Jacob R. Leonowitz
Musician, Educator, Music Educator
Duquesne University, B.S. Music Education, Class of 2016
Twin Valley High School, Class of 2012
EDUCATOR
In the next few subpages you will find my written work as a future educator. Feel free to read my reflections thereof, read the descriptions of each item, and/or view the documents themselves!
The two subpages of lesson plans include small descriptions as to what each individual document entails, but herin are some general reflections on my experiences with lesson planning. Throughout my time at Duquesne, I have had the opportunity to produce lesson plans in various formats and for various different teaching situations, the plans typically leading up to "teaching demonstrations" with my peers standing in as the students. Some lesson plans have been for ensembles, some for general music classes; some have been for vocal music, some for instrumental; some have been written as single lessons for one class period, some as outlines for several days of instruction leading into one another. In addition, formats vary quite a bit. Some of the lesson plans, particularly those for Primary General Music and Elementary General Music, were required to be very extensive by the professor who solicited them - they include the appropriate National and (sometimes) State Standards for music education, goals, objectives, concepts, previous learnings statements, procedures for the lessons, future learning statements, materials needed, and small statements on accommodations for students with special needs. The required format for the Strings/Orchestra lesson plans was very interesting to work with and helped me to think in terms of every learning experience having a review, a focus, and preparation for the next step to be covered in the future. In the lessons plans written with inclusive strategies for those with special needs, one will find an interesting landscape format which helped me to think in an organized and linear fashion. For some of the lesson plans, particularly the ones for Band and High School Choral ensembles, I was free of a required format, but still always wrote objectives and a procedure. In any case, however, because of my varied experiences with lesson planning at Duquesne, I will have an easier time adapting to whatever lesson plan formats are required of me in the field!
One area of lesson planning in which I have developed a great deal is understanding how much I truly have to write. When I first started out, my lesson plans were far too long. The "Primary Lesson Plan" on the first subpage is 7 pages long (including a reflection on the associated teaching demonstration written later) and meant to result in 10 minutes of teaching. I realized how long it was following the teaching, and was torn. I felt that my writing everything out in detail resulted in better teaching, but on the other hand, continuing to write lesson plans in such a manner would have resulted in lesson planning becoming my entire life! I resolved that this was something I would have to experiment with as time went on. My lesson plans for Band and High School Choral ensembles came later, and are much less extensive, mostly because I was not locked into a specific format and therefore felt more free to experiment with the way I was lesson planning and write less. While I'll admit there were a few moments during those associated teaching demonstrations when I was not quite sure where to go next and wished I had planned a little more extensively, I found that teaching without having had planned so much helped me to better think on my feet and respond to the students in the moment. I felt that with the pinnacle of my lesson planning experiences in Advanced Vocal/Choral Methods (the course associated with the High School Choral lesson plans), the "Clinical High School Teaching Session," I found a good balance. This plan is long (again, 7 pages), but it is not just for 10 minutes of instruction. This plan breaks down the teaching of an entire piece, from sight-reading to performance-readiness. Each individual step is not scripted or written out in excessive detail. I wrote just enough for each step to remind me of what I had to do, or to show an observer what I was doing. Sometimes, it is implied that I am accomplishing a step in much the same fashion as I accomplished a previous one - it just does not all have to be written out again. I did not experience any moments, when I executed the associated teaching demonstration in an area high school, where I felt as though I should have planned more. Yes, I only taught part of it as indicated in the plan, but I felt amply prepared as per my preparations and practice. I will be continuing to try to settle into the right balance for lesson planning in the field.
These documents are examples of documents a teacher would produce falling beyond the scope of pedagogy. They are more organizational and professional than pedagogical. Parental communication is something that many pre-service teachers may not think about, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to do so in my time at Duquesne. Building good relationships with parents will come in handy when one is looking for ways to advocate and fundraise for their music program(s). Writing this letter was a great exercise in making information accessible not just to someone who reads in detail and with the same vocabulary that I have, but to all people, including those who will simply skim the letter. It was helpful to realize what a sciene conveying information to large groups of people really is, and I am glad that I will have this letter for future adaptation. I feel similarly about the concert program, which was written with a similar element of accessibility for all readers in mind. With that assignment, I was happy with the way I utilized the space. The assignment involved not only a concert listing, but also an advocacy statement and thank-you's to parents, administration, faculty, and staff. I decided to utilize the space efficiently and accomplish all of those things with one large statement addressing attendees to the concert. Using time, space, and resources to accomplish multiple tasks at once like this will be key in the field.
Although the rubric is a mode of assessment and very different from a parent letter or concert program, I managed to write it in such a way where it gets to the heart of the same tactic - accomplishing many things in one fell swoop. It is written with one song in mind for one instrument, but it can easily be adapted according to different songs, different instruments, different grade levels, and even different formats set forth or required by a given district, when applicable. Having such a versatile assessment tool will save me time and energy in the future, as will all of the work in this section!
On this page are multiple other documents created for various purposes. Each of these projects/documents was important in my preparation for the field in its own way - check out the small descriptions under each item for further reflection!