Introduction to STP

Class Profile

- 9-12 Grade

- High School Mixed Choir

- We meet 45 minutes every day at the same time.

- Elective Class

Series of 3 Lessons

- The nature of these students is one to behold. The students in Shikellamy’s High School

Choir are disciplined, fun, and very talented. This ensemble is for everyone and everyone

who is there wants to be there. They are committed to making beautiful music and lasting

memories in the musical family they have created there.

- The students have been working on their concert for about two months prior to these

lessons I planned for them, so they know the majority of their music in and out at this

point.

- The main learning goals I have set for them are finishing up some learning/solidifying of

notes and rhythms and making stylistic changes.

- My students will mostly be performing since they are getting very close to their concert

and, but they are expected to keep each other accountable with in their sections and help

each other in a positive supportive way which is one way the students assess music being

made.
 LESSON PLAN 1

Teacher’s Name School

Thomas Yackiel Shikellamy High School

Class Date

Chorus/Choir Nov 13

Topic or Essential Question Standard(s)

It’s Beginning MU:Cr3.1.E.8a Evaluate and refine draft

compositions and improvisations based on
Seal Lullaby knowledge, skill, and collaboratively-developed
criteria.

Resources and Materials (including supplementary

and adapted)

Mrs. Rhinard at piano and music.

Objective/ Performance Indications.

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to sing the entirety of It’s Beginning To Look a lot
Like Christmas.
 Lesson Sequence

Choir

 Stretches/Warmups

Heide to warm up the lower range.

“Who who who” which works pitch onset.
Sirens warm up the higher range and it smoothens the register shifts.
 Run through It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas until it falls apart.
 Review what fell apart if it does.
 Go to pages 11 and 12.
o Learn the ending on page 12.
o Start with basses isolated and hit rhythm first and then notes. Once they are good,
they can sit.
o Teach tenor and alto together because they have the same moving lines. Rhythms
first. Run tenor and alto together.
o Add soprano on top and their rhythm is easy.
o Run all parts together a few times here starting at measure 47.
 What does “dim.” mean in the music?
o Answer: Gradually gets softer.
 What is the dynamic at the very end that we need to observe?
o Answer: Piano.

Mrs. Rhinard will then go over Seal Lullaby at the 8-minute bell.

Assessment

- T will ask students if they understand or if they feel solid on a certain section of music by
asking them to raise or lower their thumbs for yes, I understand or no I do not understand.
This lets me know if everyone is on the same page or if we need to stray from the plan and
focus on something else the students need.
- T will listen and respond to his students, constantly assessing them. This is my primary
strategy for assessments in my rehearsals as it allows me to fix problems, put out fires where
they need to be put out, and assist students before they even think to ask a question.
- T will use formative assessment asking questions about the music so that students can retain
and assess what the music needs to sound like.

My expectations for the rehearsal are set early in the semester. There is a routine set for every
rehearsal where students come in and get settled in the room and once the bell rings for class to
start, we all sing “D” on “Oooo”. Then we begin stretch and it is quiet from then on. I will allow
some very light chatter but as we get closer to the concert I will allow less and less.

All student accomplishments are as seen in the video.

Lesson Analysis:
- Students learned the last page of It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas, and this is

shown in the video. They began with speaking rhythm and then put the notes to it and it

came together really nicely.

- The only times I strayed from the lesson are when I was adding extra instructions, I

hadn’t planned on to supplement what we were working on.

- When monitoring student learning, I am constantly listening and assessing during the

rehearsal, and I respond accordingly. I also try to ask if the students would like to review

something or if they would like to go over a certain section one more time.
 LESSON PLAN 2

Teacher’s Name School

Thomas Yackiel Shikellamy High School

Class Date

Chorus/Choir Nov 15

Topic or Essential Question Standard(s)

Psallite MU:Cr3.1.E.8a Evaluate and refine draft

compositions and improvisations based on
Review knowledge, skill, and collaboratively-developed
criteria.

Resources and Materials (including

supplementary and adapted)

Mrs. Rhinard on Piano and Sheet Music

Objective/ Performance Indications.

The performance goal for this lesson is to make substantial progress on creating stylistic and
musical changes in Psallite.
 Lesson Sequence

Choir

 Stretch/Warmup

 Descending “Ooooo” to relax the voice.

 “Dum-Ba”
 “I love to sing” to practice arpeggios and octave jumps.
 Get out Psallite.
 Run through with good dynamics. A little faster than what we normally do.
 The louds need to be very loud, and the softs need to be very soft. Big Dynamic
contrast.
 The Latin section needs to be stately, joyous, and have lots of energy.
 Go back to the German section.
 Model for style and vowel shape.
 The German section style should be flowing, connected, and consist of taller vowels.
 First sopranos and altos at bottom of pg. 3
 Then Tenors and basses at pg. 4 and add sopranos and altos the same way at pg. 4.
 Run through the German section with stylistic changes.
 Model diction for the whole song. (Pronunciation!)
 First a couple phrases in Latin and then a couple phrases in German.
 Run through the song with pronounced diction and stylistic changes.
 Review It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and The Seal Lullaby.

Assessment

- T will ask students if they understand or if they feel solid on a certain section of music by
asking them to raise or lower their thumbs for yes, I understand or no I do not understand.
This lets me know if everyone is on the same page or if we need to stray from the plan and
focus on something else the students need.
- T will listen and respond to his students, constantly assessing them. This is my primary
strategy for assessments in my rehearsals as it allows me to fix problems, put out fires where
they need to be put out, and assist students before they even think to ask a question.

My expectations for the rehearsal are set early in the semester. There is a routine set for every
rehearsal where students come in and get settled in the room and once the bell rings for class to
start, we all sing “D” on “Oooo”. Then we begin stretch and it is quiet from then on. I will allow
some very light chatter but as we get closer to the concert I will allow less and less.

All student accomplishments are as seen in the video.

Lesson Analysis:
- Students learned the stylistic changes for Psallite in this lesson. They worked on diction,

dynamics, and the difference in style between joyous and excited and smooth and

connected. You can see this change happen over the course of the video, especially in the

final run through of Psallite.

- I didn’t stray too far from my lesson, and I will often respond to my students and stray

away, but the rehearsal went according to plan. It did not go in the exact order of my

lesson plan, but I got through everything according to plan.

- The best assessment in a rehearsal is constantly listening and responding which is going

to be the primary assessment tool in my STP but I will also stop to make sure students are

on the same page.

 LESSON PLAN 3

Teacher’s Name School

Thomas Yackiel Shikellamy High School

Class Date

Chorus/Choir Nov 29

Topic or Essential Question Standard(s)

Seal Lullaby MU:Cr3.1.E.8a Evaluate and refine draft

compositions and improvisations based on
Review knowledge, skill, and collaboratively-developed
criteria.

Resources and Materials (including

supplementary and adapted)

Mrs. Rhinard at piano and music

Objective/ Performance Indications.

Performance Goals for Choir are to fix the final chord in No Room, review, work on memorizing It’s
Beginning, and learning/solidifying the Pg 6 and 7 of Seal Lullaby.
 Lesson Sequence

Choir

 Stretch/Warmup
 Get out Seal Lullaby.
 Pg 6 Ooo’s
 Give pitches one at a time and then try a full run through for this section.
 Start with soprano and altos to solidify this section.
 Ask if anyone would like something isolated.
 Switch to tenor and bass and isolate.
 Make the solfege connection from what we did in warmup ups.
 Isolate and solidify where they need to be.
o Continue to do this until all sections are feeling more solid and try and fully run
through.
 No Room Final Chord
 Sing through a full song.
 Sopranos go sharp and push on the high note.
 Try Going over the note and landing on it.
 It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas review style and begin to work memorization.

Assessment

- T will ask students if they understand or if they feel solid on a certain section of music by
asking them to raise or lower their thumbs for yes, I understand or no I do not understand.
This lets me know if everyone is on the same page or if we need to stray from the plan and
focus on something else the students need.
- T will listen and respond to his students, constantly assessing them. This is my primary
strategy for assessments in my rehearsals as it allows me to fix problems, put out fires where
they need to be put out, and assist students before they even think to ask a question.

My expectations for the rehearsal are set early in the semester. There is a routine set for every
rehearsal where students come in and get settled in the room and once the bell rings for class to
start, we all sing “D” on “Oooo”. Then we begin stretch and it is quiet from then on. I will allow
some very light chatter but as we get closer to the concert I will allow less and less.

All student accomplishments are as seen in the video.

Lesson Analysis:
 - The video shows the students solidifying page 6 and page 7 in preparation for their

concert. Seal Lullaby is the hardest song they have in their concert rep, and it takes the

most work to perform it at their concert.

- I spent the whole class on Seal Lullaby, and I didn’t get to the end of my plan to work on

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas and No Room, No Room. I will just pick up

the next time I rehearse where we left off.

- When monitoring student learning, I am constantly listening and assessing during the

rehearsal, and I respond accordingly. I also try to ask if the students would like to review

something or if they would like to go over a certain section one more time.

Reflecting on Teaching and Learning:

- My musicianship is a breath of fresh air for many students just based off my voice. Their

teacher has a female voice, and she can’t always model as accurately as she may want to

for the tenor and bass voices but here voices doesn’t do what theirs does. My singing

helped the tenor and basses a lot this semester. More specifically my good ears helped

catch mistakes that helped them grow when we could fix it together. I also grew a lot as a

musician over the semester and I believe I was a symbol and example of growth since the

students got to see unfold. Not only across the semester but also in the videos. From the

first lesson to the third lesson had already improved in pacing, skill, and confidence.

- My classroom environment is lighthearted and happy. I take music seriously but what is

most important is making a positive music family where the students feel safe and

comfortable to make mistakes and be themselves. In music, the confidence that is

required to be open to making mistakes is a lot to ask of a high school student and I
 believe that a truly safe and comfortable environment are required for the most efficient

student learning.

- I would have liked to see more peer review assessment from my lessons. I really like the

idea of two sections listening to another section in the choir sing a part of a song and

write down two things they liked and one thing that is constructive. My pacing improved

a lot by the end of the lesion sequence; however I would focus on pacing a lot more if I

were to do a lesson sequence like this again.