Study unit 5

This week so far has not been so bad, not bad at all. I feel really positive about my work at the school and I’m also very proud of the things I have accomplished this week so far. I can’t belief that this year is almost over. We started with the last assessment for this year as well and I can see that everyone is getting ready for November to come. We also hade some rain early this week, which can also put you into a relaxed state. I’m up to date with all of my study work and can’t wait to finish this last part of my studies.

In this study unit I came aware of how and when to use music in my lessons. I realized that it can be fun to use music in your lessons, but that we have to make sure that it is done in the correct way and order. We have to make sure that the music we play in a lesson is appropriate for the certain lesson or theme used for the lesson. It is also important for us as teachers to remember to let the learners feel engaged in the process of learners, we have to engage the learners in the lesson and make them actively involved in the learning process. Music is fun and a great why to keep the attention of our learners, that is why it is so important for us to make use of this resource and teaches our learners about it.

• What could the possible reasons be that assessment is neglected in Performing Arts and Music in the Foundation Phase? I think one of the biggest reasons for teachers in the foundation phase not using performing arts and music in their lessons is because teachers teaching today is so packed with all of the other work that needed to done that teacher just don’t have the time to make use of arts and music any more. Not every teacher has the ability to make use of performing arts and music because they don’t have the training to make use of it. Some teachers don’t even have the necessary training to be a teacher. Another reason why performing arts and music is not possible in the foundation phase is because schools do not have all of the different resources needed to make it possible. To perform and make use of arts you need resources and it you do not have all the resources it will not be possible.

• Please explain how you would advocate for and heighten awareness about the importance of assessment when speaking with your HOD about your concerns this regard. It is important to know that you have to be professional when talking to someone like the HOD. You have to know what the problem is exactly and what is you want to discuss with them. Make some notes to talk about the problem and also come up some solutions to the problems. Ask the HOD if there is any way if this problem can be fixed and what it is you can do to help fix the problem. If the problem is teachers not having training for Performing Arts and Music maybe prefer to the HOD if the teachers can go for training in this area, or if resources is a problem refer to the HOD that you can gather resources like recyclable resources to use for arts and performing. And if time is a problem prefer to make some time to bring in performing arts and music into the lessons to make it part of the lesson. This way it will not take the time of the other work.

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.

Study unit 3:

And another hectic week is gone and over. This week I spent most of my time doing assignments and writing test, I don’t know if it is just me, but sometimes it feels like everything wants to happen on one day. This week I’m really looking forward to the long weekend that lies ahead. We are going camping this coming weekend which has me really existed. This past week I tried to get all of my tests and assignments done so that I can take some time to relax a bit. Also, an update on the teacher that had covid, she is back at school and doing well, so for me that means a little slower pace because she had to take over the class on her return to school.

Study unit 3 was so much fun working through it. I think the part I liked most about this module is the side of things that showed me how humans can learn without even knowing they are learning. It is the most fascinating thing how humans can develop and learn without even trying to do so. One of the topics that stood out in this study unit was the levels of social play. I also found this very interesting on how the mind develops socially and that we have different levels in developing in this matter. As I mentioned we get different levels of social play, these levels include the following: solitary play, onlooker play, parallel play, associative play and cooperative play, these are the different kinds of social levels we get when playing. In conclusion I also found it interesting how young children can fine a way to take any kinds of materials and turn it into something to play with. I think sometimes we as grown people we would like to think buy children fancy toys to play with is the best for their playing development, but in real life, the things we use every day and think nothing of is the things that children found the most attracted to and want to play with even more because we will always take things like that away from them and shove a fancy toy in their hands, but in reality, that is not where their interest lies.

• What possibly made some learners uncomfortable during these activities?

Sometimes it is very important to be sensitive to some children's religion believes, some of the things that happened in this passage like singing and dancing to other religious songs is against their religion, and children is being thought that things like that is not acceptable in their religion. And then also dancing and singing to other cultural dances are also not actable. Singing to music that you don’t understand can also make it uncomfortable for learners, because you can quickly make a child uncomfortable if they don’t even understand the words they are singing.

•Why were some learners uncomfortable?

One of the learners which was present in the classroom explained to the teacher that he was not happy with the use of a Zulu song which he did not understand because he did not speak Zulu, while the other learner, which this time was a girl, said to the teacher that they felt uncomfortable dancing in front of boys and to house music due to religious reasons.

•Can you think of ways to address these issues in future? What will you change? How can we accommodate diverse learner profiles in our classrooms? What must we beware of?

In the future make sure to pick a song that is not connected to any religious songs what so ever, then you don’t have to worry about learners feeling uncomfortable singing along with the other learners, in addition to that make sure to pick a song which every learner understand, learners will feel more comfortable and included when they understand every word they sing, and also in this way learners don’t have to feel afraid to play along for religious believes. I believe that each learners religion should be respected at all times. Be aware about the different kinds of learners in your classroom and always try to accommodate all of your learners, if not? Find another game which will support and accommodate each learner. For the dancing, again pick a song that has no religion in it. pick songs that has to do with things without including any kinds of religion. Also don’t just add learners in groups, make sure that each learner feels comfortable to do so in front of the other learners, if not make turns for the boys and girls to dance apart from each other, this way girls can feel comfortable not dancing in front of boys as well for the boys dancing in front of the girls. In conclusion respect your learner’s religion. 

Study unit 2:

This week I’m feeling grateful. This past moth has bee a though on. In my last blog I mentioned about the covid cases in our school. I received some bad news this week, the sick teacher has not recovered fully yet. It seems like things is not going so well with her, so it is still my responsibility to run her class. Some days the work seems to be too much but after completing all of the work it’s the best accomplished feeling. We also started doing assessment with the learners which can be very time consuming. I mostly work on my studies at night and on the weekends. I’m grateful today that I have a heathy body and mind to think and complete my studies. But I’m not going to lie when I say I’m looking forward to the October holidays.

Study unit 2 was so far the most interesting part to learn about in this module. I think the reason why this is the most interesting so far is because we are starting to get more into the work about music and how to use it in the classroom, form the get go I was most excited to learn about music and how to incorporate it in the classroom, and this is exactly what this unit thought me. There are so many ways to use music in the classroom and that interests me a lot.  I was very surprised to have learned about all of the elements that comes with music which can be used in the classroom and in the lessons. The most fun part was working on my own fun and creative activity with the inspiration of all the different elements. My most interesting part of this unit was body percussion. It is such a simple element but all of the things we can make and create with our bodies and the music that can come with is, just amazed me in a way. I also watched a few videos on body percussion and it amazed me even more. One of the other topics that had my attention the most was the music education approaches which is the most prominent approaches to music education which also place emphasis on music a movement. These approaches are those od Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly and Emile Jaques-Dalcroze.

Would I rather use African music, Western Art music or contemporary commercial music in my classroom? I think this will mostly depend on the type of classroom and the learners making up the classroom, but if I had to choose, I would pick commercial music. The way I see it is if I were a child which music would I prefer. Of course, I would like to listen to music that I like and which is familiar to me, music I can sing along to and dance. Being a South African it is important for teachers to understand that their classrooms will most likely consists out of numbers of cultures and beliefs, not all of the children will be the same and for that reason using modern popular music and music that comes with films will be the best way for the learners to all feel included and most importantly know the music. I know it is never fun to listen to music is class but only you don’t know the song and the words to the song. We want our learners to feel involved, and that is why the best way to do that is to use things all of them will have in common like the children's shows they all watch and all know so well. Do you think that the examples and content offered in SU 2 are inclusive? Yes, I think the examples in study unit 2 is inclusive to everyone, because these activities can basically be used in any other example like African a Wester art music. These examples are divers and any teacher can make use of these activities. The one example I can think of using is when the teacher asks the learners to clap their hands at a certain word in a song, all of the learners will follow and clap their hands, these are activities that includes everyone and makes every learner to feel practically involve in the activities. What suggestions do you have for making the content more inclusive? Firstly, I think it is the responsibility of the class teacher to observe her classroom, she\he should be on the look out for learners that might feel excluded when an activity or game is taking place. When a learner feels excluded, the teacher should not stop the activity, this will only draw attention to the learner which will make him\her feel more uncomfortable, rather go to the learner while the activity is actively going on and motivate the learner to take part in the activity. Help them in certain parts of the activity or game so that they can get the feel of the activity taking place. Once you see the learner is feeling more relaxed and focused on the activity the teacher can move back and the learner interact with the other learners. Another way a teacher might help a learner is when learners are going to do an activity with musical instruments, some of the learners might never even seen real instruments before. Before starting to work with the instruments tell the learners a little bit more about that instrument, what the instrument is made of and where it might come from. Give each child a chance to come over and observe and touch the instrument, this will help the learners to feel more familiar with the instruments.

This week was a rough one for me. One of the teacher at my school where I'm working as an student teacher has COVID so everyone was scared and worried about what will come next. Being the student teacher at the school it is my responsibility to take over her class, and that means taking all of the responsibilities of a teacher. Giving class and also marking all of their worksheets and work. This can take up almost most of my time. And on top of that we also had parent evening this past week, and this took a lot of my study time because I mostly work on my studies during the night, but I'm positive and happy about all the opportunities that is given to me.

Today I started to work on the first study unit of this module and the topic of this study unit grabbed my attention right away, the value of music for the holistic development of foundation phase learners. The reason why I liked this topic so much is because my knowledge about music is not so good so I'm very eager to start this journey to learn more about music in the foundation phase. Starting with the study unit I'm already familiar with the topic of Learning theories because we already learnt about them in other modules, but the topic that was the most interesting to me in this study unit was the Musical development in the foundation phase, because this is the topic I'm the most excited to learn more about, because I'm very eager to further my knowledge about these kinds of topics in this module. 

Individual reflection

1. Being at a school and seeing how teachers go to work in the classroom I know how important music is in the Foundation phase because this is a good way to keep the attention of learners and to help them to understand the lesson on their own level. I have also used music in the classroom when I get the opportunity at school to give a lesson. I have learnt that playing music in the classroom it can give a fun and relaxed atmosphere for learners to learn and to express them self trough the music. My knowledge of playing music and reading things like notes is not so well but I'm willing to learn anything if it means it will better myself as a foundation phase teacher. 

2. If it's up to me I would have to say that both music and physical education is very important in holistic development of any learner and that each aspect plays a very important role, but if it is up to me I would choose to incorporate music education in my lessons, because music can be used in many whys and forms to enrich our lessons. The list of benefits of using music can go on and one. Using music can develop language and reasoning skills, it can improve coordination, can give emotional support, improve creativity and using music can also be used as a physical education in a way. The benefits of using music is so positive and can change a lesson from dull and boring into interesting and something learners will remember forever. 

• • Who are you? Where are you from? Hi, my name is Chrisna Trollip. I'm 20 years old and enjoying life for what it is currently. I life in my hometown called Kroonstad, its small but cozy and I will never want to be anywhere else. I'm very close to my family and that is why I prefer to live close to home. My motto in life is to live life to the fullest and to take any opportunity and use it. You only life once right?
  • Why do you want to be a foundation phase teacher? My story started a long, long time ago, I was only 7 years old when I just knew teaching is what I wanted to be in life! I had that drive in me to make a difference to be the difference. When I was in grade 1 my parents decided to get a divorce. Now being a 7 year old in my mind I thought my whole world would end and that I would never feel happiness ever again. But then, my first day in big school came. Scared of what will come and feeling sad about my parents divorce I went to my first day of school, little would I know it will change my life completely. Standing at the door was my teacher. She had the most warm smile I have ever seen, she greeted me with a hug and some sweets. After that and as the weeks went on she new about my life. She supported me and helped me to get trough my hard times, she believed in me and told me that I can do anything I put my mind to. And so I knew I also want to make that change in some child's life, just like my teacher had on mine. To this day I still keep in touch with her. She is my biggest motivator. 
  • What are you passionate about? I have a lot of passions in life. I like to improve myself in anything and is always willing to give new things a go. I think all teachers have a passion for their work, because if you don't have a passion for teaching you made the wrong choice in becoming one. I love children, I have a passion for working with children. I have the up most patience when it comes to children. I'm currently working as a student teacher at a school in Kroonstad called Voorwaarts, so I also have the opportunity to learn up close, working at a school from the beginning of my studies just reinsured me that this is deftly my passion. 
  • How do you feel about LSKM 221 now, at the start of the semester? Starting with LSKM this semester had me a bit worried, because my knowledge about music is not that good, but I'm deftly eager to start learning more to further my knowledge about this topic. Working at a school with children I know how important music can be for learning, and very important in the foundation phase. 
  • What are your expectations for this module? I expect to further my knowledge about music had more specific how to make use of it when I'm going to be using it in my future classroom. I think it will help me to know which music I can apply when giving a lesson. This module will teach me to enrich my future lesson plans. In conclusion it will teach me the important roll music plays in a growing child's life.