This lesson focused on discovering different variations and styles of pieces of music, defining the term variation within

the context of music, and recognizing that many variations and styles of music can exist for a given melody. Strengths of this lesson plan include providing quality examples of music, applying the concept of variation to other pieces, and incorporating other subjects into the lesson. Weaknesses include focusing on more than one main idea during the lesson, assessing students in a way that does not fit with the objectives, and not providing accommodations for different learners. Following the Guided Discovery model, the teacher introduced the lesson by defining the term variation and providing an example for the students to listen to. During the second, openended phase, the teacher presented the students with two different variations of the same piece, but in contrasting styles, asking students to compare the style and instruments heard. For the third, convergent phase, students were presented with multiple variations, in different styles, of the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in order to compare these styles. During the final closure and review phase, the teacher asked the students about the various styles that they heard during the lesson and why folk songs have many different variations. This lesson deviates from the model in that the teacher does not provide a closure that matches the content of the lesson. Specific questioning is not present in the convergent phase either. While the teacher does try to incorporate music history and knowledge of different instruments in the lesson, it creates disconnect in the lesson and is better suited for an entirely separate lesson. For future lessons, specific questions could be written out beforehand to ask the students about the similarities and differences they hear in the different variations. Letting the students discover knowledge completely on their own, instead of being told key concepts by the teacher, would develop critical thinking skills as well.