Capitalising on unexpected learning opportunities

Creative people are prepared to take risks to achieve an outcome of originality and value. Teaching creatively means recognising that unexpected things often happen, and that these can be valuable for all concerned. Teachers and pupils should ‘expect the unexpected’, and aim to capitalise on the learning opportunities that result. This will enable pupils to seek alternative solutions, overcome fear of the unknown, and develop problem-solving skills and imaginative thinking.

For teachers, this means:

creating an environment which encourages curiosity, enquiry, problem solving;
identifying when risk taking could be incorporated into an activity;
explaining and modelling these strategies for pupils;
actively pursuing pupils’ ideas and questions, even if they seem tangential at first;
being prepared to divert from the original lesson plan or its timing;
helping pupils to understand that some ideas may lead up a blind alley, but that this is an essential part of learning (i.e. ‘failure’ can be an option, if it leads to success by another route!).

For pupils, this means:

drawing upon others’ knowledge and experience;
asking questions of themselves and the teacher that follow their curiosity and challenge musical conventions, such as ‘What if ...?’, ‘Why ...?’ and ‘How ...?’;
following lines of thought that interest them;
recognising that musical mistakes or accidents in their work may lead somewhere new and interesting;
having confidence in their own thoughts and ideas and knowing that these will be listened to seriously by others, especially the teacher.

Case study 4
‘What if …?’ A Year 7 class is working on a unit exploring the conventions of Shanty songs. The teacher is discussing with pupils the chord structure of ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor‘’, and by using a modelling strategy is speculating on how the chords and bass could be arranged in different ways. She asks herself (for the pupils’ benefit) a ‘What if ……’ question: ‘I wonder what it will sound like if I use fast repeated chords in the right hand‘’, and tries it out as she sings the tune. The pupils think it sounds more exciting, more energetic. Now she challenges someone to ask her a ‘What if ……’ question. A pupil asks ‘What if you play the tune low down while the fast chords go on at the top‘’. The teacher demonstrates, and pupils comment on the effect that the change has had. The teacher encourages pupils to ‘think outside the box’, taking risks and challenging conventional solutions. Before setting the class to work in groups on their own arrangements, the teacher says that she expects every pupil to ask a ‘What if ……’ question while they are exploring possibilities. Later on, when pupils are working in groups, she notes that one group has picked up on the idea of playing the melody in the bass (resulting from the earlier ‘What if ……’ question), and that a number of other interesting effects are being developed through pupils asking their own questions and generally ‘taking risks’ with ideas.

Case study 4

‘What if …?’

A Year 7 class is working on a unit exploring the conventions of Shanty songs. The teacher is discussing with pupils the chord structure of ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor‘’, and by using a modelling strategy is speculating on how the chords and bass could be arranged in different ways.

She asks herself (for the pupils’ benefit) a ‘What if ……’ question: ‘I wonder what it will sound like if I use fast repeated chords in the right hand‘’, and tries it out as she sings the tune. The pupils think it sounds more exciting, more energetic.

Now she challenges someone to ask her a ‘What if ……’ question. A pupil asks ‘What if you play the tune low down while the fast chords go on at the top‘’. The teacher demonstrates, and pupils comment on the effect that the change has had. The teacher encourages pupils to ‘think outside the box’, taking risks and challenging conventional solutions.

Before setting the class to work in groups on their own arrangements, the teacher says that she expects every pupil to ask a ‘What if ……’ question while they are exploring possibilities.

Later on, when pupils are working in groups, she notes that one group has picked up on the idea of playing the melody in the bass (resulting from the earlier ‘What if ……’ question), and that a number of other interesting effects are being developed through pupils asking their own questions and generally ‘taking risks’ with ideas.

Case study 5
‘What if …?’ (continued) In the shanty song lesson example above, the lesson plan identified learning objectives for both music and creativity. In this lesson, pupils will learn: to identify how harmonic structures work in a song; (musical) how rhythmic ideas can be used in accompaniments; (musical) to explore and develop alternative solutions and ask ‘What if …?’, in relation to *texture. (creative) For the following lesson, the nature of the creative challenge changed to: to explore and develop possibilities through taking risks and asking ‘What if ...?’, in relation to structure*. Pupils were now encouraged to ask questions about the structure of their shanty arrangements, such as ‘What would it sound like if we put in an instrumental section after one of the verses‘’, or ‘What would happen if we changed the number of call and response lines in one of the verses‘’ This progression in creative challenge and purpose was made explicit to the pupils.

Case study 5

‘What if …?’ (continued)

In the shanty song lesson example above, the lesson plan identified learning objectives for both music and creativity.

In this lesson, pupils will learn:

to identify how harmonic structures work in a song; (musical)
how rhythmic ideas can be used in accompaniments; (musical)
to explore and develop alternative solutions and ask
‘What if …?’, in relation to texture. (creative)

For the following lesson, the nature of the creative challenge changed to:

to explore and develop possibilities through taking risks and asking
‘What if ...?’, in relation to structure.

Pupils were now encouraged to ask questions about the structure of their shanty arrangements, such as ‘What would it sound like if we put in an instrumental section after one of the verses‘’, or ‘What would happen if we changed the number of call and response lines in one of the verses‘’

This progression in creative challenge and purpose was made explicit to the pupils.

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