Master List of Projects
Found in: Forms & Organization, Time Management
Colleen B.
I’m finding I’m sporadic in assigning projects in all the streams, and in an effort to be more consistent I am trying to plan differently.
For my lesson plans/tracking I’m going to use the columns idea someone shared recently with Date, Foundation, Accompaniment, Improv and Composition, and eventually Jazz across the top. And then listing the plan for each lesson divided this way. Anything we don’t get to in the lesson, I’m just mark an arrow to remind myself to cover it the next week and a checkmark for everything we did.
This will hopefully maximize my time in lesson planning and keeping track of where we are in each class.
Additionally, I’m in the process of creating a master list of projects. I am compiling from ideas shared on this forum and from the training materials. I’m hoping to make it sequential within each stream. So far, for the Foundation column I’ve got ‘Ways to change a song’ ideas as well as the variations. There was a great timing suggestion list for Foundation 1 – I think it came with the playlist teacher training. As a new teacher this was really helpful!
I need some help with improv ideas. I’ve got the ones Neil suggests in the training but what other projects do you use consistently with good results in this stream?
I’d hate to create the wheel so to speak, so if someone has master list like this already, would you share it?
Leeanne I., Australia
Hi Colleen,
I’ve done up a list like you have and called it Rough Teaching Order Guide. I’m really only using it as a reminder to myself to ensure I don’t miss anything.
What I’ve learnt as a teacher is to be flexible. I do up a lesson plan for each class but sometimes that just goes out the window. I had an adult student this morning and we spent most of the lesson talking. I asked her at the beginning of the lesson how her practice went this week and she told me she was in tears at the piano every night. This was more important to manage that what I had planned to teach her. She was so glad that I was willing to take the time to listen to what she had to say and address her concerns. She left the lesson much more confident in what she is doing.
Also, make sure your student is ready for each stream or song you introduce, still giving them that sense of victory with everything they do. My student this morning started Accompaniment recently and feels she is not getting it. My lesson plan today was to teach her the triangle shaped chords. As she is not confident with C, F & G, I decided to postpone this until I feel she is ready. So we did Improv instead!
I did a Comp & Improv workshop in Perth this year, here’s some of the ideas they gave us:
- Using the Pentatonic scale – call and response. The teacher plays a pattern and the student ‘responds’ to that pattern playing something.
- Also on the Pentatonic, play a feeling, action or idea. Happy, sad, storm, rain shower, thunder, lightning.
- Use a known LH from a Foundation piece and play a different RH.
You can do numerous things with existing pieces, changing the rhythm, the speed, play in a different spot on the piano, like playing Dreams Come True up one white note. What would it sound like up two white notes?
Rebecca P.
I also have a ‘master list’ of projects to keep track. It’s basically a series of columns.
The first one lists all of the foundation pieces running down in order. The next columns are: Comp/Improv, Arrangements, Accompaniment and Reading. I list all of the elements of each program on a separate line so that they vaguely line up with where I want to introduce them along with Foundation.
I print out this table for every student and place it behind their lesson plan page in a plastic pocket in my teaching folder. I highlight projects on this master list when they are done. It doesn’t matter at all if the projects do not line up perfectly horizontally, I just keep track of where I am at with each student in each program and it makes planning for the following week easy – just see where you’re at with any given program by scanning down to where you have highlighted up to.
Joan H., Canada
Thanks Rebecca – I recall a teacher sharing a tool similar to what you’ve described (or maybe it was you!) which includes 4 columns: Foundation (up to F3 are listed), Variations, Arrangements and Accompaniment. I’ve used this ever since, printing a copy for each class and highlighting progress in the various streams. However now have classes that are beyond F3, and what this chart includes.
What you describe sounds more comprehensive, and wondering if you would consider sharing this tool?
Sandra B., California
I’m a very new teacher with about 4 or so new students. I taught traditionally for 20 years and I’m a mediocre piano player…but LOVE music, play bass, do accompaniment things fine. So, being in the first year I’m a bit overwhelmed…
I know how to teach the songs but I’m not sure when to add new things, like improv or arrangements etc. I even get a tad lost reading posts because I don’t know what all the abbreviations are. There are a lot of things to read and listen to but that is truly very time consuming if I were to do it all the time. Can you steer me in the right direction or give me ideas of how you did these things in your first year. I love the ideas of your lists because I could see how you are introducing thing.
Rebecca G., Colorado
Hi Sandra –
Yes, your first year of teaching can be pretty overwhelming, so just know that where you are is very normal. My best advice is to trust that everything will unfold with time and the longer you teach, the better you’ll get at discerning what to deliver when. This next part may sound obvious, but it’s important to send yourself through each of the streams as piano playing exercises (not just listening to the videos as a teacher) before you start trying to teach them to your students – this will help you begin to discern/intuit what else you might try and teach in a lesson besides just a foundation piece.
So start learning some of the variations at the end of the Foundation videos and then a couple of arrangements in Arrangements 1 and see what the experience is like for you. You’ll also want to start improvising and composing as part of your own practice time if you’re not doing that already – that, along with the training videos, will help you get ideas about how to get your students composing and improvising very early on in their lessons.
All the best to you, and keep reaching out on the forums as you find it helpful – we’re here to support you (but don’t worry about reading all the posts and get overwhelmed by that!)
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
Be sure to check out the wonderful resources in the Curriculum Support area of the teacher intranet as well!
Cheri S., Utah
I do something like Rebecca Perry described, using google docs on an android tablet. I’ve only been teaching for 3 years, up to Foundation 6, and my “Master List” is under constant revision. But it does help me track what each class has learned, plan what they might be ready to learn next, and balance all the streams.