The lesson plan that would be analysed and altered is be a music lesson for a Year 9 & 10

music class on teaching chord progressions, with the purpose being that it “provides
students the opportunity to learn and rehearse basic chords and apply various elements of
music in order to perform guitar accompaniment” (Melit, 2016).

The original lesson plan involved students playing chords on a guitar by referring to chord
cut-out sheets, with the option of mixing around the order, then afterwards, students then
analyse which progressions “sounds right” and “which do not” and explain why. The plan
could be further improved to enhance student engagement and learning by implementing
technological use within the lesson as well as give students the choice of playing any
instrument of their own choosing, because the outcomes in the music syllabus by NESA,
2003 state that students should “perform repertoire in a range of styles and genres
demonstrating interpretation of musical notation and the application of different types of
technology”, “use different forms of technology in the composition process” and
“demonstrate an understanding of the influence and impact of technology on music” (p.
51). Furthermore, in a thesis by Ubovich, 2015, he argued that meaningful utilisation of
technology in a music class can be effective in increasing self-confidence and self-efficacy in
both teachers and students, which supports the literature review in the Callow article as
they also address the importance of appropriate technology usage in classrooms.

When considering of implementing high cognitive strategies, the implementation of

technological resources such as the Teoria online music theory website and the GarageBand
application on iOS devices should be used to drive the curriculum content as the former
contains a vast amount of information and exercises regarding music theory including
chords, and the latter contains a chord making tool that contains visual elements.
Additionally, students don’t need to be restricted with the guitar and can use any
instrument they want, such as keyboard, recorder, ukulele or even the pre-loaded
instruments within GarageBand. This lines with the results from the article as the teacher
involved used technology to provide the students with the content and processes they need
to engage with the task and learning outcomes as well as shift the students’ attitudes
towards the lesson from passive presence to intellectual engagement (Callow and Orlando,
2015). Furthermore, the implementation of technology manages to fulfil Standard 2.6 of
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) (AITSL, 2017) as it expands curriculum
learning opportunities for students which can promote initiative for students to creatively
think and learn beyond the curriculum.

Additionally, changes can be made in accordance to high affective strategies according to

the Fair Go Framework. The original lesson plan contained only one group activity which is
only playing the chord progressions that are provided for them. Classroom community
should be importantly emphasised it can increase the social support in the classroom and
properly satisfy the purpose of the lesson which is to apply various elements of music in
order to perform accompaniment (Melit, 2016). Therefore, more group-based activities
should be implemented to promote the classroom community for the lesson. Students can
engage in small improvisation/composition activities, in which they can play their own short
melodies they can create over chords being played by either themselves or with the
automatic chord-making tool within GarageBand. These types of activities can promote
both engagement in the class and a positive class environment. This can be supported by
the results from the article as the teacher utilised range of group work tasks that appealed
to diverse interests, promote student support and creating a stimulating, high affective
learning environment that minimized negative behaviour (Callow and Orlando, 2015).
Additionally, the implementation of these strategies satisfies both Standards 4.1 and 4.5 as
they involve the promotion of student participation and engagement and the responsible
and ethical use of technology to maintain a safe classroom community (AITSL, 2017).

In terms of the framework, high operative strategies can be made to ensure that students
use technology to connect the classroom with outside community and build on students of
knowledge. The original lesson plan does have the other concepts of music such as rhythm,
pitch and dynamics when developing the lesson plan. However, the activity in the plan
didn’t address those concepts as students are only strumming to chord progressions cut
outs. An amendment that can be made would be to include another group-based activity in
which the class practice and perform a short rendition of a pop song as this would increase
student engagement by creatively challenging students to utilise all the concepts of music
and apply them practically. Furthermore, at the end of class, the YouTube video “Four
Chords” should be shown to the class and students can reflect on what they learnt in the
lesson can be applied to how majority of popular musicians write songs.