Instructional Practice

This is a lesson plan that I designed for a 9th grade beginning band class and implemented during my student teaching placement in the Spring of 2021. I decided to include this because it was geared for students who either did not have their instruments yet or did not have access to instruments due to the pandemic. This lesson was about Louis Armstrong, and it connected Armstrong's activism and commitment to racial justice to other contemporary artists who similarly advocate to end injustice through their music. This lesson plan was implemented in the class and sparked an informative conversation between students where students were able to compare Armstrong to artists of today and were able to share some of the activism work they had been engaging with through their school. I included this because it demonstrates the ability of music to spark conversations that go beyond musical understanding.

This lesson plan was designed for 10-12th grade band students and was implemented during my student teaching placement in the spring of 2021. While the band students had been playing their instruments for some time in this ensemble, they were still new to the instrument. I included this because it demonstrates my ability to teach band at a beginning level. In the lesson plan, I thought critically about the ways in which I could be supportive to students and encourage them to continue exploring their instrument. Even with the challenges caused by teaching remotely during a pandemic, this lesson allowed students to advance to the next song that they were learning, and it even allowed a beginning trumpet student who had switched from the tuba to get his first sound on the trumpet. I have included a video of this lesson on "The Learner and Learning" page.

This lesson plan was designed for Pre-K to 2nd grade music students and was implemented during my student teaching placement in the Fall of 2020. I included this lesson plan because it is an example of how we can teach musical concepts in a creative, engaging, and innovative way to elementary school students. This lesson plan was also created for a distance-learning environment, as I taught the students during the pandemic. Despite the challenges of the pandemic and distance-learning, this lesson was fun and engaging. It was meaningful that many of the students were logging on to music class each week, despite the difficulties they faced in accessing the class.

This is another lesson plan that was designed for Pre-K to 2nd grade students and was implemented during my student teaching placement in the Fall of 2020. I included this lesson plan because it is an example of how we can introduce young students to a new musical concept in a fun and engaging way, even in a virtual environment. In this lesson, the students learned about timbre and explored the different timbres on their homemade instruments. They were also able to tie in this concept to the quarter and eighth notes they were learning, helping to introduce them to rhythm and eventually to pitch in future classes.