Experienced teachers often develop a natural sense of activity sequence. They can identify the most fundamental aspect of an objective and build a logical progression of activities from that. They often make it look easy; however, good sequencing requires not only knowledge of the objective, but also knowledge of students, potential pitfalls, and an ability to break down tasks that seem natural for trained musicians into smaller and more easily managed steps. Pre-service teachers working through intense music programs can easily forget the many small learning moments over their years of music engagement that led to their musical abilities and conceptual understanding. Leading less experienced students to that same understanding requires teachers to break down their own internalized tasks and knowledge into their component parts. For some special needs students or classes, this might even require procedures to begin with finding the room, knowing where to place book bags, opening lockers and cases, and a host of other minute behaviors that need to occur before the musical lesson even begins! One can certainly go overboard with such details and lose the forest through the trees, but planning as a pre-service teacher requires such thinking and experimentation to find what works and to build habits of mind necessary for effective teaching. Better preparation will lead to better instruction and better learning—the purpose of education.
The procedures section of a lesson plan should present a logical sequence of activities that leads to the completion of a given objective. These procedures should contain enough detail that an administrator or substitute teacher could easily follow and even teach the lesson if necessary.