When I start my day I look in my diary to see which students I have. If I think of anything specific like a piece of music they might like or a help/work sheet I'll make sure I put it in my bag. I do think about my students in terms of what happened at their last lesson etc... but I don't write lesson plans... ever.

I've heard lots of good feedback from teachers who have been on courses etc... where they have been trained in great detail on the art of lesson planning and sometimes feel a bit guilty!

Does my thinking about the lesson and student prior to the next lesson count as planning?!

My question is, am I the only one who doesn't make a written plan for each lesson... or should I leave the forum in disgrace?

No, I don't think you should leave in disgrace! As a classroom teacher I used to plan in meticulous detail, and it was necessary first time round with a lesson, and even later on, I would replan things to improve, or deal with a particular group. So I'm the first one to say plan things.

But in a 1 to 1 lesson, I do as you do, and think about the students and what they will need/I am expecting to cover and I'll make sure that I have everything. In that sense, I think written notes after a lesson are very important because then I'll know where to move on from.

Like you I was concerned about this way of working, and I talked to a colleague in school who said that he did the same sort of thing - so while it may not be perfect, it is a sensible thing to do and allows for lots of flexibility in the lesson if need be. I would get a bit frustrated if I had spent a long time writing up a plan to find that the pupil hadn't been able to practice this week and I had to throw out the plan.

Overall I have a long term plan for each pupil in my head - but then I only have about 25 pupils (not as many as some teachers I've known.)

When I first started out I would write up a lesson plan for the first lesson with a new student. Normally that lesson would involve a parent sitting in the room and I would probably be a little nervous so I used the plan to make sure I stayed confident and looked professional.

These days i've got the hang of it all so I am able to just think things through before a lesson and take it from there. Like susie said, if I had written a lesson plan and the student hadn't practiced (very likely!) i'd drive me mad. Keeping it up top allows a degree of flexibility.

I've only ever had a maximum of 16 students at a time so it's easy to keep track of who is doing what. If I had 50 students then maybe I would need to start writing it all down!

In the terms that children don't have exams I tend to wirte (very brief) lesson plans and also write up the lessons after (because we do a lot of varied things and it helps to keep track).

In the terms when they've got exams I don't really need to. I know where we are with their pieces, and anyway it's obvious, (often all too sadly!!), and the rest gets done pretty much each time. We just carry on, doing what needs doing.

Overall, though, I like plans.

I don't make very detailed plans, rather I write up in some detail what we have done after the lesson, and read this before the next one, jotting down a very brief note of what I hope to get through. I find it more helpful to have in mind where we were the previous time, what the starting points are, much as Susie described.

I think 'thinking things through' can work well.

I have a general plan in my head which involves looking at what they're working on, exploring a technical exercise to help, sightreading, theory, history & aural. I aim not to spend more than 10 to 12 minutes on any one thing.

Intruding as a non-music teacher. I think lesson planning is a very individual thing. If you take a teaching course then you are taught to draw up lesson plans and obviously have to learn how to do so if you want to pass your course. What you actually do with the "ideal" plan in the "real" world depends on each teacher.

When I first started classroom teaching I made very detailled lesson plans largely because I felt more confident if I had written everything down in advance. As I gained in experience I wrote less and less down, not because my lessons were less well planned but because I no longer needed the written plan as a "security blanket." I also think that the more experience you have the less you need to plan in great detail because you have already developped a lot of different strategies. You know you want to get to X and intend to do so by Y and Z but if Y doesn't appear to be working you know you can fall back on G or T or V (etc.)

I have a long term plan in my head for each pupil but it remains flexible. I have a small notebook for each child - the same as their practice/communication notebooks.

In that book, at the start of the year I write briefly what the long term plan for the year is, where we are starting, where I would like to be at , the end of the year, particular difficulties or strengths. I often but not always make lists of pieces or books I think could prove useful during the year.

From then on I don't make lesson plans but I do keep a weekly record of what we have done and also what we have not done and which must not be forgotten.

I also tend to get ideas while I am teaching one pupil which will be useful for others so I make lists of these ideas.

For class teaching I used to make detailed plans but with experience I have found a simple list is sufficient.
But I do spend some time on thinking things through.

In general I would say most of my general forward planning is done in the summer holiday with revisions at the end of each term. Individual planning tends to be on an "as we go basis" using the record books as a basis.

My situation is different because I'm not teaching an instrument - but, for me, lesson plans are absolutely vital.

The art of devising a lesson that moves seamlessly from one thing to the next is something I'm always trying (with varying degrees of success!) to do. Some of my Hungarian teachers are SO skilled at this and it's what I'm always aspiring to.

I teach classes (the biggest is currently 34), small groups and individuals - and every one is planned for in the same way. After every lesson I write up what I did and then plan the next one. It's hard work and time-consuming but I have to do it or my teaching would not be good.

Some people feel that having a plan means that you cannot be flexible but this is not my experience. I always plan more than I need and also have little notes down the side of the page outlining what I want to go onto next - and, as I'm always responding to what comes back to me from the student/s, I am free to change what was in my original plan - there's often a lot of thinking on one's feet!

Very occasionally I don't have time to plan and I will busk the lesson - it's fine, I can do it - but I just prefer not to!

I've never written lessons plans either.

Personally, I wouldn't find them useful, as every time a student turns up at a lesson, they invariably say "I didn't have time to practice X" or "I found Y much harder than I expected so didn't get very far with it", etc. Also, sometimes you have to alter what you were planning on doing to fit in with the faster/slower progress that a pupil has made.

Or what if the student has developed a problem with wrist tension during the week? You have to address that, give some exercises to help and work through the pieces they've already been doing from a different angle to release the tension while they're playing.

These are just examples, but you see what I'm getting at.

I only have about 10-12 students at a time at the moment, so it is easy to remember what everyone is doing and I do think in advance about where each student is going and what I need to do with them to get them there and what we need to work on and improve along the way, but I don't plan anything out.

Like noodle, I have always wondered what people actually put in lesson plans and how they use them - do you refer to them during the lesson? As a teacher, I'd find that really broke the flow of the lessons and as a student I would probably find it off-putting!

Yes, I think that's all very sensible.

The only time I ever devised lesson plans was a) during my early days training choirs when I used to find it useful to have a written note of what I wanted to cover and b) during my PGCE course. The lesson plans for the latter were only written to satisfy the examiner, generally the evening before they had to be handed in at the end of each term and were, as thus, rather fictitious reports on how I'd 'planned' the term's teaching!

It's much more sensible, in my opinion, to have a general plan in one's mind, and to go with the flow and adapt it to the circumstances. Detailed lesson plans are far too inflexible, although I can understand how they can be a prop for those starting out in their teaching career.

... although they only become inflexible if you let them

Even after years of teaching, I still write lesson plans for each single lesson of every single student - not just for myself, but mainly for the student to take home as some sort of practice-help. I found the notebooks that stay with the student not very useful, because people have the tendency to forget them.

Instead, every of my students has a folder on my PC, and every lesson gets a file. I write out what I think is necessary and would help at the moment. This doesn't mean however that it is put in concrete during the actual lesson - if the student needs something different on that day, we change things, or I'll leave out certain exercises completely if others need more time. Under each exercise, there's enough space to jot down notes during the lesson, and then the student takes this sheet home.
The good thing is: I still have the file on my computer, so after the lesson, I reconcile things, note down my ideas for the next time and so on.
I also do termly overview sheets with longer term goals, bit of a control freak really

No, seriously: Everyone has to find out what works best for them in the long run, there is really no right or wrong here I would say. I found this works for me and my students, but there is certainly more than one way to plan your lesson. Just because I write things down in advance doesn't mean that the lessons are not tailored to what the student needs in that very moment - the sheets are merely a help for the student's practice at home.

Delighted to see so many people who don't write plans for one to one lessons! My pupils all have notebooks and if I need to bring extra materials or find a new piece for someone I make a note of it (in my mobile phone!). With my choir I bring a list of warm-ups and what I need to cover, partly because they like to start talking and I run the risk of forgetting something! For my kids' groups I either write a plan or use Cyrilla's book, which is chock full of lovely plans and very well laid out (new one is on its way in the post, exciting!).

I have 30 piano pupils as well as all the rest, so I really don't see how I could find time to plan for them all, every week. However this year I have written down where they are at the end of the year and things I think they should do in September. I think this will be very helpful.

I do think that teaching an individual lesson is very different to rehearsing a choir or teaching a class though.

Yes I agree.

Big sigh of relief Thanks for all the replies so far!

I can understand why a classroom teacher would need to plan. I hate the idea of having to hand in plans in an accepted format though - it seems very stressful! I think that making them for the sake of showing someone else is probably a waste of time, but making them because you find them useful wouldn't be.

I suppose if I'm practising my piano every night (which I do) and often playing through pieces that I'll be teaching the next week, especially higher grade ones, then that is all work towards a lesson. It's just more practical work than written work

A lot of people I know who have done PGCE equivalents or had similar requirements for instrumental lessons who threw things together in hindsight for their assessments. Probably not a good idea!

I've always just winged it - doesn't seem to have done me or my pupils any harm

I sometimes have to "busk" a class lesson as well - usualy because something comes up from the children that I didn't intend to include or deal with at that point. Sometimes these lessons go better than what I had put on my list and I think that is because I am forced into lightnening thinking and improvisation.

I agree absolutely. When I teach groups I find it's much better not to have a lesson plan written out, even if it's in my head, as the lesson flows better.

For individuals it's never seemed to me to be worth the time it would take.

No - but how it sometimes happens in the "real" world. You write a plan, discard it because it doesn't work so come up with something totally different, and probably better, on the hoof - tailoring it to the pupil's requirements at that particular moment. Makes detailed written plans a wate of time. But the powers that be can criticise you for not sticking to the plan I was always taught to be self- critical/reflective. The relective teacher is the best teacher I was taught so if you are constantly thinking about what you do and adapting it than you are doing a good job in my book.

On DCMBArton's another thread I posted about different teaching/learning styles. Some people need it all written down. Others are better storing info in their heads or reacting in the moment. Some people are more comfortable "winging it" than others. If you are a list maker then a detailed plan probbaly feels right for you. If you're a practical person then maybe it'd be of less use.

A final word, I wouldn't waste all my energy on lesson planning if you can do a good job without. Better to have the energy and entusiasm to infuse into your students than be worn out from all the paper work

Personally, I like to have a skeleton plan, whether written or in my head, to work from but I inevitably deviate from it and respond to the pupils needs within a lesson.

EdiT; Hope I've sorted quotes out now Grrrr

So do you buy all the music your students are learning in order to have your own copy?

An excellent point!

Yup, me too.

I think I did try to say that written lesson plans and flexibility CAN go hand in hand!




Hope you like it!!



As far as lesson planning goes, there is absolutely no difference in the amount that I do, whether it's for a class of 34 or a 1-2-1 lesson. But again, I'm aware that what I'm teaching is different from teaching an instrument.



So do I and I refuse to do it! I do plans that are useful and necessary to me and will not write it all out again in an 'accepted format' just so that another box can be ticked...






As I said, there is a LOT of thinking on one's feet for the reasons you state, Aquarelle. It's what makes the job exciting! Though that aspect - suddenly changing tack because of what comes back to you for the student - isn't quite the same as busking a whole lesson.

As I said, I don't mind doing it and I can do it, but I just don't feel quite as satisfied at the end of it..

I would totally agree with this, and with Cyrilla's view on the importance of lesson plans. If I don't have a plan, I am far less focussed and frequently realise afterwards that I missed something important. I also find it vital to record during the lesson what the pupil did well, what they struggled with etc. My book is full of codes so that I can make a note of how a student did without others knowing what I have written!

Perhaps this is a matter of memory - mine is simply not good enough for me to teach effectively without plans, especially now that I have over 40 pupils. Others may be a lot more capable in this respect!

I also find it vital to record during the lesson what the pupil did well, what they struggled with etc.

yes, yes and yes! and what ideas worked particularly well, especially where they were having problems.

I'm quite happy to work without a plan if the need arises. And I always really enjoy the lesson where the plan goes out of the window because pupil got enthusiastic about something entirely unexpected. (as Aquarelle said ...Sometimes these lessons go better than what I had put on my list)

But without some sort of plan, however sketchy, it is all too easy for loose ends to add up and not get tidied in.

I do. Couldn't manage otherwise.

I don't do lesson plans at the moment, but have done in the past. I needed to when I took on 35 new pupils in one term - it was the only way I could keep my head above water.

No

I have got a lot of music though. Any of the more difficult grade pieces, or most other classical pieces I'll always have kicking around somewhere

Yikes! That sounds stressful!

At the music service I work for we regularly have long discussions/debates about lesson planning - how much we should be doing, how to structure it, whether we should all be doing it the same etc. I'm fairly happy with what we have in place already - each pupil has a mini lesson plan booklet with year and termly objectives on the front (plus assessment of effort and attainment after each term) and space for weekly lesson plans and evaluations inside. It means we can be as brief or as detailed as we want, and it's also really helpful if ever we have to have one of our lessons covered by another teacher.

Unfortunately, I don't think they can. If the lesson begins to deviate profitably from what's on the paper, what do you do? If you go back to the written plan, you don't follow the flow of the lesson. If you choose to follow the flow of the lesson, you aren't able to follow the written plan.

Whilst it's probably a case of horses for courses, I'd rather know in my mind the general direction in which I'd like the lesson to go, and what I'd like to achieve in the lesson, and know the various techniques I could choose to apply in order to facilitate this. If the lesson goes off on a productive tangent, then all well and good. I'll go with this. Following a written lesson plan would not allow me to do that.

But surely a written lesson plan can include a level of flexibility? As I have said, I use lesson plans all the time but usually manage to include options for the pupils within them - or if the student brings in something they need to do for orchestra I might ditch a particular bit and make a note to prioritise this for next time. I don't seem to have any problem with including options within a plan.

I suspect again this might be a case of how good your memory is. I cannot rely on mine and I'm easily distracted. I have to have a structure to work to, even if I don't necessarily keep to it. Otherwise I can easily neglect the basics.

Sorry, HG, but I have to disagree here - because my lessons - ALL of them - are a mixture of the two.

I've been trained to plan lessons meticulously, trying to make each activity 'flow' into the next. I take into account the three stages of learning - unconscious, conscious and reinforcement - and all three need to be present in some way and in some place. I am constantly building on what has gone before and what needs to be tackled next.

But - because people are people, it isn't possible to stick 'rigidly' to the plan - if the student/s can't do something you expected them to be able to do, for example, or if one suddenly has a brilliant idea or a question that takes the lesson in an unexpected direction.

I have made the point, and will do again, that I am not an instrumental teacher and I'm sure things are different if you are teaching an instrument (although I would still find it hard, were I to be teaching an instrument, not to still 'think' and 'plan' in the way that I do!).

At one point I was teaching 31 classes/groups a week - another reason why it would be impossible for me to work without plans and without detailed records.

I've seen a Cyrilla plan : they are detailed.

Were I a teacher in the things Cyrilla is a teacher in, I'd plan in a lot more detail than I do. My work is largely instrumental, and, for me, records of each pupil, with what they've done, and what they imminently will/should be doing work fine for me.

It seems to me there are 2 types of lesson plans: those that probably have main headings (and which therefore will allow a degree of flexibility) and those which are finely detailed and which therefore, if you are going to stick to it, will have less flexibility unless you are prepared to deviate from the written word.

As andante_in_c has pointed out, I always find lesson plans acutely more necessary when I have more than one pupil at a particular stage to remember exactly where we are.

Cyrilla - "3 stages of learning: unconscious, conscious and reinforcement." I must remember that!

I wonder if the level of the pupil is a factor here to. Having read Barry-Clarry's and Cyrilla's posts, I realise that I plan far less for more advanced pupils. It's in the early stages when so many basics are being put into place that I feel the need to be really organised.

No problem. Thank goodness we all think differently! Wouldn't it be boring if we all thought alike? Imagine what these forums would be like for a start. A poster would start a thread, and there'd be a line of subsequent posts saying !


I think perhaps you've hit the nail on the head. Whilst I've not seen a Cyrilla plan, I wonder if it's the fact that they are so detailed in order to allow for the lesson going off on various tangents.

Ad-Libitum....

and one which I was hesitantly thinking of starting a few weeks ago in a fit of guilt as I don't write plans at all for lessons.

What I do tho, is at the start of the academic year (or when ever I have a new pupil) is to have a notebook with pupils information and what standard they are or if they are taking andy Junior or leaving cert exams that year.
I also ask them if they have anything in particular they would like to achieve or play.

I do tend to mix things up a bit to keep them (and me ) on our toes... If something isn't working and everyone is getting frustrated then I tend to go on a tangent rather than bashing head on wall!

As I do a lot of accompanying for instrumental and ballet exams I do have to be organised and plan practising.... which is great as in my younger days was guilty of not doing so...

I never write a lesson plan but I always write a reminder for myself in their notebook as to what I would like to cover in the next lesson and usually manage to stick to it.
Occasionally when a student forgets to bring the notebook, they remind ME as to what we are doing!
Well trained?

Barbara

And when he saw the plan he saw that it said BAZ at the top !




It's very important, IMHO...the general rule is never introduce something at a conscious level that hasn't first been experienced unconsciously.

In music, that generally means SOUND BEFORE SYMBOL !

Beautifully personalised : and a lot more detailed than any of my plans. Ever...

I plan lessons - although I don't always stick to the plan..... but I write feedback up straight after the lesson and plan the next one based on what happened in the lesson just gone so that if any concepts need reinforcing or I need to find something out/think of an exercise/next piece to help with a particular technical issue then I have a note of it before I forget! Before CT I never made plans, but always felt embarrassed as I could never remember from one week to the next exactly what we'd covered the week before.... (due to me being very absent-minded - I'm very toddler-minded these days, which is even worse than absent-minded!!! and also due to the sheer number of pupils I had in those early days..... i.e. a lot...... )

I've heard so much about these Cyrilla plans! Do you think you'd be able to post an example somewhere? I'd really like to see one to find out how they work

Ewwww....well, I don't mind, but I'm not sure that it would make much sense...

I filed away a whole year's worth of lesson plans yesterday (for a non-music topic). It was interesting to re-read them, and remember the lessons where we stayed on track, and those when were went down a useful, but unplanned side road.

I filed them so that I will be able to reuse the lesson plans and background reading the next time that I teach that course. The background reading and quotes will be useful, but I'm not sure how useful my lesson plans will be next time around. They were prepared for that particular group of students, and whilst they were detailed enough to follow whilst teaching I'm not sure that they will make complete sense to me in a couple of year's time.

For example, I tend to write just a couple of words to remind me of a story or metaphor to explain a particular concept.

I'm still finding my feet in this area. Some of my beginners are working through tutor books quite nicely and we simply follow the book. Other students need a bit more help with things like reading music or sense of rhythm and pulse so I make a mental note of this and find some material or come up with some excercises to help them. Most of my established students have practice diaries which are good because it reminds me where they are, but some students use them more than others. Since I got a free supply of old conference bags from my Mother-In-Law I've handed these out to my students and they only use them for their lessons so they don't tend to forget things. For students with exams coming up I always think through where they are which each of the elements in the exam and have a mental plan of what I want to cover, but it doesn't always work out that way.

It's good to know that other people get by with mental plans and brief notes. I think I'll make an effort to reflect on each pupil's abilities and write some notes next week as it's the end of term and I'll then have the summer to do some forward planning. I've also got this crazy notion of making up my own sight-reading books which I can keep hold of and work through with my students a bit each week.

I suppose what it comes down to is that everyone has to do what's best for them. On reflection I realise that when I was teaching alongside my office job I did very little planning and I think my pupils may have been held back as a result. Now that I teach full time I have more time to think about the lessons I have coming up and am more motivated to do the best I can so that they keep coming back.

I plan insofar as what the OP said (sorry... read so many I can't remember!) - thinking about who I've got and what I think they might need. Often in a lesson I'll jot down something and stick it in my diary if I need to take it along for the pupil's next lesson.

When I first started teaching I planned lessons, not meticulously but I wrote downideas and expectations, but I often found myself either disappointed or at a loose end! I think teaching is as reactive a process as it is proactive, since students' learning styles changes as they progress.

I loosely plan what we will look at, but then let the lesson take its own course if particulatr things arise. I also make naotes after so I can study them before the lesson, not during the next lesson.

It is interesting to see the progressions.

I went through a phase of writing quite detailed plans, at one stage for each lesson, and another for 1/2 a term (they got a folder with all the work needed, a CD of the accompaniments etc.) - I have to say that on both these occasions, progress was significantly greater and it was a positive experience for all; however, I found that I couldn't keep it up with so many pupils. This is partly connected to the other thread I started yesterday about always tailoring our lessons to the individual.
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I would like to see an example of your lesson plans, as after donkeys years of the same approach as most of our esteemed colleagues on this thread, I have never written a weekly plan, but react to the previous/current lesson accordingly.
Now I am doing a licentiate diploma and they want lesson plans. Huh??!

I would like to see an example of your lesson plans, as after donkeys years of the same approach as most of our esteemed colleagues on this thread, I have never written a weekly plan, but react to the previous/current lesson accordingly.
Now I am doing a licentiate diploma and they want lesson plans. Huh??!

I never write a lesson plan because every lesson evolves differently. However, I do put a little reminder in my students' notebooks every week to remind ME what I would like to cover next week e.g Scales, SR or going over a new piece again. Otherwise, we do it by feel.

This is an interesting topic. I've never felt the need to write a lesson plan. I teach piano part-time so I don't have as many pupils as most teachers do here, so I keep everything in my head.

What I do find useful (and my pupils find it useful too) is writing a 'lesson report'. This gives feedback on what the pupil has achieved in the lesson and what to do next in their practice at home (so they don't forget!). It also acts as a good reminder for me when they come for the next lesson so I can pick up where we left off!

Thats as far as my planning goes, it isn't compulsory for anybody to do it but if you find that you will benefit from writing a lesson plan then there is nothing wrong in doing so.

I do use lesson plans if I feel my lessons have got too much alike, one after the other. Also if I feel that very young children need a more formal structure but presented in an informal manner, usually because not enough work is being covered. But it is essential not to get governessy about it. Longer adult lessons, say an hour long, which need a bit more thought to them. I usually make sure the beginning and end are worked out with several options for the middle sections.

I went through a patch of planning every lesson, which was useful, but ultimately I found that I was spending too much time making notes against the drawn up plans and the pupil notebooks. Now I tend to use duplicate books, sometimes with a lesson plan, sometimes not, but I have a permanent record and the pupil has something to keep too.