a) Consider a sequence of lessons that you will be teaching soon. Identify the full range of activities that you will be asking pupils to undertake, and match each activity with the particular aspect of Bloom’s taxonomy to which you think it most closely relates. Remember that the main consideration is the type of thinking that will be required to complete the learning effectively.

• Download table in Word format  32kb

b) If there are gaps in this table, try to work out an activity that would move pupils into this area of learning – stretching them beyond their current thinking to something more challenging. For instance, if you have not noted anything in the ‘Analysis’ section for a lesson on film music, ask pupils to try an alternative sequence of chord clusters for a given scene. If they already have one using genuine clusters, could they try one using diminished chords instead: which is more effective, and why’ This may require preparation of new activities and materials, but will enable challenge to be increased step by step throughout the lessons.

c) Now teach the lessons. Observe pupils carefully to identify where they are on the ‘ladder’ of thinking: when you are sure that they are secure in one area, use your notes to engage them at the next ‘rung’ up.

Reflect: did the types of challenge posed enable pupils to make better progress’

Consider a lesson you will be teaching soon. Reflect on the learning outcomes you have planned for, and the teaching strategies you will use to help pupils achieve them.

Will the strategies enable pupils’ independent learning, encouraging them to move through to the more advanced thinking skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation?

What additional teaching strategies could you plan into the work that will move pupils on more effectively to address questions of quality and independent learning?

Try to use one of the strategies listed above to enable more independent learning.

Choose a series of two or three lessons you are about to teach that involve performing or composing.

Identify for these lessons the essential points of learning you want pupils to address. Now plan a range of questions that can prompt pupils to discuss the learning in their pairs or groups as they work. For instance, if pupils are composing in groups, a ‘knowledge’-based question for them to discuss might be: ‘Can you identify what different parts of the texture are played by the different instruments you are using?’ A more advanced question might be: ‘How could you change the texture to include a greater variety of ways of playing the chords?’

Plan both the questions and the talking opportunities carefully in advance. Afterwards, reflect on what difference the process made to pupils’ progress: were they able to think about what they were doing more carefully and move on to more advanced issues more effectively, and did this improve their final ‘product?’

Consider the balance of learning in a unit of work you are currently teaching.

Does the planned learning enable the change of balance between ‘knowledge’ (a focus on musical skills and theory) and ‘evaluation’ (a focus on musical understanding) to take place?

Is this progression properly planned for, so that you can constantly challenge pupils to move on to the next stage of musical learning when they are ready for it?

Are there specific activities that you could add to the unit to make the shift in balance more explicit and effective?

You might consider:

• asking pupils to develop the quality of performing opportunities (fluency, confidence, communication) rather than simply the accuracy of playing skills;
• challenging pupils not only to apply knowledge about styles or genres to their composing, but also to analyse what they are doing and choose from a wider range of musical options;
• asking pupils to appraise their work in progress more rigorously;
• asking them to propose alternatives to their current ideas, or asking them to draw conclusions about the effect that the changes would have, based on an ability to synthesise their understanding of different possibilities.

Decide on a particular point in the unit where you could add one of these ideas to the planned learning. Afterwards, reflect on the extent to which it enabled a more effective shift towards musical understanding.

Look at the units of work you are currently teaching in each of Years 7, 8 and 9.

Identify whether the form of thinking required in each unit is closest to a style, genre or tradition, and note this on the curriculum map (you could colour-code each form of thinking, for instance: see Document 5b  67kb for an example).

Now look at the units that the year groups will study next: do they address the same form of thinking? Is this appropriate, or would it be better to reorder the units, so that the style of thinking is altered to give greater breadth over a short period?

As the year progresses, keep returning to this grid, and build it up so that you can identify where the gaps are in breadth of challenge are, and what might fill those gaps.

Look at the units of work you are currently teaching in each of Years 7, 8 and 9.

Identify the focus of elements and skill development for each unit, as described in Unit 1: Structuring learning for musical understanding, Developing practice section, 'Details' tab

Now look at the units that the year groups will study next: do they cover the same sorts of learning? Is this appropriate, or would it be better to reorder the units, so that the style of thinking is altered to give greater breadth over a short period?

As the year progresses, keep returning to this grid, and build it up so that you can identify where the gaps are in breadth of challenge are, and what might fill those gaps.

This process can also be used to demonstrate coverage of National Curriculum (2008) Programmes of Study, by adding relevant N.C. PoS references each time a skill appears.

Take your Key Stage 3 curriculum map.

Identify where one skill currently appears as a focus for learning across the key stage (N.C. PoS 2.1d, for instance: Creating and developing musical ideas).

Now identify exactly what is taught each time the skill appears (for instance, matching ideas against simple chord patterns, later developing ideas within musical structures using a greater range of chords, and later still producing a stylistically convincing whole with various harmonic and non-harmonic devices).

Do the later appearances build on and extend the depth of challenge? If not, how can the later units be adapted to provide appropriate challenge?

Look at a unit of work that you will be teaching soon. Using the principles outlined in the Good practice section ('Depth' tab), and the progression statements for musical understanding, identify the stage of progression for musical understanding that you believe most pupils will be working at.

• Within the specific context of this unit, what are the detailed features of musical understanding you would expect pupils to show if they are secure in this stage of progression?
   
  Consider the conventions of the style, genre or tradition, what you would expect pupils to learn from a study of these conventions, and how they could articulate their understanding through practical work.

• If some pupils are less secure, and are only starting to develop this expectation, what would the main characteristics of their musical understanding be?
   
  How would this differ from the understanding of pupils secure in this stage of progression, and how would you support them?
   
  Again, consider the conventions of the style, genre or tradition, and consider what practical activities you could develop to help move these pupils’ understanding forward.

• Some pupils will be starting to move beyond this stage of progression, and may now be ready to move on to the next stage.
   
  How will you challenge them with activities and learning that will stretch their musical understanding?

Make sure that the definitions are specific to the unit (i.e. they define the different stages in terms of the conventions, processes and devices of the music being studied), and if necessary plan any additional activities that will make the learning and outcomes explicit for pupils.

Try these ideas out, and assess the extent to which they were successful in challenging pupils to learn and demonstrate more sophisticated aspects of musical understanding.

Take a unit from your scheme of work that has been reviewed with the process from Unit 1: Structuring learning for musical understanding (i.e. with the stage of progression identified and used as a definition of planned learning).

Monitor closely the outcomes of the work through the unit, including both the processes of the pupils and the final products (performances and compositions).

How well is the link made between the planned learning and the level descriptions? If pupils were to produce the same standard of work over a period of time and in a range of contexts, would it properly fulfil the criteria for the award of the ‘matching’ level? What other evidence would you want to capture to ensure that the level was right?

Consider a lesson you are about to teach.

What planned opportunities are there for pupils not just to learn but to use:

• general technical vocabulary?
• genre-specific technical vocabulary?
• expressive language?

If any of these areas are currently missing, identify how pupils could be introduced to them, and taught how to use them in their work.

Monitor the use that pupils make of this vocabulary, to ensure that it is accurate and appropriate to support their wider musical learning.

Consider a unit of work you are currently teaching. Devise for one forthcoming lesson a talking, reading or writing activity that will enable pupils to use language-based learning in order to:

1. develop their thinking and appraising skills to focus more explicitly on aspects of analysis, application or synthesis;
2. improve their musical understanding of the style, genre or tradition being studied.

Following the activity, make sure that pupils have the opportunity to apply this thinking and understanding to their consequent or continuing practical work.

Can you identify more sophisticated responses in this practical work which reflect pupils’ deeper understanding as a result of the language-based work?

Is this something that you could do in all units of work, or does the amount of time taken mean that its use has to be carefully selected to ensure maximum impact?

Take a Year 9 class that you currently teach.

Confirm or find out from each pupil the range of musical experience they possess:

• from formal and informal tuition;

• from participation in formal or informal music making, whether individually or with others;

• from their own listening to music.

Given this information, are you confident that the challenges that you are setting individual pupils enable them to use prior experience and to meet new challenges that are ‘in advance of their prior attainment’?

Take a Year 7 class that you currently teach.

Find out from each pupil the same information. Is the range of experiences of these pupils narrower or wider than that of their Year 9 peers, and what are the differences in their knowledge, skills and understanding?

For both classes, what are the specific aspects of challenge that could be targeted and increased to enable more pupils to build on their prior learning?

Development

There will already be systems in place in your school to support transition issues. These can arise at any point of transition in a pupil’s school career, but they apply particularly to the transfer of pupils from Year 6 to Year 7.

Talk to the member of staff with responsibility for transition, and ascertain how you can find out more about the musical learning and experiences that pupils receive in their primary schools. This may be in the process of significant change with the national development of new schemes based on the ‘Wider Opportunities’ pilots for instrumental and vocal tuition at Key Stage 2: see Document 5f  183kb for more details.

Consider a series of lessons involving performing or composing that you are about to teach with a class.

Identify pupils in the class who already have advanced instrumental or vocal skills, in any sort of style or genre.

Identify how you can develop the learning challenge in the task by:

1. stretching these pupils’ musical understanding through the setting of new thinking challenges, making sure that pupils will be working in advance of their prior attainment in terms of comprehension, application or analysis thinking skills;
2. building into this challenge the requirement to develop advanced musical skills and knowledge that will enable the new thinking to be realised.

When pupils complete the practical work, reflect on the musical outcomes:

• Were pupils able to produce music that demonstrated more advanced musical understanding than you might otherwise have expected?
   
  

• Did pupils use their existing musical skills efficiently, and/or develop new ones?
   
  

• Were pupils engaged with this way of working?