My Final Blog Post

Good day fellow bloggers!

I can’t believe that we are in the month - November already. I was stunned when I went to the store earlier this week and saw Christmas decorations being put out – to be quite honest, I AM NOT THERE YET – I can feel that my body is beginning to operate more slowly and I’m more tired than usual. Luckily, we can all look forward to the holidays around the corner and having time to rest.

1. Please share your story as an LSKM 221 student by comparing your knowledge, skills, experiences, abilities and attitude towards music education from the start of the semester to the end of the semester.

At the start of this semester, I was on my nerves to have LSKM 211 as a module – I was afraid that I would fail to succeed. I always joked and said I have no musical bone in my body! My knowledge about music was on a low level, I had this idea in my head that the assignments in this module will expected us to sing a song and record it on video - thank goodness that was not the case. Now I know music is so much more than playing a piano and singing a song. I was surprised that children learn through music and I gained so much knowledge on how to use music elements to my advantage to educate. I implemented what I learned in LSKM and had great success in my classroom.

2. What was your experience of the role of individual reflection as part of the teaching and learning process? Use the following prompts to reflect on your blogging experience and the role that individual reflection played (or not) in your teaching and learning experience this semester:

• What did you learn from your individual reflections?

Individual reflections gave me the opportunities to learn from every study unit, as well as my fellow students’ opinions and how they interpreted every study unit. I also learned that opinions differ but all opinions should be valued equally. I also learned that I am not the only one who struggles to keep my head above water. There are a lot of students with busy secludes - just like mine - and this helped me not to feel so alone.

• What did you find challenging?

I found it challenging to integrate music with other subjects, but now I have better understanding on how to do such a lesson because of the assignments given to us.

• Did you find the individual reflections meaningful? Please motivate your answer.

No, I feel that it is quite time consuming and I preferred doing the blogs rather. With the blogs and individual reflections all other students could see your work and thoughts – this made it easier for students to not do proper research on the study units but rather just copy and paste strong opinions and to claim it is their own work.

• What would you change if you had the opportunity in future?

I would not change anything because learning outcomes were achieved. I could close this chapter well educated to teach Foundation phase learners about music – “do not fix something that is not broken”

3. Please share what you would change in the LSKM221 module if you had the opportunity. The following prompts can guide your reflection:

• What did you find interesting and meaningful?

I find it interesting how learners learn better when music is integrated. It was significant for me how music-education prompted academic performance.  Music promotes all areas of learners’ development; emotional, intellectual and even language skills. The shock factor was how music is neglected in schools. I believe that if statistics can prove how meaningful music-education is in the Foundation Phase they will incorporate it in all schools.

• What challenged you, and what do you still struggle to understand?

It was a challenge to create my own music activities, but after a while I got used to it and it became an enjoyable experience. Now at the end of the module I am satisfied with the knowledge I gained and have a better understanding on how to educate music. Our lecturer walked the extra mile for us to make sure we understand the content. If there were any uncertainties - she replied to us individually. I could tell that she wanted us to succeed in this module.

• What didn’t you find valuable for your future teaching practice?

I highly regard this module. All study Units I could benefit from and learn valuable skills that I will never forget. However, one should always keep in mind that we don’t always have all the resources to educate music. As a teacher one should always be creative - like making your own instruments or to use your voice as an audio.

It was a privilege to learn and grow as a teacher during this module.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything” – Plato