UNIT

PLAN OVERVIEW

Name: Kendra Walters
School/Mentor Name: North Pointe Christian Schools, Mrs. Lisa Spangler
Grade/Subject: High School Choir
General Topic: Choral Habits

Context:
From what I can tell, the students have not always had good choral habits drilled
into their minds so I want to remind them of the different aspects of choral singing
that should be a part of their daily rehearsals. Using the warm-ups and teachings,
the goal is to transfer what theyre learning into a piece of music which will in turn
help them understand the importance of each of these different habits and will
hopefully carry them into their other repertoire. They will also have a concert in
May where I plan on conducting this piece so it will be a good way to prepare the
song in a very thoughtful way.

Objectives:

Cognitive Objectives
In my specific unit plan, I think that the two most important aspects are to
understand and apply. I want to teach them about theory, history, breath support,
tone, vowel shape, expression, phrasing, etc. in hopes that they will apply all of these
aspects into a certain piece of music. Yet while the application is the most important
on the outside, its almost more important to me that they understand the
importance of all of these things in choral music and analyze them in other choirs
and in themselves. So while I hope that they will learn these concepts to apply to a
song, I mostly want them understand their importance in general in the hope that
they will create habits that they can use in other pieces.

Psychomotor Objectives
While I only have five lessons, I hope to create life-long singing habits that they can
use for other pieces as well. I plan on teaching them about breath support, posture,
and vowel shapeall which use the physical body. After using drills that will
promote these ideas in warm-ups, they will develop these skills to be able to use
them in other repertoire as well.

Socio-Emotional Objectives
Music/choir is a tricky subject to teach because there are students who absolutely
love this stuff and students who dont want to be here at all and have close to zero
motivation. In my particular unit, I think that teaching the importance of choral
singing to students who dont care about choir will definitely be a challenge. But by
the end of my unit, I hope that I can at least get them thinking and wrestling with the
idea of choral excellence and why it may be important.

Content Standards:
-Sing music written in four parts, with and without accompaniment.
-Demonstrate extensive knowledge and use of the technical vocabulary of music.
-Analyze aural examples of a varied repertoire of music, representing diverse genres
and cultures, by describing the uses of elements of music and expressive devices.
-Identify and explain compositional devices and techniques and their purposes,
giving examples of other works that make similar uses of these devices and
techniques.
-Explain how elements, artistic processes, and organizational principles are used in
similar and distinctive ways in the various arts and cite examples.
-Explain ways in which the principles and subject matter of various disciplines
outside the arts are interrelated with those of music.
(From Michigan Merit CurriculumVisual Arts, Music, Dance, and Theater)


Assessment:
-If all goes well, by the last day I hope to put them in small groups of 12 so there are
three to a part, then have them sing the piece in front of the class, putting all of the
things we talked about into practice. This will be something that I will tell them
about on the first day so that they can rehearse beforehandit will not be like a pop
quiz. I also might take a video of them singing the piece on the first day and on the
last day and have them write a short reflection/comparison of the two, using the
terms talked about in class.


5 Lesson Plan Topics:
1. History and interpretation of the song
2. Breath support, posture, tone
3. Vowel shape, blending
4. Dynamics, Expression, phrasing
5. Culmination, smart singing, reflection/comparison
(General daily schedule: I plan on starting each class with a warm-up that will both
remind them of what we worked on the day before and prepare them for what we
will work on that day, give a short explanation of the choral habit, put that into
practice through drills, then try it out in the song.)