Watch Video 2a. Notice how it:

• enables pupils to hear, see and discuss something of the original context, but also elicits from pupils their understanding of the context and conventions of samba music. This enables pupils to share and develop their personal perspective of the music and its context;
• articulates the learning for the unit against the context. This means that pupils will be able to locate all the learning that follows within a clear framework;
• engages pupils in a context-relevant, practical experience of the style.

Now consider the next unit you will be teaching from your Key Stage 3 scheme of work.

How does it suggest that you start the first lesson in a new sequence or topic?

For example, you might start by identifying the characteristics of a style by modelling it with a live demonstration, performing a simple instrumental arrangement, using video examples to lead pupils to an understanding of the music’s purpose?

How well does the activity work?

Does it enable pupils to engage with the original context of the music, and recognise how this is relevant to their own personal experiences?

Does it enable pupils to get a musical sense of the style, genre or tradition?

If it is not already clear in the planning, devise a new way of engaging pupils in:

• the cultural context of the style, genre or tradition they will be exploring (e.g. by teaching the class a simple folk dance before exploring the conventions of folk music);
• the essential features of the music (e.g. by having the pupils learn a song and perform it with three styles of backing track before exploring the conventions of pop ballads in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s).

Development

Try the new ideas out when you next teach the unit and evaluate their effectiveness.

Choose a lesson you are about to teach.

Identify where the pupils have reached in their learning and what the next steps of learning will be.

Devise a way of introducing the lesson so that the pupils are clear about:

• what they need to learn (the learning objective and intended learning outcomes);
• how this relates to the overall learning in the unit of work.

Ask a colleague to attend the lesson. Once the pupils are engaged in the main learning of the lesson, the colleague should ask them the following questions:

• What are you learning to do through this activity?
• How will this help you to learn about the conventions of … (the style, genre or tradition being explored)?

The pupils should be able to answer either by talking about their work, or by demonstrating the answer musically.

Discuss the results with your colleague afterwards. If the pupils could not see how the learning related to the wider context, try to devise an alternative start to the lesson to use with another class, and see if it is more successful.

Review two lessons you will be teaching in the next few days. Have you identified a maximum of three objectives you plan to share with pupils? Are they precise enough? Refine them by categorising them into one of the five sets of learning objectives.

You may find it helpful to use stems such as ‘During this lesson you (pupils) will develop your (their) …’ plus:

• Knowledge by learning how ... (for factual information – how chromatic scale patterns are constructed, or how the bass clef works, etc);
• Understanding by learning how … (for understanding – how the conventions, processes and devices of musical styles, genres and traditions work);
• Skills by learning how … (for skills – how to control instrument-specific techniques, develop and extend ideas, compare pieces of music, analyse information and learn to use it in music making, etc.);
• Awareness and values by learning how … (for attitudes and perspectives – how to develop understanding of cultural contexts, the roles and functions of music and musicians in society, the purpose of music, etc.);
• Creativity and thinking by learning how … (for personal growth – how to identify issues, explore creative processes and suggest alternative solutions to artistic problems when undertaking practical musical activities).

Notice that you are not just defining what pupils are to learn: using ‘how’ as a key word in the objective also indicates the process of learning that will be addressed.

Pedagogy and practice: teaching and learning in secondary schools, Unit 1: Structuring Learning (DCSF 0445-2004 GDVD) (Task 3, page 7) suggests some alternative stems that you might find useful.

You might also want to see Document 2a  63kb as an example of the way that the stems have been used by a teacher within a unit of work on the conventions of samba. The first page is a grid showing the full sequence of learning for the unit, and shows learning objectives for each stage of the sequence which have been defined by the stems above. The ensuing pages show how the stems have been copied into the individual lesson plans that follow.

For the same two lessons you looked at in Task 3, decide what outcomes you want from pupils.

You will want to explain and model to pupils what you expect from them as a high-quality outcome of each lesson.

Have you defined the outcomes clearly, with a range of qualities described?

How do you plan to explain them to pupils?

You may find it helpful to use stems such as those in bold here.

• What I am looking for is a confident, fluent performance of this gospel song by your group. You will convey a sense of joy and excitement, with a gradual build-up towards an excited conclusion. You will each be able to sing your own line together with one other person, and hold the part against the others. The style and tone of your singing will reflect the gospel style we rehearsed.
• What I expect from everyone is a final piece of music that would work for an advert. A satisfactory example will reflect the product’s selling point, by using an appropriate scale pattern to create an evocative melodic line, effective use of sound effects and chord sequences or chord clusters and some development of a melodic or rhythmic motif to try and bind the piece together.
• To be successful your group will have identified five key features of classical Indian music – one each from the categories instruments, rhythms, structures, mood and one other issue of your choice. Each group member should choose a different example and be prepared to explain it. Groups will have 10 minutes to give their explanations.
• The best work will show how you have created your own version of the reggae style by developing a distinctive rhythmic interplay between the bass and chords, and creating a chord sequence that imaginatively explores the tension between major and minor chords.

These relate to different musical examples so it is important to note the different expectations. Are yours similarly defined with increasing demand and quality?

Watch Video sequences 2b and 2c, taken from Pedagogy and practice: teaching and learning in secondary schools, Unit 1: Structuring learning (DCSF 0445-2004 GDVD) which show the introductions to two lessons. Note how the teachers share the purpose with pupils and indicate what outcomes they expect.

Now reflect on your own introductions to lessons: How do you communicate your learning objectives and expectations to pupils? Are they communicated exclusively through language, or do you demonstrate musically? How can definitions of expectation be made more musical in your lessons without losing clarity of focus on the learning objectives and outcomes?

Now share the learning objectives and outcomes you developed in Tasks 3 and 4 in the lessons for which they were written.

Rather than asking ‘Does everyone understand?’ choose individual pupils to explain again or demonstrate musically to the class the objectives and the intended outcomes so that you can see at once where any misunderstandings lie.

Another way to find out whether your instructions are clear is to ask questions of pupils while they are working: ‘Can you remind me of what we are trying to do?’ or ‘Why are we doing this?’ or ‘What do you have to do to demonstrate very good learning?’

Watch Video sequence 2d taken from Pedagogy and practice: teaching and learning in secondary schools (DCSF 0445-2004 GDVD). Listen to what some Year 10 pupils consider constitutes a good lesson and then the teacher describing how his school has developed a whole-school approach. The result is that pupils have consistent expectations about their learning in all lessons.

When you have watched the sequence, reflect on how the approach compares with your lessons.

Ask your pupils what they feel constitutes a good music lesson. Ask yourself how you ensure consistency of teaching in music across your department.

Plan in detail a lesson you will be teaching in the next few days. Make sure that you have identified the following episodes within the lesson, and signal them clearly to pupils as you teach the lesson.

How to engage pupils

• Have you established what musical activity pupils will be engaged in at the very start of the lesson?
• Have you identified whether this builds on previous work?
• Will it simply act as a starter activity that will help pupils understand the main learning for the lesson?
• How will you introduce the learning for the lesson, and relate it to the wider learning of the unit? Will this introduction just be spoken, or will it involve more music?

How to help pupils learn

• Have you considered the best way of introducing the learning: by modelling the processes involved in the activities, by using examples that pupils listen to, or by demonstrating key issues with ICT resources?
• Will pupils know how to learn? Have you set the challenge in such a way that pupils will know how to address the problem?
• Will pupils know how long they will have to work on the activity?
• Have you identified where the likely issues are to be? As a consequence, do you know what you are likely to be doing and saying to pupils at the end of this episode? Pupils will need to know how to improve or complete the first part of learning, what the next challenge is and how to meet it.
• How many episodes will be needed to deliver the intended learning? If there are several short episodes, what strategies will you use to introduce the new learning for each one (e.g. verbal explanation, demonstrations from pupils, listening activities)?

How to review the learning

• What kind of musical ending will the lesson have, and how will this support the learning?
• Will you be able to draw out key points of learning, and help pupils to understand where their strengths and weaknesses lie at this stage in the unit?

Plan another lesson which has a very different focus and activity from lesson A in Task 8 (i.e. if that lesson was about a genre and involved composing, now look at a lesson focusing on a style that involves ensemble performing).

Go through the same processes as you did for Task 8.

Compare the impact on learning of the two lessons: did particular episodes need more or less time? Was it easier to establish challenge in some episodes than others? Did one lend itself more easily to a particular kind of engagement or plenary?

What does this now suggest about the ways that you structure different sorts of music lessons?

Identify one strategy from the list in the Selecting teaching strategies section that does not feature strongly in your current practice.

To learn about the strategy in more detail, you might explore the generic Pedagogy and practice: teaching and learning in secondary schools, Unit 10: Group work (DCSF 0433-2004 G) and Unit 1: Structuring learning (DCSF 0424-2004 G)

Use the strategy in a practical lesson, and review what impact the strategy had on pupils’ progress and/or motivation.

Consider how more focused use of the strategy might improve the progress still further (e.g. if using chunking, do the pupils need the chunks to be even smaller? If so, will that episode best be taught to pupils as a whole class or in groups or pairs?).

Teach a similar lesson with this revised focus, and consider the pupils’ progress now.