I started doing self-paced recorder units in elementary music a couple of years ago when I was tired of how I was teaching recorders. Honestly, recorders weren’t my favorite unit until I started doing it in a self-paced way! You can read about the multiple ways I’ve taught recorders (plus pros and cons of each) here.
Self-paced recorder units have changed the game in my elementary music class though! My students, admin, and I all love this unit for different reasons. When I first went about creating my own unit, though, there wasn’t much out there about how to go about it in an elementary music room. We’re going to talk about the benefits, what you might cover, and how you might cover the concepts.
Be sure to grab your free guide to creating your own self-paced recorder unit. It will walk you through the six steps I took to creating my own unit- I wish I had had this when I first started creating my own self-paced recorder unit!
Or, if you want to see a done-for-you version, you can check out the self-paced Jewel Hunt unit that I use in own classroom here.
Benefits of Self-Paced Units
I’ll be honest, and you probably have already figured this out, but putting together a self-paced unit for your students is a lot of work upfront. At least, it is the first year. You have to be at least one step ahead of your students, which means that the activities you plan on them creating need to be done ahead of time. The great thing about it though is that after the first year it’s so much easier because everything is done!
So why do a self-paced unit at all? Well, here are some benefits for students:
- It teaches time management
- Students who want to move ahead can while students who need more time can take it
- It allows students to achieve mastery at their own pace
- It helps students feel responsible for their learning
- Students feel accomplished when they complete it and have mastered the concepts
- You can give personalized feedback to students
- Concepts are in smaller, manageable chunks
- Time flies when you’re having fun! (and when you’re doing multiple activities for one bigger assignment)
What Concepts Can Be in Your Self-Paced Unit
What I love about self-paced units is that you can cover so many topics! One of the things I didn’t like about teaching whole-group recorder lessons was that I felt like I could only cover playing the recorder and the theory that went along with it. However, with a self-paced unit, I could cover so much more in bite-size chunks! Plus, I could get assessments while also listening to students play.
You could cover the following topics in your self-paced recorder unit:
- Composers
- Composing
- Listening
- Music Vocabulary (tempo, dynamics, articulation, etc.)
- Note Names
- Rhythm
What Activities Go in a Self-Paced Unit?
Just like you could cover a multitude of topics in your unit, there are so many activities you could have students do for these topics. Part of what you’ll need to think about is how much you want to be self-assessing vs you checking. I prefer to have most of the activities be self-assessing, which does limit the activities I can do a bit, but it allows me more time to listen to students play rather than checking over students’ work.
Here are a few ideas for activities:
- Google Forms (great for self-assessments!)
- Google Slides
- PDFs
- Physical manipulatives (you’ll just need to make sure you have enough for several students to be doing the same activity at once)
- Taking pictures or videos of work (this could be done in your learning management system or a site like SeeSaw)
Creating Your Own Self-Paced Unit
If you’re looking to create your own self-paced recorder unit but aren’t sure quite how to get started, I have a free guide for you! It will walk you through the process that I went through to create my own unit that my students and I love! You can get that guide here.
If you’re looking for a little extra guidance in creating your own unit, I have a workshop for exactly how to plan, create, and teach your own self-paced recorder unit. Each of the modules will have bite-sized videos to help you move forward while keeping in mind your busy schedule. Plus, you have access for one year after purchase! With your purchase, you’ll get a workbook to keep you organized and activity templates to save you time during the creation process.
This is the perfect workshop for you if you want to create a self-paced recorder unit that fits your classroom exactly but you want the roadmap from someone who has already done it before. You can check out the workshop here.
If You don’t want to create your own…
I have clearly fallen in love with creating my own self-paced units. However, if you aren’t up to the idea of creating your own unit, you can check out my recorder self-paced unit! I love this unit because it’s based on a video game-type format. Students will complete quests (the self-paced activities) they have to complete in order to do the boss level (the recorder playing test.) Everything you need is already done for you- your only prep includes printing materials out and importing it all into your learning management system. Check it out here!
