Over the course of module 1, I have learned more and more about educational research. The aspects that make up the research, how its organized, and how to get it peer reviewed and out into journals or books. The one thing that I took away from it is how much teachers and educators are involved in the research that gets done. From talking in class and reading the article from NCTE, teachers and researchers have to be connected and involved in every aspect in order to get the most accurate results. According to the NCTE, research allows “teachers to make sound decisions about educational activities and experiences that will best serve students” (2005).
Also important is being information literate and how it is very important in becoming a better teacher. Being able to interpret information from research will help giving helpful feedback when looking to teach better. If a future teacher like me wasn’t literate, then how would I be able to become a better educator and I wouldn’t be doing my job very good if I wasn’t trying to evolve and further my abilities as a teacher. One source that I found talked about in today’s digital and social media age, there is a lot of information out there and all of it might not be the most reliable or accurate and being information literate is becoming more and more necessary when determining what to believe or not (Gardner 2016).
Another big part of module 1 was the topic of homework in school and if it is really helpful and can it change for the better of students. My personal thoughts on homework is that is it essential in order for students to continue to learn the material. However, I also believe that it should be engaging and more of a review from that day so the students can see the material again but on their own so it might help them. I found 4 articles that talk further about the topic of homework in the classroom. First is an article from Teaching Exceptional Children. In this article, the author stalks about being independent when doing homework and asking for help when you need it in order to maximize the learning from the homework. Also how developing a plan for homework will help in getting it done and on time (Hampshire, 2014). The next article talks about the time management aspect to homework and how kids put other things first. Also that relearning the main points is key to getting the students to learn more (Sallee, 2008). The next article highlights the reasons that students don’t do their homework and what they look to get out of the assignments in general (Wilson 2010). The fourth article I found talks about how getting a peer to review the homework assignment can be key in learning the skills from the topic (Zare 2017). I personally agree with these articles because although homework is essential to a student’s success, they also have many things outside of school that may obstruct their ability to complete it in a timely manner. That is why I think that teachers must be able to compromise and change what the homework is like in order to get the students to learn all the material.
Gardner, L. (2016, November). Teaching information literacy now. School library journal. Retrieved on February 6, 2017 from http://www.slj.com/2016/11/industry-news/teaching-media-literacy-now/#
Hampshire, P.K. (2014). Homework plans: a tool for promoting independence. Teaching Exceptional Children, 46(6), 158-168.
Sallee, B. (2008, November). Doing our homework on homework: how does homework help? Retrieved January 31, 2017 from libproxu.uww.edu:2075/stable/40503382
Wilson, J. (2010). Student perspectives on homework. Education, 131(2), 351-358.
Zare, R. (2017). Implementation of peer-reviewed homework assignments. Journal of college science teaching. Vol 46. 40-46.