you’ve filled in your flow chart for the year, you can separate each month into its own tab.  This way you can truly identify what you’ll be teaching each week.  This is where we begin to create grade level plans based on the week.  In next week’s final episode of The Summer Blueprint, I’ll talk about how to create grade level plans.

If you’re interested in creating a flow chart, head to my website at www.jessicagrant.org to purchase a yearly and monthly flow chart with fully editable content for you to customize to your needs.

While you’re there, sign up for my free monthly newsletter.  See you next week!