GIA Publications

Writing Objectives, Assessments, and Lesson Plans to Engage Artistic Processes

Authors: Frank Abrahams, Ryan John

"Our aim is to help all music teachers maintain the joy of making music on a daily basis with children who are eager to engage with them, . . . adding value to each of their lives."
-Frank Abrahams and Ryan John

This handbook is designed to help music educators develop effective objectives, lesson plans, and assessments for their students, forming the backbone of successful classroom, instrumental, and choral instruction.
Taking advantage of current best practices and at the same time meeting today's requirements and mandates, Planning Instruction in Music contains sample objectives, assessment ideas, and lesson plan templates designed to show meaningful instruction in action.

Music educators will be able to easily adapt the resources in the handbook to their own classrooms. In Part One, authors Frank Abrahams and Ryan John provide a clearly written, practical framework and at the same time keep focus on the joy of music making. In Part Two, they present sample objectives that connect to broad concepts about rhythm, melody, harmony, form, timbre, and meaning. Sample lesson and rehearsal plans by nineteen experienced teachers comprise Part Three. The result is a hands-on resource that provides music educators with more accountability to administrators in addition to the satisfaction that comes from helping students achieve meaningful learning in music.

Frank Abrahams is Professor of Music Education at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. Ryan John is on the faculty at the prestigious Lman Manhattan Preparatory School in New York City, where he teaches the 6th12th grade choirs, beginning band, and instrumental group lessons.