My Life in Education

Figuring out how individuals develop and construct knowledge is a burning question in all walks of life and is truly the key in the teaching of anything. If you can not figure out how people learn and retain information, no matter how well you teach a subject, no knowledge will be gained. General knowledge is most commonly defined as, “information that is useful in many different kinds of tasks; information that applies to many situations”. This is the most commonly accepted definition by society, however according to most researchers, knowledge is based on experiences. According to the cognitive approach, “one of the most important elements in the learning process is what the individual brings to new learning situations” (Woolfolk, A. (2014). Educational Psychology(12th ed.). S.l.: Pearson.). In other words, if you are learning about a subject and have prior experience in that subject, you are more likely to retain the information you learned.

This video shows how knowledge is developed and does a really good job explains cognitive development.

Knowledge is developed in many ways. In a school setting, students need to be able to make sense of new information in order to acquire new knowledge. They need to be able to relate it to something that is important to them. If they do not have this emotional attachment to the subject matter, nothing will be learned and no knowledge will be retained.

The developmental characteristics impact teaching and learning in many ways. Piaget, Vygotsky, and Erikson all provide some sort of guidelines and parameters regarding development and when the best time to teach is. Being able to know what your students enjoy and value can help my teaching greatly. I want my students to really grasp what I teach and respond positively. By knowing how to relate the subject matter to each student and by knowing what the most optimal time to teach what would be greatly beneficial for my students.

The link between teaching and research is most often overlooked and assumed to not be connected whatsoever. However, in reality, quite the opposite is true. Research has a large influence on teaching as teaching does on research. Teachers can use data and findings of researchers to better themselves and their classrooms. Teachers can also be researchers because they can conduct their own research and reach out to researchers to broaden the data. This research stimulates conversation in the classroom and it gives the ‘why’ to the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. Teachers should be constantly learning inside and outside the classroom. Research is more quantitative and teaching is more qualitative; they both need each other to flourish. In the end, the eventual goal of research’s involvement in education is to “enable teachers, teacher educators, and institutions to make sound decisions about the educational activities and experiences that will best serve students”. (“Understanding the Relationship between Research and Teaching.” NCTE Comprehensive News. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.)

In this video, Dr. Nick Grindle, does a nice job explaining the best ways of incorporating research into teaching and encouraging students to do their own research projects.

This resent growth and importance in the relationship between research and teaching means a lot to me and my future career. The more and more that research is being incorporated into teaching, the more I have to be prepared to conduct my own research, collect my own data, and be open to learning more about my students.

In the case of the teacher who decided to remove homework entirely; I like that idea too. There are things far more important in a young students life than homework. Spending time with family and playing games, eating, and reading together all have more positive effects for kids than homework does.

In my personal opinion, I think homework is necessary. Of course that is what I say now looking back on my years throughout school. When I was in high school and doing hours upon hours of homework every night, my thoughts were drastically different. However, as I reflect now, I believe homework is in fact important. I think homework reinforces the lessons covered during the school day and teaches the students responsibility and independence.

I believe it is necessary, but am all for reducing the amount. I think the amount of homework assigned in some schools is ridiculous. Homework effects students way more than just in the grade book. In a school where the seniors received an average of three hours of homework a night it was found that, “students who did more hours of homework experienced, ‘greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives’”(Galloway, M., Conner, J., & Pope, D. (2013). Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools. Journal Of Experimental Education, 81(4), 490-510. doi: 10.1080/00220973.2012.745469).

Beyond that, most of the homework assigned is just “busy work”. They are just assignments that teachers use to add more grades to the grade book. According to an article that explored the history of homework, it was stated that “homework is either manful or meaningless depending on the education system around it”(Watkins, P. J., & Stevens, D. W. (2013). The Goldilocks Dilemma: Homework policy creating a culture where simply good is just not good enough. Clearing House, 86(2), 80-85. doi:10.1080/00098655.2012.748642). It is proven that homework that is not content based hurts students more than it helps them.

Lastly, high schools are supposed to prepare kids for post secondary education and colleges look at a lot more than grades on homework. Students already say that they, “don’t have time” and that “there’s no point in doing homework”(Hinchey, P. (1996). Why kids say they don’t do homework. Clearing House, 69(4), 242.). Kids are constantly doing this busy work and have no time to make themselves better like join a club or other extracurricular activity. “…counselors, parents and college-admissions officers now urge students to start taking advanced-placement courses — often with a minimum of 90 minutes of homework a night — in junior year, as well as to start building a portfolio of extracurricular activities and community-service projects to bolster their applications”(Kaufman, J. (2008, May 24). High school’s worst year?; for ambitious teens, 11th grade becomes a marathon of tests, stress and sleepless nights. Wall Street Journal Retrieved from https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/399061049?accountid=14791). There just isn’t enough time for kids to do everything that colleges want from them, especially when given hours of seemingly useless homework.