This document outlines a music lesson plan for teaching 8th grade students how to play guitar. The objectives are for students to arrange their own three chord song using classroom guitars, hands on instruction, and an online chord website. Students will learn guitar parts, strumming techniques, and three chords over the course of a week. Activities include practicing chords as a class, creating an original 20-30 second song using the three chords, and performing the song for the teacher while peers practice. Students will also maintain a blog to document their feelings and progress. The teacher will evaluate student performance and blog entries to revise future lessons based on student feedback.

1. A – Analyze the Learner
My class will be 8th graders, ages ranging from 12 to 14, that have general
knowledge of previous music classes. The majority of them have no knowledge
about playing the guitar at all. They will need something engaging to keep their
attention for long periods of time, as they may find the lesson boring. They will
need something from each category of learning.
S – State Objectives
My music class of eight grade students will arrange their own three chord song
using classroom guitars, hands on instruction, and a chord website by learning
the parts of the guitar, the strum-pluck-strum method, and three chords by the
end of the week with 90% accuracy.
S – Select Media and Materials
I will use the poster from the beginning of the week and websites for review. The
students will create a Voki to add to their blog, and post their blog's URL on the
Google Document that they were added to on Wednesday.
U – Utilize Media and Materials
At the beginning of class, we will review everything that we have learned thus far
in the week: All chords, correct way to hold the guitar, strings, frets, strum-pluckstrum method.
Students will then be instructed that they need to create a short, 20 – 30 second
song using the chords that we have learned. They will be required to write their
own lyrics, and the song can be about anything appropriate for classroom setting.
Homework: Students will make a Voki to add to their blog that speaks the lyrics
from their created song. They will then post the URL of their blog on the Google
Document that they were added to on Wednesday.
R – Require Learner Participation
Each day that I have planned out requires the students to participate in everyday
class in order to acquire a grade. They must play their guitar and practice with
the rest of the class in order to learn their chords. They must document their
feelings of the week on their personal blog. They must create their song at the
end of the week using all of the materials that we have learned.
E – Evaluate and Revise
The Song:
The song that the students are creating must be at least 20 – 30 seconds long.
The lyrics can be about anything, do not have to rhyme, and only require

2. creativity. The students must use each chord at least once. The student can strum
or pluck the strings, or do both. The students will have the entire class time to
construct their own song. The following Monday will be spent on the students
performing their songs individually for the teacher, eliminating at least some of
the stage fright. While the students take turns performing for the teacher
personally the others may practice. An extra 10 minutes will be giving at the
beginning of class so that the first student to perform may have time to practice
their song.
The lyrics and chords must be written down to turn into the teacher.
Before the next Monday is over, the students must add one final entry to their
blog. This entry will be about their feelings of the lesson as a whole. Whether or
not they liked it, and why. The entry is only required to be a few sentences long.
Revising:
Throughout the week, the students have documented their feelings about the
guitar lesson in their blogs. I, as the teacher, will read these blogs and adjust my
lessons to suit the children better.