MUED LESSON PLAN

Class: Men’s Ensemble

Grade/Level: 9-12
Unit Title/Musical Composition: Rest Not! by Laura Farnell

General Goal: Learning appropriate vowels for choral music.

Student Learning Outcome(s): The students will be able to identify, perform, and evaluate an [ɑ] vowel.

Standards:
PERFORMING—Anchor Standard 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

What academic and content-specific vocabulary will be introduced?

 Vowels

How can you use educational technology to enhance this lesson?

 Show a diagram of vowels
 Use the Elmo projector to model how I am editing my score.

Identify
 Musical Skills: Identifying an [ɑ] vowel.
 Musical Concept(s): Evaluating an [ɑ] vowel.
 Musical Actions (e.g. composing, improvising, performing, listening, etc.): Performing an [ɑ] vowel.

How will you assess student learning of skills, content and concepts taught in the lesson?
 I will assess the student learning through aural observation and through student feedback.

Where does the lesson fall in the unit?

 Middle

Prior Knowledge:
10 of the 14 students have been in choir the previous year and have been told to sing with choral vowels including on the [ɑ] vowel in the past. The
students know the surface level meaning of an [ɑ] vowel but have not fully learned how to identify, perform, and evaluate an [ɑ] vowel.

Learning Activities:
 Time Measures Issue/ Scaffolded Activities Check for Understanding
allocation Musical  Warm-up and/or Anticipatory Set  Beyond teacher observation
Element  Activities incorporating musical skills, concepts, and actions
 Include transitions where appropriate
5 min Warmups and I will start the day with various warmups that address
sight reading breathing, vocal warmups, ear warmups, and sight-reading
practice.

5-10 min Vowels I will define what a vowel is and how it is different in the I will check for understanding by asking
context of singing. the students for other examples of words
that have an [ɑ] vowel. I am checking that
One of the warmups will be a pentatonic scale on an [ɑ] the students can identify which words use
vowel. Here I will introduce them to the focus of the day: the [ɑ] vowel. (Teacher observation)
an [ɑ] vowel. I will take time to break down how to
perform a quality choral [ɑ] vowel. The students will self-evaluate by
listening to themselves singing the [ɑ]
Potential activities include: vowel. They will use my singing as a
 Sounds like “Father” (Aural) model to relate their singing to and
 Pretending to have a British accent evaluate themselves. (Self-evaluation)
(Aural/Kinesthetic)
 Compare it to the word “Abuela” in Spanish for
FS1 and the other Spanish speakers (Aural)
 Golf ball in your mouth (Kinesthetic)
 Vowel evolution (Aural)
 Feel the jaw bone (Kinesthetic)
 Showing a 2D model of the vowel (Visual)

4 min 62-69 Vowels I will write out the lyrics of the section on the board. The
students will go through each word and identify which
ones have the [ɑ] vowel while singing. I will then have
them write “Aw” above each of these words in their
music.
I will also have them use their [ɑ] hand sign every time
they have an [ɑ] vowel to help them identify the correct
words. (Kinesthetic)
(Here I will accommodate for FS2 by instructing him to
use a similar movement that requires less motion. I will
I will check for understanding by asking
the students which words from the lyrics
of the song will have an [ɑ] vowel while
singing. I am checking again that the
students can identify which words use an
[ɑ] vowel. (Teacher observation)
I will also check for understanding by
looking through the students’ music to see
if they put “Aw” over the correct words.
 work with him to find a movement that he is comfortable
using. We will work this out before the lesson begins so
that he can fully participate during the lesson.)

6-8 min 62-69 Vowels I will model the section on the tenor part and then have
the tenors perform it. I will stop on each [ɑ] vowel and
correct them as needed. Then I will model the section on
the bass part and then have the basses perform it. I will
then have them perform it together.
I will have each section run measures 62-69 and have the
other section give them feedback on how they did. (See
assessment to the right)
I will ask the listening section to evaluate
the singing section’s vowels on a scale of
1-5. I will follow this up by asking
specific students to provide examples to
support their critique. I will be listening
for quality critiques about the singers [ɑ]
vowel. (Peer evaluation and Teacher
observation)

4 min 62-86 Vowels We will then run from m.62 to the end of the piece while I will check for understanding by asking
still focusing on vowels. This will be a closure activity the students to hold up 1-5 rating how well
that allows them to take what they learned in the previous they did. (Self-evaluation and Teacher
section and apply it to the rest of the song. observation)

If there are many students that rate themselves at a 5, I can

ask them to sing in a small group for the class.

What assessments will be used to check for comprehension—informal assessment, student self-assessment that leads to change, performance task
(e.g., checklist, rating scale, rubric written assessment)?
 Student self-assessment, peer evaluation, performance task, teacher observation

What higher-order thinking questions will you ask to engage students in analysis and discussion?
 What is a specific example of a vowel your peers sang well? An example they did not do well on?
 What about their singing made you rate them a __ out of 5?
 What is a way the other section could do that better?

Extension Activity/Closure (beyond thanking the students):

 We will then run from m.62 to the end of the piece while still focusing on vowels. This will be a closure activity that allows them to take
what they learned in the previous section and apply it to the rest of the song.

Required Materials:
 Rest Not! By Laura Farnell