Planning+and+Preparation

__**Planning and Preparation**__ My first year of substituting at Laurel Highlands was a whirlwind adventure. I was hired one week before school started and was needed to be at inservice the next day, meanwhile I had been currently living with my family close to two hours away. I was briefed on what the permanent teacher used as her lesson plans, and that was it- fifteen minutes in and out. Most of my first year, I felt like I flew by the seat of my pants, so I took the entire summer to take a close look at what I had done the previous year and what I was going to do differently the next year. Taking the time that I did really helped me to organize my year so I would not be as stressed as I was the first year. Now, I plan on doing the same for next year, and I will probably do the same every year- continuously tweak my yearly plan so that I can customize it to me.

Below, you will find two examples of how I plan my classes. The Theatre I year outline is the yearly plan that I wrote during the summer of 2010. I have it broken down into weeks or sections, but this year, I plan on attempting daily lessons now that I have a general idea of how long each project takes.

You will also find a calendar plan that I made for my chamber choir. I made this during the snowstorm of 2010. We had two straight weeks off, and I was panicking as that is seven plus hours of rehearsal that I had missed for the spring concert. We had a lot to get done in both of my choir classes in a short amount of time, so I carefully thought out how I would approach getting everything done. I made this calendar of sections to rehearse on what days, hoping that we would have time to review each section. The calendar was kept at my piano, and thinking back on it, I do not think I would have ever had a concert put together had it not been for these calendars I made.