In the CTABRSM course we learnt a lot about lesson planning. I'd never really planned lessons before, and had always proceeded in a 'reactive' rather than proactive way, so planning lessons (and then having them observed) was a steep learning curve.

After the course I resolved to keep up with lesson planning, but as my student numbers increased (from 5 or 6 back then to the 35 I have now), I've just found it too overwhelming to do. Especially in the schools, when they come in and out like a production line, I just can't find the time to write down what happened, and by the end of the day some of it has become a blur.

I'm now considering getting a separate notebook for each child and finishing the lessons just slightly earlier to give myself time for note-taking (could also jot things down during the lesson, I suppose..).

This is because when I did precise note-taking and exact lesson plans which I tried as much as possible to stick to, I found the students became very engaged, and, I think, did more practice.

Has anybody else noticed this, and do other teachers here take precise notes and make precise lesson plans?

Obviously I have in my head what the student will be doing in any given lesson, but I'm afraid I've laregly reverted back to my old habits of glancing through their notebook to see what I set them to practise at the last lesson, asking them to play it, and then teaching them through that. Not altogether satisfactory...

Comments, anyone?

Violinia

I sympathise with the problems of dealing with "production lines" of students and this is exacerbated when they are taught in groups. Hugely difficult to keep up with the lesson plans, notes etc then.

For my own students they have notebooks and so do I. I keep a brief note on what each student did in their lesson and, at the time I write that, I jot down brief bullet-point reminders of what I want to do with them next time. I try to complete this record on the day - if not actually in the lesson then at the end of the teaching session when all is still relatively fresh in my mind. Then, come the weekend or whenever, if I have more time I may fill that record out a bit but it does keep me going meanwhile.

I know it's far from perfect but sometimes time is under huge pressure and I judge it better to have something than nothing at all.

Not an easy one this. I cannot say I've noticed a particular difference to my pupils on how notes are kept, lessons planned etc. Maybe I'm just lucky that, with a only one or two exceptions, I teach an enthusiastic and motivated bunch right now.

It's a large topic, Violinia! And an interesting one.

Yes, I do lesson plans - but I don't currently teach in schools, and I have often thought that if I did, the way I do it now just wouldn't be possible.

I use notebooks for most pupils (not all - some prefer not to have one; a couple of pupiles use post-it notes stuck in their book at the relevant page, and this can work quite well ) but the notebooks / post-it notes / whatever are for their benefit, not so much for mine. I rely on reading up my own notes, and in jotting down what I'd like to get through in the lesson, although I don't stick slavishly to this, if something interesting or useful comes up, or something takes longer than I think.

Where I do refer to the pupil's notes is if there is a difference in what I expect them to have done and what has actually been attempted. It's MY picture of what they have had for advice in the past week. Occasionally I've not written something down - in which case I take responsibility for whatever's been missed. Sometimes of course the notebook hasn't been properly read, or has been mis-understood. This underlines that for effective practice, communication has to be good, and that faults can occur on both sides, which I think is a good lesson for the pupil.

I keep records on computer of each lesson, which I read before, and then update afterwards. Yes, it's time consuming, but it works for me. I can always remember what each pupil is currently working on, but it's the detail that comes to life when I read up my record - what was unexpectedly tricky, how we solved it, what I suggested the pupil do, what I should ideally check up on first next time, etc etc.

I have taught in schools before, and I could not keep up this level of records in that situation, at least I can't imagine doing it.

Have to go - will come back to this one.

Maggie

Each pupil has a notebook, or if they lose it easily or for some adults, post-it notes.

I put bits of necessary planning / reminders in my diary, but mostly I try to keep on incorporating aspects into my overall plans for ALL pupils, and systemize it. This saves me a great deal of time in individual stuff, and means (as long as a pupil is practising), they get a full program with various books / handouts / opportunities at various times.

Rather than do individual plans, then, I've sought to improve how I react to the pupil's learning needs at the time, in general - so much more than the "correcting of mistakes". I regularly do follow bits at home. As you may have seen, I'm currently trying to improve what I offer for Aural preparation grades 5 to 8 - someone out there has that "ideal material the pupil can work with", and I've got some suggestions I'm looking at! ( http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?s=&act=ST&f=1&t=6625 )

Well, there's my thoughts.

For each of my private pupils, I have a lesson plan on an A4 sheet; some of my pupils use notebooks too if they find them helpful-I agree with Maggie that the notebook is for them though rather than me. I'd find it really difficult to keep all the information about what they're doing in my head, and as well, it's useful to have an overall plan of what I'm doing so I can cover different things in each lesson. I've always worked like this, and would find it hard doing anything else. If we choose a new piece, and/or do something that is very different from the plan, I just jot it down at the end. For work in schools, I also jot down at the end how the lesson's gone-any especial things they need to focus on, etc-we have a special lesson plan sheet which includes a section for this. I'm usually able to just jot this down quickly at the end, while they're choosing a sticker, or while waiting for the next pupil to arrive-it literally only takes half a minute. This really comes into its own when the time comes for writing end of year reports.
I don't teach any groups, so can't really comment on that-I would find it more of a challenge having individual student comments for a group I'd think-but I think I'd find a plan even more useful for a group than individual lessons.

Wow thanks everyone - I can see how lax I've been getting. I've just spent part of this evening putting everbody's notes from today into a new file on the computer, and I'm going to make proper lesson plans again - it's got to be the only way.

Thanks again

Violinia

I completed the Ct course in 2002 and agree that lesson planning is vital to any sort of progress for pupils.
I teach groups in schools and have devised a termly planning sheet. I list the pupils at the top/their attainment so far/the material I will be using over the term/any scales or exercises that I expect to cover/whether I expect to enter any of them for an exam etc, Sometimes I plan to cover a different activity/ topic for different children but involve all of the pupils in some activity together.
Having the weeks and dates laid out in front of me makes me move on with material/exercises and lets me see when pupils aren't progressing as I expected. I have 72 woodwind pupils and over 100 recorder pupils and I can't possibly remember what each of them is up to although I try hard to!
Sometimes I can feel things sliding but focussing on the progress made already and the next step to take brings my planning back on course. I have just been writing reports and having to reflect on each individual and their strengths/weaknesses has boosted my planning efforts for this term!

QUOTE (Violinia @ May 16 2005, 08:12 AM)

Obviously I have in my head what the student will be doing in any given lesson, but I'm afraid I've laregly reverted back to my old habits of glancing through their notebook to see what I set them to practise at the last lesson, asking them to play it, and then teaching them through that. Not altogether satisfactory...

I disagree that this is unsatisfactory. This way, what happens next arises naturally out of what occurred previously. You are ideally placed to respond to: lack of progress because of lack of practise caused by any of the million reasons pupils might have for a slack week; lack of progress resulting from a pupil 'hitting a brick wall' over an insurmountable technicalmusical problem; a sudden surge in progress caused by who-knows-what; normal progress from a normal week; anything else.

You have your long-term plans for each individual pupil in your head. I think that detailed lesson plans, if observed, will either: hamstring your ability to adapt to individual circumstances unanticipated when the plan was drawn up or; be rendered irrelevant by events.

I think that flexibility is everything for a teacher giving individual instrumentalvocal lessons. I advise against too much planning.

At the start of each year, I fill in a form with all my students stating why they are doing music and what they hope to achieve by the end of the year - theory/practical/festivals/Duke of Ed/ GCSE, AS, A level practical etc. I don't use a lesson plan as such because it more often than not is disrupted because the book is forgotten, the child can't get out of class because ..... . Every lesson however does include technique, pieces, sight reading and theory.

I am a new teacher and so far only have two pupils but hoping to expand in September to 5 or more if possible. I read the music teachers companion (Associated Board) and started to use the lesson plan /overview sheets at the back of the book. As my pupils are very different I find it helps to prepare what they are to do each lesson, record progress etc. Students each have a notebook with their practice plans in. I note down any major problems for review next lesson in my notes. (I also have worked out a scheme of work for them both which differs slightly for each student but shows them the route to their goals.) Using the sheets is helpful and you can track progress very efficiently. I also have sheets to note down scales, aural training and sight-reading exercises and merely have to tick them off which helps organise exam preparation.

I find that I need to be an organised person and am not good at working off the hoof. I'm also hoping that the Teaching Music Effectively course will help too.

As a language teacher, I have found that lesson planning is time well spent.

1) I plan in 3-4 month chunks. My plans are my salvation when I'm busy, sick, etc. or otherwise not firing on all cylinders. My students also have a better idea of when they are going to be busiest.

2) Even rough planning forces me to sum up certain issues consciously and decide what to do about them in advance. When I plan, I'm more adventurous.

3) Time and again, I've realized that while *I* knew where lessons were going and was pleased with progress, without documentation students weren't clear about what they were learning/what they had learned.

4) As a parent, I smile when I read complaints from teachers about parents sitting in on lessons, or trying to hold grade exams or specific pieces over the teacher's heads as the be-all and end-all criteria of progress. If teachers neither talk or write to parents, it's not surprising that parents cling so hard to external yardsticks in their effort to figure out whether their kid is failing miserably or tootling along happily. However, as a teacher, providing huge numbers of students with individual regular written feedback on skills (i.e. not task evaluation) without creating an impossible burden for myself is probably my biggest problem. I create on-the-spot evaluation forms at the same time as I do my longterm planning, so that I can note problems on the fly without having to write yards of evaluation.

I keep notes on each pupil, what was achieved that day quickly scribbled during the lesson, and then written up neatly on the computer at the end of the day. It provides an interesting record of progress and gives all the information you need for a very detailed report at the end of the year! I don't make written lesson plans in advance of the lesson - that would be too much paper work, and a record of what was done in the lesson is much more useful. From the notes from the previous lesson as well as what I know about each pupil I know where I am going with each pupil.

I haven't done the CT course. What do they recommend for lesson planning?

Some very interesting comments here-I have to say in answer to Steve's point about not over planning, that there's absolutely no way I'd remember everything all my 72 pupils are doing without a bionic memory if I didn't have a plan written down!It obviously needs to be flexible, and built around what happens in the lesson. I think the other point is that if you're teaching in schools, and writing end of year reports, having a written record, however brief, of how each lesson went, really helps to make report writing much more meaningful and also fairer.

As a general primary school teacher (newly qualified) I wouldn't dream of taking a lesson in school without some sort of prior planning, or at least an objective for the lesson with written outcomes. Writing out plans is time consuming at first but can also be a really useful record, especially if you then write on the back how well the lesson went and points to improve on for next time.
As for my flute teaching I rarely write out a lesson plan, but I will always have it in my head and write a few notes. I agree with Tasha.t that the Music Teacher's Companion forms at the back of the book are quite helpful. You can note a few useful points for where to go with the next lesson, as well as a bit of evaluation of the last one. (I do this as well as writing notes for my pupils in their notebooks).
I think planning 3-4 months in slightly odd-what is the point, after all? Surely you lose sight of the individual and their rate of progress?

QUOTE (avg25 @ May 19 2005, 08:23 AM)

As a general primary school teacher (newly qualified) I wouldn't dream of taking a lesson in school without some sort of prior planning, or at least an objective for the lesson with written outcomes.

It'll pass, don't worry - my experience, coming from a family of teachers, is that once people have been teaching for a while they don't write a formal lesson plan unless OFSTED are coming!

As for planning music lessons: my teacher required that each pupil had a notebook so she could note down what they needed to work on for the forthcoming week, and comment on the previous week's achievements. At the start of each lesson, she'd go to last week's entry and ask to hear what they'd been working on; the rest stemmed from there.

*nods* friend of mine has been teaching for some 30 years, and she says the lesson planning is the most time consuming and least helpful bit of her job. Lesson planning is great to a certain extent, but to plan what's being done every five minutes is not always necessary or even beneficial!

Hey, I'm not that naive! You can't possibly do in-depth formal plans for every lesson, but if something is planned then you are far more likely to deliver effective lessons and be able to repeat them/evaluate successfully. Perhaps we get a bit complacent after a while and don't like to be told that going back to some form of written planning could actually be quite valuable. Unlike some OFSTED requirements I think this is fairly sensible!

Obviously using IT makes life much easier and you can pull up various lessons whenever necessary. If your lesson planning is time consuming and not helpful then I think you've missed the point - poor kids!

Yes, I think commonsense has to come first-obviously a plan can't cater for what happens every 2 minutes-it's just a framework for working in. Personally I wouldn't like to rely on pupils never forgetting their notebooks, etc, also they don't all work on a notebook system-I only use it for those that will genuinally look in it and find it useful, otherwise it's a waste of time.

QUOTE (avg25 @ May 19 2005, 11:38 AM)

Obviously using IT makes life much easier and you can pull up various lessons whenever necessary. If your lesson planning is time consuming and not helpful then I think you've missed the point - poor kids!

Said teacher is 51, has been teaching for over half her life and using computers for maybe 2 years.... IT does NOT make things easier for her! (quite the reverse).But she is required to use a computer. Lesson planning is done in teaching pairs so how much time is spent on it is not entirely under her control. Obviously having a good idea of what is happening in any given year/term/month/week is good, but the amount of planning she is required to is quite ridiculous... they have meetings of an hour or two after school often, and then she has to come home and do marking etc - I don't know how she does it. Half the paperwork they are required to do is largely meaningless, gets put in a box and never looked at again... very frustrating for eveyone involved.

Friend of mine works in a play group for 3-4 year olds... even they have to do detailed plans and learning objectives... granted, some kids get far too little input from home, but the stuff they have to teach 3-4 year olds some of whom are just barely potty trained is insanity.

QUOTE (YetAnotherPianist @ May 19 2005, 11:13 AM)

It'll pass, don't worry - my experience, coming from a family of teachers, is that once people have been teaching for a while they don't write a formal lesson plan unless OFSTED are coming!

In addition to my 'proper' career as a pianistpiano teacher, I have held a number of part-time teaching posts. I always managed to join an institution just after an inspection and leave it just before the next one.

I wa caught out just once. That was the only occasion I ever had to produce written lesson plans.

Nearly killed me

Hmmm all very interesting. I am new to instrumental teaching ( started Jan 05) and therefore am finding my feet. However, I have been reading the music companion and also the guide to instrumental teaching. All my pupils are beginners, and I have asked them all to bring diaries to their lessons... changing to the trusty post-it when the book is repeatedly forgotten. Some pupils seem to really like the organised nature of eveything being written in their book, and looking back over what they have done and achieved. I also do the scribbled notes at the end of the lesson in a grid in my diary, this help me to remember promised pieces etc and is useful to look back on, especially for exercises... which have they done already, when did they last do it? etc.

However, I think perhaps the requirements for a beginner who is working through a carefully planned tutor book, and a more advanced pupil must be quite different... would you agree? I planned the first half term meticulously before I began teaching, but two lessons in found myself straying from it in order to follow each pupils needs. Surely a clear direction is necessary, but a rigid plan could be as inhibiting as useful?

QUOTE (annasnellgrove @ May 21 2005, 03:58 PM)

I planned the first half term meticulously before I began teaching, but two lessons in found myself straying from it in order to follow each pupils needs. Surely a clear direction is necessary, but a rigid plan could be as inhibiting as useful?

I have rarely planned a lesson that survived the first meeting with the student it was planned for. Any number of events can derail the plan for a private piano lessons.

I did not even plan too closely when teaching 'A' level music. This might sound daft to more enthusiastic planners, but the fact is that I knew the stuff the students had to learn. More realistically, groups were small, typically no larger than 6. I could do a detailed plan to introduce, say, fuge texture or serialism, only to find out that the entire group had, say, been on the razzle the night before and were fit for nothing, or that half the group were on a field trip.

I agree with Anna. It is the clear direction in the teacher's mind that is more important than individual lesson plans.

QUOTE (annasnellgrove @ May 21 2005, 03:58 PM)

Surely a clear direction is necessary, but a rigid plan could be as inhibiting as useful?

This is a very interesting debate. I think it's the phrase 'rigid plan' that's key. A plan has to be flexible to take account of individuals-that, to me, is the strength of having one to one lessons. In answer to Anna's question, I would say that the younger the student, the more activities I have planned for them-with older more advanced students, activities such as interpretation tend to unfold as you go along. Even so, personally I like to have a note of what I'm intending to cover in each lesson. As I've said before, it serves as a memory tool for me and is more practical than keeping everything in my head.

Hi Folks,

A pupil diary, (notebook) is useful so that the pupil and parents know what is expected for homework.

An individual 'pupil Year Plan' has worked well for me and a copy can be given to the pupil. I fill in a form that I devised myself covering,

Theory. (example, Grade ... this year)
Scales, (Complete all scales for grade ...)
Exercises, (depending on the pupil, this might be arpeggios or a book, hannon or czerny)
Sight reading, at the piano every week, grade... this year.
Aural or rhythm, Listening and answering questions in the Alfred book 'Great composers' with CD. This is great for GCSE and A level students.

Compulsory pieces. These pieces must be completed during the year to ensure that the technique required has been covered successfully.
(Example, Bach invention C major, Clementi sonatina No. 1 and 2. Jazz rags and Blues by Martha Meir book 2. 'Ten Dances' by Michael rose Assoc. Board pub'.

Books which may be required this year. festival and exam music not included
Harmonization at the keyboard. Dorothy Pilling, Great Composers Book, Alfred. Clementi Sonatinas. Bach two part Inventions, Jazz Rags and Blues, Theory for the Associated board exams and Practice test sheets for the grade.
Dates to remember. Exam dates, pupil concert date.festival date.

This has been very useful, and I can refer to my copy, different details for every pupil, of course, and generally keep to schedule. Sometimes we have to modify the progress but I can pinpoint any arrears that require extra attention and also the areas where progress is good.