Teachers’ Role as Researchers
The relationship between teachers and researchers is very important in the field of education. It allows for new ideas to be experimentally designed and tested in order to determine what practices do and don’t work in a classroom setting. Although the job titles and training may be different for both researchers and teachers, I believe they can also be used interchangeably. In order for a teacher to be successful, they must be constantly thinking ahead and adapting their teaching practices along with the changing world. This means that teaching practices used even 5 years ago, may no longer be relevant to today’s society. For this reason, it is necessary for teachers to also be researchers.
There is so much easily accessible information out there, because of the technology we have, which can be both a good and a bad thing. It is good because we have all the information we could ever need right at our finger tips, but it can also be bad because it can be overwhelming to sort through and decide which sources are useful and relevant and which ones are not. Using information literacy to evaluate and select which research to use can help simplify the research process. What this means for my future career is that my education does not end once I graduate college, I must be constantly learning and researching throughout my entire teaching career to ensure I am using the most effective, up to date teaching practices.
Whether or not teachers should be assigning homework to their students is a controversial debate in the educational world. A lot of research has been conducted to determine the affectivity of homework and its correlation with academic achievement. In my opinion, the amount of homework that should be given and for which subjects varies from different grade levels, but for right now I am going to focus on my own topic and level on students that I intend to teach. So, do I believe that students of the middle and high school levels should be given math homework?, the short answer is yes. I do though, have a strong opinion on how homework should be assigned. From my own personal experience in school being the student that gave the smallest possible effort in order to just get by, I remember which homework I fully completed on time, which homework helped me review what I had learned in class, and which homework I believe increased my academic achievement. On the contrary, I also remember which homework felt like busy work, a waste of my time, and something that would not actually help me learn or retain information in the long run. This homework usually got tossed in the trash as soon as I got home, and if a student like me did that, I don’t doubt there are many other students who do the same. Due to this experience, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what constitutes effective homework.
Through some of the research I did, I found other articles supporting my thoery with scientific evidence backing them up. One article in particular titled: “Teachers’ Feedback on Homework, Homework-Related Behaviors, and Academic Achievement” discussed the importance of teachers giving feedback on homework in order to create effectiveness. I completely agree with this theory because without giving feedback 1.) the students have no incentive to even complete the homework, and 2.) the students won’t know which ones they did correctly/incorrectly therefore no learning or improvement can take place. Another article I read called “Homework Hysteria” collected research on how too much homework is not effective and can create stress in the household. For example, if a student has 5 classes and each teacher assigns about an hour of homework, that equals 5 hours of homework in just one night for that student! Along with extracurricular activities, this leaves little to no time for family, friends, and a good night sleep. Therefore, the homework that is assigned should be concise and not excessive.
Overall, research is a very important component in good teaching and should be used throughout one’s teaching career in order to continuously expand ideas and practices in the classroom. Purposeful research should be done through using information literacy in order to sort through and find the sources one actually needs and ensure they are accurate, scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. The research surrounding homework is important to consider when attempting to maximize academic achievement while still taking into consideration the students’ overall workload. All of the ideas I have discussed I plan to consider when beginning and throughout my whole teaching career.
Sources Cited:
(2007, December 10). Homework hysteria. Maclean’s. p. 2.
Culyer, R. O. (1996). Making homework work. Education Digest, 61(9), 52.
Goss, J. (2012, November 02). This is how I feel as I’m doing my research statistics homework tonite….Ahhhh is it August yet?! Retrieved February 05, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/123637952241560925/
Locke, J. Y., Kavanagh, D. J., & Campbell, M. A. (2016). Overparenting and homework: the student’s task, but everyone’s responsibility. Journal Of Psychologists & Counsellors In Schools, 26(1), 1-15. doi:10.1017/jgc.2015.29
Nunez, J.C., Suarez, N., Rosario, P., Vallejo, G., Cerezo, R., & Valle, A. (2015). Teachers’ feedback on homework, homework-related behaviors, and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 108(3), 204-216. doi:10.1080/00220671.2013.878298
The great homework debate. (2015, March 17). Retrieved February 05, 2017, from http://www.classic-play.com/the-great-homework-debate/
Turk Hij Den Biyol Derg. (n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2017, from http://www.turkhijyen.org/eng/jvi.aspx