Hi everyone! I cannot be the only one that’s happy that this is the last blog. I honestly didn’t expect this year to go by so fast though. In the end, this module was actually one of the most surprising modules this semester, just because I did not expect to learn as much as I did in this module.

1. My story as a LSKM 221 student

This module was very eye-opening, and I learnt a lot during this LSKM journey. Music became a big part of my life as I learnt the benefits of it and have decided to incorporate it into my children’s life more. I have also learnt many new skills and learnt how to value and respect others’ opinions through the collaborative discussions. The blogs also helped me unwind at the end of each week, as I find blogging extremely relaxing. Especially when I can also just speak about what I am feeling in that moment.

2. What was your experience of the role of individual reflection as part of the teaching and learning process?

• What did you learn from your individual reflections?

Personally, the individual reflections are where I felt that I learnt the most because it gives me the space to go through the study units and explain the work in my own way. It also made me understand the work a lot better.

• What did you find challenging?

The most difficult part was learning how to interpret music in other subjects, especially because I never knew that it could be done. The bright side of this is that its important to have a challenge to overcome, as it keeps me interested.

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

Yes, I found the individual reflections to be extremely meaningful and helpful. I was able to reflect back to what I have previously learnt and also gave me a better way to study because speaking about the topic made me able to remember it better.

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

In all honesty, I don’t think that I would change anything. Of course, like all the other modules, this module came with its own set of challenges, but in the end, those challenges were what kept me interested.

3. Please share what you would change in the LSKM221 module if you had the opportunity

• What did you find interesting and meaningful?

This module in general was interesting to me, but the most interesting thing was learning how important music is in a child’s life and the benefits it brings in their lives later. Another topic that was interesting was learning how to create a lesson plan. Something that I initially thought would be extremely tricky and intricate, was actually made so simple.

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

In the beginning the module was a bit challenging for me in general because everything I was learning was all new to me. The one topic that I still struggle with a bit is how to incorporate music into other subjects.

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

This module is all very important for my future teaching practice. I am extremely grateful for this module as I feel that prepared to be a fully fledged teacher and its actually making me excited for it.

So, everyone this is normally the point in my blog where I say see you next time. Sadly, this is the last blog. Therefore, there won’t be a next time. So instead, I will say that I hope everyone keeps safe and good luck with everything.

Hello again everyone! I hope everyone is still doing well. I am feeling amazing just thinking that this semester is coming to an end and that our second year of studies is almost complete. I honestly cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. My baby boy has been learning how to walk and has been all over the place, so keeping up with him has been something else. I just keep on reminding myself that it only goes up from here.

Study unit 5 is such an interesting unit. It was definitely fun going through this unit. Lesson planning was the highlight of this unit, and I became a lot more aware of how to identify and evaluate appropriate assessment strategies for music as part of life skills in foundation phase. I also learnt how to evaluate and apply different teaching methods when planning a music lesson and how to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the basic structure of a well-planned lesson, as well as what to keep in mind when planning a lesson. After reading through this study unit, I feel confident in my skills to be able to formulate and draw out lesson plans that will be beneficial to both teachers and learners.

When referring to the question, a lot comes to mind. The variety of reasons why assessments are neglected in the Performing Arts and Foundation Phase, these are the reasons that specifically come to mind:

• Teachers often do not have enough time to prepare a lesson plan for performing arts and music classes.
• Teachers are not fully equipped and educated on performing arts and music integration.
• Teachers are under the impression that music and art integration activities are too time consuming.
• Teachers may have low confidence, as they see music and art as a daunting task, as they may lack the skills to facilitate and execute art and music activities.
• Schools are faced with the challenge of performing arts should not even be an option, because statistics prove that very few learners actually pursue a career in music and/or performing arts.

Explain how you would advocate for and heighten awareness about the importance of assessment when speaking with you HOD about your concerns in this regard:

• I will have proof that art and music integration in schoolswould allow major benefits such as socialisation and communication skills, better retention memorisation statistics.
• I will provide information on how music provides benefits in terms of languages and mathematic skills.
• I will present the life skills CAPS documents, where it states that performing arts and music is actually considered an important prerequisite especially in the foundation phase.
• I would suggest that the HOD communicates with the principle to address the issue of neglect in terms of music and performing arts, and slot in a period that is allocated to these components, with this implementation, teachers would not be able to say that music and performing arts are too time consuming.

That will be all from my side on this study unit. I hope everyone had as good as a time going through this study unit as I did. This unit was very eye-opening to me and I hope that everyone was able to learn as much as I was able to.

Until next time!

Hello again everyone, once again this week was just too much. Due dates as well as my sons first birthday party that I have been planning for the past few weeks. Thankfully, it means that one thing can be ticked off of my to-do-list for this week. I hope everyone is still doing well and keeping safe.

Study unit 4 was very informative where I was learning about all the different aspects of arts integration in the foundation phase. This study unit honestly reminded me of study unit 1, especially where they speak about the different activities we can use to integrate into the different subjects. As well as the theoretical framework, the value of arts integration in the foundation phase and how to define arts integration. Learning how to use different strategies for arts integration was very interesting to me.

Art integration has proven to contribute towards higher motivation levels among learners and supports academic achievement and socialisation among learners. Arts integration provides teachers the opportunity to promote and support the developmental needs of learners, while offering learners opportunities to engage in teaching and learning activities which are fun and fosters collaboration and connection and promotes learners’ innate creativity, curiosity and imaginative abilities.

Through the application of arts integration teaching strategies, we design teaching and learning activities which are impulsive and provide multiple means of engaging with and internalising new knowledge and skills.

Study unit 4 was an extremely interesting unit to learn about and I am so happy that we were lucky enough to.

Stay safe everyone.

Hi everyone, guess I am back with the blog. The week has just started and I feel depleted already. This week has been a lot, assignments after assignments, due dates and my personal life, planning my sons first birthday party became overwhelming. I hope everyone is still doing well and keeping safe.

Study unit 3 was a very interesting chapter and I learned a lot more than I thought I would. I never knew how much musical play affected students in the foundation phase. We learnt about the genres od plays and games and it gave us different examples of plays. With my current knowledge and becoming aware of the seven elements of a play was probably the most shocking thing to me. Previously, I thought that a play was just a school production that schools did to raise funds and include some fun time for the kids. Although, this study unit and the seven elements made me aware that a musical play means a lot more. Music is a broad topic, and it has many benefits in many situations.

Personally, I feel as though learners could’ve gotten very uncomfortable during the different activities, such as the Zulu stone passing game, not every student understands and speaks the language that the game is being played in. The game is also very insensitive to many children’s home lives as not everyone knows the children’s different situations. Many children may not have a father figure in their households, especially because the song ‘bhombela’ is about transporting fathers to and from the busy cities where they work and returning with gifts for their children. Many fathers may not be able to do that because of their financial situations.

Other examples of the uncomfortableness that the students felt are:

• The boy who didn’t understand the Zulu song.
• A girl that felt uncomfortable dancing in front of the boys due to religious reasons.

This can be corrected by making use of more than one song so that all the children are able to feel included. We could separate the boys and the girls into different groups so that they don’t feel uncomfortable in front of the others. The learner’s opinion is also important to find out what they enjoy.

This study unit was extremely informative and I really enjoyed learning as much as I did.

Stay safe and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Until next time.

I hope everyone is still doing well. This week has been very stressful and its only Tuesday! The workload is unbearable and I am just coping, but each day is a new day and we look forward to new challenges. 

While reading through study unit 2, I became much more aware about how much music affects children's learning abilities. What was new to me was how music genres also have an impact on the child's learning abilities. They also briefly spoke about what a beat is, as well as they different musical activities that the learners are able to partake in.

In regards to the reflection of the questions for the study unit, if possible, I would personally play around with the different music genres so that the children would be able to grasp onto some sort of music piece that they would be able to relate to. Especially music that would contribute to the learners culture such as indigenous African music. This will allow them to foster an appreciation to their diversity and our country's music. This will also broaden their mindsets and change their views on what they consider to be music.

It was very interesting to learn about the meters in music. I never knew that while I was subconsciously tapping my feet along to the beat of the music that I was actually counting the meters of the beat while listening to the song. The videos were also very educational and they have given me new tools to implement in my classroom and help the learners become more comfortable within the classroom environment.

This study unit was by far the most interesting so far.

Stay safe and see you soon.

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe in these challenging times that we are living in. This week has just been EXTRA long and I know that I'm not the only one that can relate to that. I am usually always up to date with my work, but this week just felt extra challenging. Especially with my 10 month old son that is just starting to walk. It's honestly becoming a handful keeping up with all the work and running after him at the same time.

This week I joined my first teams meeting for Afrikaans and it was a very nice experience for me. Its amazing to see how the world is becoming more tech-savvy and its so eye opening to see how many new ways people are able to interact online. I also completed WIL, EDCC224, MFPC221 work this week and finishing LSKM's study unit 1 work.

In LSKM study unit 1, I have learned about music education. I often played music for my son while I was still pregnant. It is amazing to watch how children react to music and sounds. Although, I have been made aware that music can improve a child's fine motor skills, gross motor skills, mid-line crossing, hand-eye coordination and balance. It also allows learners to develop coordination, bodily awareness, self-discipline and improve the child's self-esteem. In Vygotsky's theory, they speak about the social interaction that is fundamental to cognitive development. Children obtain skills from adults around them and internalize them. Collaborative learning is a main part of Vygotsky's theory. Piagets' cognitive theory is seen as the more commonly used theory, where he states that children undergo four stages of mental development. The theory focuses on understanding how children acquire knowledge, as well as understanding the nature of intelligence.

The most significant part of the study unit is the different developments which children go through at different ages. I found it interesting to compare the different stages of development when I was that age. This study unit was very interesting to me because of how the different stages differ for each child.

This study unit has made me confident to incorporate music-based activities in the classroom. I would be able to come up with a few activities that could improve the motor skills, cognitive skills, etc. of the children. Although, I don't feel very confident standing in front of a classroom of children yet due to the fact that we unfortunately aren't able to participate in practicals yet.

Until my next post!

Hi almal, my naam is Stephanie Nicholas. Ek woon in 'n baie klein plekkie Abbotsdale in die Swartland. Ek is 'n baie hardwerkende mens, hou van uitdagings en het 'n groot liefde vir kinders. My mentoor is my mamma wat alreeds 40 jaar in die onderwys is. My jonste sussie is ook in die onderwys vir 3 jaar. Die resultate wat my mamma veral en my sussie behaal met die leerders motiveer my om ook 100% te gee vir die leerders. Ek beskou die onderwys nie as 'n werk nie maar wel as 'n roeping.

Ek is baie opgewonde oor hierdie module LSKM. Ek het nie 'n groot agtergrond van musiek nie , maar ek sal my beste doen om dit onder die kniee te kry. Sodoende kan ek die kennis wat ek opdoen weer oordra aan die leerders en 'n liefde kweek by hulle vir musiek.

Groete

Stephanie Nicholas