Lesson Plan

Name: Reese Massey Date: 3/12/2020

Grade: 6 Class Type: General Music

1.Measurable Objective(s): ​(Measurable learning objectives use action verbs to describe what you want the
students to be able to do by the end of the class.)
Students will be able to identify and dictate simple to moderate rhythms using eighth, quarter, half, and
dotted half notes in both ¾ and 4/4.
2.Assessment: ​(What evidence will show that the students understand? Describe the assessment used – formal
and informal assessments based on learning objectives.)
Informal observation of students’ rhythmic dictation displayed on individual white boards.
Informal observation of students reciting the dictated rhythm or their own rhythm for others to dictate.
3. National Standards: ​(Creating, Performing, Responding – Write out the standards that you will be
addressing in their entirety.)

MU:Cr2.1.6b Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or audio/ video recording to document personal
simple rhythmic phrases, melodic phrases, and two chord harmonic musical ideas.

MU:Pr4.2.6b When analyzing selected music, read and identify by name or function standard symbols
for rhythm, pitch, articulation, and dynamics.

4. State Standards: ​(​Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting - Write out the standards that you will be
addressing in their entirety.)

Document original simple melodic ideas with standard notation. (5-6.M.2a)

Identify standard notation symbols and musical terms referring to dynamics, tempo, articulations,
meter, and expression and apply them when performing. (5-6.M.4)

5. Required Prior Knowledge and Skills: ​(What must students know to be successful.)
Students should know how to write and recognize eighth, quarter, and half notes.
Students should know the difference between ¾ and 4/4.

​ aterial, Repertoire, Equipment needed: ​(Be sure to include music titles, composer/arranger, text etc.)
6.​ M
Small individual white boards, markers, projector, computer
7. Review Needed: (​ What needs to be reviewed to reinforce prior learning related to this lesson.)
Review of the values and sound for eighth, quarter, and half notes.
Review how to draw time signatures and bar lines.
8. Accommodations: ​(Special Needs, ELL, etc.)
Help students with preparing their boards before the dictation.
Provide a dictation guide with the note values available.
9. Agenda: ​(List items to be taught and post.)
1. Welcome
2. Review eighth, quarter, and half notes
3. Dictation
10. Lesson Sequence ​(Be sure to list time in the Pacing Section) ​ Pacing
A. Brief Opening: ​(A teacher posted group or brief individual assignment. Brief A.…………………..
reading writing, editing, or problem-solving activity to ready them for learning – may
be a question about the rehearsal music or at the younger levels it may be a learning
activity to set up for today's lesson such as a "Do Now.")
Get to your assigned seat and review the difference between eighth, quarter, 3 min.
and half notes with the person next to you. Then discuss what you think the
term “rhythmic dictation” means.
B. Learning Activities: ​(What learning experiences and instruction will enable B
students to achieve the desired results – have more learning activities than you need.)
1. Ask students and student demonstrations of eighth, quarter, and half 1. 2 min
notes. - “How many notes is a half note? What does that sound like?)
2. Pass out white boards and markers by row. 2. 3 min
3. Go over expectations for white boards. - “These are music white 3. 3 min
boards and therefore I should only see music being written on them.
What are some other things we should be doing while using the white
boards?”
4. My demonstration of how to dictate a rhythm. - “Who would like to 4. 3 min
give me a one measure long rhythm in 4/4? Great! Now let's break it
down. First I’ll prepare my white board with the time signature and bar
lines. Now what was the first note? So that will be the first note I write
down.”
5. Have a few more student volunteers present a rhythm for us to dictate 5. 5 min
together on the board. Then we all read back the rhythm on the board
and figure out if it sounds the same as the example and therefore is
correct.
6. Give dictation tips for longer examples. - “We are going to do 4 6. 5 min
measure long dictations. A couple of things that will help you be
successful are to prepare as much of the paper as you can beforehand
such as your time signature and bar lines. Then, if you are a slow
writer like me, it’s helpful to make a shorthand version of notation that
you can fill in later. For example, I will make differently sized dots or
lines to represent the rhythms as I hear them so I don’t have to worry
about writing the whole note and listening to the whole rhythm at the
same time. Take a moment to come up with your own shorthand for
eighth, quarter, and half notes.”
7. Dictation examples in 4/4. Give three to 4 tries and then we all read the 7. 6 min
correct rhythm aloud together. Answer questions as they arise and
adjust the difficulty level appropriately.
8. Dictation examples in ¾. - “Now that I’m in 3/4 , how many beats will 8. 6 min
there be per measure?”
9. Introduce dotted half notes. - “In that last example there was a note 9. 5 min
that took up the whole measure. If we’re in ¾ how many beats does
that mean the note lasted for? That’s right, 3! One way you can write a
note that lasts 3 beats is a dotted half note, which looks like this.
Everyone write that in your last measure from that example. What the
 dot does is take half the value of the note and add it on. So half two is
one, so you add one to two and therefore get three beats.” 10. 7 min
10. Have students prepare examples in either 4/4 or ¾ so that they can try
to “stump” me. Follow the same procedure as before but with the
students’ examples.
C. Closing/Wrap-up: (​ This is a recap of the key learning of the day to check for C.
understanding. Could be a ticket to leave as individuals or group answers.)
Return white boards and markers by row. 3 min
What was challenging about this activity and why? What was fun about it?
D. Assignment: D.
N/A

​ hat do you think went particularly well? How did this strength impact your students’
11.Reflection Prompt​: W
learning?
Adapting to student needs and reacting to informal assessments went particularly well in this lesson. By
observing how students were answering the dictation questions by quickly looking at everyone’s answers, I
was able to adjust the level of difficulty so that there was a reasonable amount of challenge for students.
Additionally, I could gauge when students were confused and stop to explain difficult concepts. This
impacted students learning in that it remained both engaging and at an appropriate difficulty level
throughout the lesson.
12.Reflection Prompt: ​If you could teach this lesson again, is there anything you would do differently? How
would this have impacted your students’ learning?
If I could teach this lesson again I would provide more structure for the dictation activity. By having a
clearer layout written on the board of when I would be giving examples, when students would create
examples, and when the time signature would change, the transitions would have been smoother.
Additionally this would ensure that students wouldn’t fall behind from having not heard the directions.
This would have given more time for students to practice their dictation skills as well as give each student
an equal opportunity to succeed.