Study unit 4:

This couple of days has been very good for me. Everything is so to say back to normal, and on top of that I also received good news this week that passed. It is now only a few days before the school holidays will begin and then we will have a week to regain our self again. We will also start with a recess week this coming week, so things are really looking up this week. This week I also spent a lot of time with getting assignments done that needs to be submitted before the end of the week. I also worked trough my LSKM study unit 4 this week.

1. Some people might say that arts integration is a waste of time in Foundation Phase education. Please explain how you would respond to such a statement by explaining your view on arts integration in the Foundation Phase.

I do not think that integration of arts in the foundation phase is a waste of time, so I do not agree with this statement. The reason why I say this is because I think arts is one of the most important things that we must use as foundation phase teachers. It is very important for teachers in the foundation phase to remember that the age of the learners in the foundation phase is still very young learners and the way that these learners will learn is through physically doing the work and seeing how it will work, and the only way we can do that is trough using some form of art. I can understand that using arts may take more time to prepare and get the work done, but at the end I think the results will talk for itself. We will have learners that understand the work and can apply it to their work because of the reason they understand what they must do. There are so many positive reasons why using arts can be a benefit to learners. It can develop learners’ problem-solving skills by being creative, if a teacher uses arts in her teaching it can present difficult concepts visually, and it will help learners to understand it more easily.

2. Which aspects of study unit 4 did you find the most interesting and challenging?  Please use the following prompts to reflect on your experience:

•             What did you find interesting? Please explain why.

The part I found the most interesting was the value of arts integration in the foundation phase. I liked to know why we use certain things in the foundation phase and how it can better my teaching and how I can value some parts in some lessons. As motioned, it will better our teaching. In study unit 4 it is mentioned that arts integration has been proven to contribute towards higher motivation levels amongst learners and supports academic achievement and socialisation among learners, it always interests me how something as small as arts can have such a big impact on a child’s life. Schools that encourage teachers to apply arts integration strategies in their teaching have shown improved results with regards to learners’ mathematic performance as well as decreased disciplinary challenges it is important for us as teachers to know about the things that interest our learners and what resources we can use to help learners to find a better understanding, and arts is one of those resources.

•             What did you find challenging? Please explain why

The thing that I found a little bit challenging was understanding the different aspects of music integration in the foundation phase. I struggled a bit to understand the differences between the different aspects of music because there are a few I need to understand after summarizing and doing some more reach I understand them a lot better. To understand them better I made a small summary about them. The different aspects of music include:

• Teaching and learning about music: Learning about music includes activities where learners have to listen to music with the aim of identifying certain music concepts
• Teaching and learning from music: Learners have the opportunity to engage in unstructured, spontaneous play after they experienced teaching and learning related to music.
• Teaching and learning on music: Learners engage in music activities such as singing, body percussion, playing music instruments, moving to music and dramatization.
• Teaching and learning with music: music is used as a tool for reaching non-musical goals in ways which include: playing background music to help learners relax, using music during transition activities, playing music during socialisation.
• Teaching and learning in music: take place when musical concepts are experienced and reinforced.
• Teaching and learning through music: music enhances non-musical learning.