Are you looking to enhance your next lesson observation?
Observation lessons will differ from school to school. Some will be part of more extensive departmental reviews, some will be more informal drop-in style observations. The key thing for you as a teacher is to ensure that your students are learning and making progress.
If you are looking to enhance your next observation lesson, then why not consider using Focus on Sound to gather your ideas and present the learning and assessment for the lesson.
The “perfect” lesson
Here are some ideas for each part of your lesson:
Starter Task – Have a key term on the board as students enter. This is a visual starter task and you can also play the musical example.
Lesson content – Consider creating a lesson using various sections within Focus on Sound. After you have explored the topic with the class, students can then go and work through a lesson.
Assessment – Use Focus on Sound to create tests and assessments. These could be small tests that quickly check on their learning as they move through the lesson. You could also create a final quiz for the end. A great feature within Focus on Sound is the ability to quickly create a test based on a list of key terms. You could create this as the lesson progresses based on what you think the students need to focus on. It takes less than a minute to do!
Plenary – Tick the ‘Classroom Presentation’ box before starting any test to provide the whole class with some plenary questions. Within this mode you can then display the answers on the board and that is a great way to round off the lesson.
Watch the video on creating and using custom tests:
About James Manwaring
James is the Director of Music for the Windsor Learning Partnership Multi-academy Trust. He has held the post of Head of Music at The Windsor Boy's School for over 15 years. James is currently the President-Elect of the Music Teachers Association.
