9 Summer Lesson Planning Tips for Exhausted Elementary Music Teachers
Elementary music teachers NEED a summer break. Plan your summer to arrive rested, motivated, and ready to go when school resumes. Take a peek at these key summer lesson planning tips.
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I remember this like it was yesterday. . . .
We couldn’t even celebrate the last day of school. My exhausted kids and I fell onto the couch when we got home. We were sick. The busy demands of the end-of-the-year schedule paired with a mild case of Fifth Disease had wiped us out.
I know you feel that same deep-down exhaustion, especially with the growing demands and challenges of teaching. When you’re ready, take a little time to outline and plan your lessons for the upcoming school year. This will help your upcoming school year go much smoother and save you time during the year. You will be a more efficient, effective, and happier elementary music teacher.
Bookmark and share this post. Then, once you are rested, see the tips below to prepare for your best school year yet!
Schedule Time Off
Schedule at LEAST two weeks off! Write these dates into your calendar and stick to it. During this time, refrain from any school-related activities including lesson planning, professional development, online classes, checking emails, etc. Set up an auto-respond message on your email to let others know when you’ll be back online.
My favorite times to go on “vacation” are right after school gets out and right before classes resume. It has been easier for me to schedule my time off immediately after school gets out. Mental and physical exhaustion necessitates it.
Leave room for flex time in your summer schedule. Every day should not be completely planned out. That’s part of the fun. Block in the big items, then enjoy your family and friends and see what develops. Be spontaneous.
Motivating Professional Development
Sign up for at least one workshop or online webinar that you WANT to take. Make sure it’s an activity that gets you excited about teaching again in the fall.
- Read a music education book that you have been wanting to read.
- Listen to music ed podcasts.
- Check out the Orff and Kodály worshops in your area.
Professional development can take many different forms.
“At-a-Glance” Yearly Elementary Music Curriculum Chart
School districts often have music curriculum documents that are hard to use. They may be vague and offer little direction for music teachers or be very wordy and hard to wade through.
Creating a simplified outline of music literacy skills learned at each grade level helps to keep your lessons sequential and targeted.
Need some FREE editable planning charts to get started? Subscribe to my email list and pick up these editable FREE Elementary Music Yearly Planning Charts.
Create a Monthly Music Lesson Plan Framework
Once you have yearly planning plan, the next step is to develop a more detailed monthly scope and sequence. Building a scope and sequence from scratch is a time-consuming task.
These K-5 Monthly Music Literacy Scope and Sequence Planning Charts include a suggested scope and sequence. They’re 100% editable which makes it easy to modify each chart to match your school schedule, curriculum, and the skill levels of your students.
A monthly plan that follows a logical sequence through curriculum objectives can help you teach all the necessary concepts while still maintaining flexibility. It’s important to create a realistic plan that allows enough time for comprehensive teaching and practice of music elements.
Once you have your master plans in place, creating your detailed weekly and daily lesson plans during the school year will be much easier. You’ll reduce the “lesson plan fatigue.”
Analyze Your Music Curriculum and Past Lesson Plans
Take a little time to reflect on your lesson plans from the past couple of years. When you create your plans for the upcoming year you may need to make some adjustments.
Think back to your past lessons and identify what worked well. Create a bank of successful lessons and resources so that you don’t overlook them in the future. If you have space, list (or hyperlink) them directly into your monthly Scope and Sequence Charts.
Revise Lessons That Need Improvement
Identify lessons that have NOT gone well in the past. Brainstorm ways to modify or enhance those lessons. Or, look for alternative lessons, resources, and activities to teach and reinforce those same concepts in a new way. Add these new resources and activities to your lesson bank for future use.
Plan for Ways to Be More Efficient
Did you have music curriculum objectives you didn’t cover because you ran out of time? Plan ways to maximize your classroom efficiency. Take a peek at this post with actionable tips to Talk Less and Teach More Music.
Next, look for multitasking songs and music lessons. Almost all songs may be used to teach more than one concept. Circling back and revisiting a song students already know (with a different focus) saves time. It also helps students develop a solid repertoire of songs and become independent singers.
Need help to find songs and activities that teach specific music elements? Take a peek at this FREE Elementary Music Literacy Resource Guide. The detailed “at-a-glance” index of music elements makes it easy to find the perfect activities to teach each music element. This guide includes both free and paid resources to help you enhance your elementary music lessons.
Design “Add-On” Music Lesson Plans
Just because you taught a “one and done” lesson that covered a curriculum objective does not mean your students have mastered or learned that concept. Music lessons should be comprehensive and repeated many times. But that doesn’t mean boring!
“Add on” new activities or take a different focus to help expand the lesson and keep it fresh.
- Game
- Orff Instruments
- Create a “B Section” to Expand the Song
- Improvise on the melody
- Dynamics changes
- Change Articulations
Add-on elements allow for repetition that holds students’ interest and cements learning.
Prepping for the Start of a New School Year
Keep it simple. Put hard and fast parameters on the amount of time you devote to prepping your classroom and lesson plans for the first day of school. Your workload can expand exponentially if you allow it to. Design simple, effective, comprehensive lessons and consider it done.
Strategic summer lesson planning can help you better manage the back-to-school rush. Work efficiently and do your best. This is all anyone can ask. Afterward, take a few extra days to relax and enjoy before the school year starts.
Conclusion
Protect yourself from exhaustion and burnout and plan your summer break so that you are rested, inspired, and ready to start the new year. Then, when school resumes in the fall you’ll be able to bring your best self to the classroom and make the coming year more relaxed and enjoyable for both you and your students.
💡 Remember to subscribe to our helpful elementary music teacher email list and get these Editable Elementary Music Yearly Planning Charts sent directly to your inbox. Then, watch your email for more freebies, helpful blog posts, ideas, tips, and techniques.
Hope to see you soon!
Meet the Author
Terri Lloyd is an experienced music educator with over 25 years of teaching in elementary music classrooms. She holds a Master’s in Education, an Instructional Technology Certificate in Curriculum Design, and a Bachelor of Music. Her resources are designed to help music teachers develop students’ music literacy and performance skills while enjoying learning.
She presents music education workshops, develops curriculum, and writes for her blog. Terri is on the music staff at her church and leads a children’s program. She performs as an active community musician with a local Big Band, pit orchestras, and at various events.
More Summer Music Teacher Tips
- Monthly Music Literacy Scope and Sequence Planning Charts
- FREE Elementary Music Literacy Resource Guide
- 3 Simple Steps to Develop Independent Music Readers