Janke du Plessis: 30019400

Blog

My name is Janke du Plessis. I am a second-year student and I am currently living and working at Laerskool Eikestad in Stellenbosch, Western Cape. I’ve always had a passion for children. Ever since I was young, I loved helping my little brother with his homework. God has given me an amazing gift to work with little children. I understand them, I have compassion for them and I strive to teach them. I have a passion for numerous things. One of my greatest passions are, as you can guess… children. I love animals dearly and I love any type of adventurous activities. I have a passion for nature and the farm.

I am honestly not quite ready for this upcoming semester. I have a lot on my plate, since I am working at a school, tutoring in the afternoons and coaching and playing hockey. I struggle to make time for my studies and I know that is something that I’ll have to work on. I am excited to see what LSKM 211 will teach me this semester. I really hope that this will be an insightful subject, a subject that I can use in my daily teaching career.

This past week has been quite hectic. I was really busy with work and at the same time trying to figure out how to plan this semester of studies. Luckily, I have started with some tasks, but I really struggled as I was very tired in the evenings. I am so glad that I have a “study buddy” that I can work with, talk with and that she just keeps me motivated. She encourages me to work even though I do not necessarily have the time and she helps me to plan my week so that I’ll be able to get everything done. I would’ve struggled during my studies if I did not have her. Even though we don’t live near each other, she is good to and for me.

The new thing that I became aware of while working through this study unit is the fact that we as teachers are able to apply different learning theories to music teaching and development… something I was not really familiar with. The most significant concept in this study unit was the concept of rhythm. It was interesting because of the fact that we do not only use rhythm when playing music, but also during the teaching of new words and reading sentences.

To meet the holistic development needs of learners, I will choose music education. I believe that when a child engages in music activities it leads to the holistic development of the child. When using music education in the classroom, you’ll also be able to develop the learners’ physical development by letting them dance to music. The learners will then be able to better their fine- and gross motor skills. It will also have an influence on their personal development, like boosting their self-confidence, discovering their unique abilities and interacting with other students in the classroom.

I believe that music education is very important for the holistic development of a foundation phase child. Children grow and find themselves a lot during this stage of their life. It is our job as teachers to help the learners achieve and succeed in this phase that they are in. We should educate ourselves to better and different learning techniques, techniques that interests your learners, techniques that better your learners and techniques that can be fun and educational at the same time. I believe that music education can be one of these techniques.

I am excited to learn more about education during the study of LSKM 211. I already have an interest in the subject and I have a strong feeling that I will be a wiser teacher after this semester.