Annotated Bibliography (Homework & Motivation) - Steven, Amadeus, Tania

Annotated Bibliography

Abeysekera, L., & Dawson, P. (2015). Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: definition, rationale and a call for research. Higher Education Research & Development, 34(1), 1-14.

• Flipped classrooms allow students to do the preparatory work ahead of the class, easing the cognitive load via a self-paced study process. Thus, it might decrease the homework load significantly since most of the work will be done in class.

Bembenutty, Héfer, and Marie C. White."Academic performance and satisfaction with homework completion among college students. Learning and Individual Differences 24 (2013): 83-88.

• Homework and self-regulation increase the academic success of students, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.

Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do” while studying? An investigation of multitasking. Computers & Education, 75, 19-29.

• The longer students study for or do work for, the more likely they will be distracted and less effective.

Cooper, H., Lindsay, J. J., Nye, B., & Greathouse, S. (1998). Relationships among attitudes about homework, amount of homework assigned and completed, and student achievement. Journal of educational psychology, 90(1), 70.

• Class grades, for lower grades, were predicted only by standardized test scores and the proportion of homework completed by students. Thus, the more homework students do, the higher mark they will get.

Hong, E., Milgram, R. M., & Rowell, L. L. (2004). Homework motivation and preference: A learner-centered homework approach. Theory into practice, 43(3), 197-204.

• Homework can be damaging to the development of students however when implemented properly they can be an effective tool to assess and help with students learning process.

Flunger, B., Trautwein, U., Nagengast, B., Lüdtke, O., Niggli, A., & Schnyder, I. (2017). A person-centered approach to homework behavior: Students’ characteristics predict their homework learning type. Contemporary educational psychology, 48, 1-15.

• Students who have experienced the benefits of completing homework in a proper manner will be more likely and motivated to do homework.

Gonida, E. N., & Cortina, K. S. (2014). Parental involvement in homework: Relations with parent and student achievement‐related motivational beliefs and achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 376-396.

• Different types of parental involvement in homework can affect student’s motivation to do the homework.

Hancock, D. R. (2002). Influencing graduate students' classroom achievement, homework habits and motivation to learn with verbal praise. Educational Research, 44(1), 83-95.

• If students are exposed to verbal praise by the teacher, they are more motivated and spend more time on their homework.

Katz, I., Kaplan, A., & Buzukashvily, T. (2011). The role of parents' motivation in students' autonomous motivation for doing homework. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(4), 376-386.

• Parents involvement in their children's homework and parents motivation will affect students motivation towards homework.

Katz, I., Kaplan, A., & Gueta, G. (2009). Students’ needs, teachers’ support, and motivation for doing homework: A cross-sectional study. The Journal of Experimental Education, 78(2), 246-267.

• Teacher support for those students with a higher need will be much more profound than the same level of support for students with less need.

Pascarella, A. M. (2004, April). The influence of web-based homework on quantitative problem-solving in a university physics class. In Proc. NARST Annual Meeting.

• Different types of homework will affect students ability to either guess or think through a homework question.

Trautwein, U., & Lüdtke, O. (2009). Predicting homework motivation and homework effort in six school subjects: The role of person and family characteristics, classroom factors, and school track. Learning and Instruction, 19(3), 243-258.

• Homework motivation varied primarily as a function as the students shared perception of homework quality and control.

Urhahne, D. (2015). Teacher behavior as a mediator of the relationship between teacher judgment and students' motivation and emotion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 45, 73-82.

• Students underestimated (by teacher) in test performance showed lower motivation and emotion than students overestimated in test performance.

Ladd, H. F., & Sorensen, L. C. (2017). Returns to teacher experience: Student achievement and motivation in middle school. Education Finance and Policy.

• Students with higher test scores show an improved behaviour =, specifically in the reduction in absenteeism.

Schiefele, U., & Schaffner, E. (2015). Teacher interests, mastery goals, and self-efficacy as predictors of instructional practices and student motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 42, 159-171.

• Students with teachers who showed high mastery of their subject were more motivated to do their homework.

Gorozidis, G., & Papaioannou, A. G. (2014). Teachers' motivation to participate in training and to implement innovations. Teaching and Teacher Education, 39, 1-11.

• If teachers are highly motivated, it is more likely to give out innovative forms of assessment and are less reliant on the mundane ways of giving homework.

(Oct. 12 in-class writing): What makes you feel welcome or less-than-welcome in a class or subject?

One thing that makes me feel welcomed into a class is when I can see teachers make effort to remember students names right from the start. On top of that, asking the opions of students also makes the classroom more welcoming. Specifically, even though asking for feedbacks are important for teaching purposes anyways, the feedbacks themselves will make students feel that they are valued. Another minor but significant thing is that the classroom will be open and available for students to eat lunch and hang out in during break/lunch time. On top of that, it would be very helpful if the teacher can sit in the classroom, not all the time, every once a while to interact with the kids. All and all, I personally feel the teacher's relationship with students is independent of the subject or how hard the subject is.

Exit Slip - Tania/Amadeus/Steven's guiding questions

Identifying
1) a topic area
2) two or three guiding questions

Research
3) what has been learned about this already
- academic papers or books
- practioner articles
- the press and popular culture

4) making contact with the reason world.

Presentation
- slide
- bibliography resource list
- interactive activity for class

GUIDING QUESTIONS: 

How does motivation affect learning
What is teacher's motivation/goal to asign hw
What is the motivation for students to do hw
Does the type of relationship bewteen teacher and student affect students' motivation to do hw
Manditory hw vs optional hw --> integrity . motivation to do hw
hw load --> grade (wts the right balance?) 

Entrance Slip - Embodiment/Aesthetics

I think embodied learning can be incorporated in sciences in general. In fact, I see great potential in using them. A lot of times, the sciences are very theoretical in natural, and it is very hard for students to visualize the content and concepts; therefore having a difficult time understanding and/or growing an interest towards it. For instance, as the article suggested, by adding some aesthetic example, the students may pick up on the WHY part much more quickly than a boring proof or paragraphed. I would love to incorporate 'fancier' examples or demos that triggers the sense of students, hoping to get their interests higher. However, I don't necessary think movement will help too much. I could just be my misinterpretation of the word movement or simply a lack of knowledge. Perhaps movement will help in teaching physics? I just can't think of examples where movement will help in specific manners in subjects like bio or chem.

Exit Slip - Inquiry Question/Topic

I want to focus on the concept of motivation. I think that in general students will take more ownership and proactivity if the they are motivated. That being said, the question then becomes how can we as teachers to promote and invoke the motivation within students. Based off of the first journal entry, many components can play a factor. How can we help students find their own interest? Does the envrionment help (place-based-learning)? Does the poeple they are friends with help with creating a positive mentality or attitude towards the learning subject? Once more knowledge is gained in those areas, the next step would be figuring out how we can facilitate and prompt certain settings so that the students can be more interested and motivated. On the contrary, what kind of factors demotivate students or make students loose interest? Grade? Family? Hobbies? Pre-determined biases?

Entrace Slip - Grade

My views and thoughts in regard to grades are rather conflicted. As a student in high school, I absolutely loved report card day. That is because my academic performance has always been among the top. However, at the same time, I know many people who hated those report card days for the opposite reason in terms of academic performance. Thinking from the perspective of a teacher however, I feel giving out assessment is crucial for the development of students. The question then becomes whether giving out letter grades is the best option. I think letter grade works brilliantly as a tool for segregation and categorization. Letter grade will make those who are self-motivated or competitive, such as myself, work harder, and find the acknowledgement in the form of letter grade rewarding. At the same time, it will discourage those who doesn't feel the same way. Regardless, it will form a categorization among the students - the "smart" ones and those who aren't. Right now, I really can't see teaching Math or Science, specifically, without incorporating some sort of statistical and numerical assessment. In both subjects, things are very structured, and empirical measurement is important.

Exit Slip: Role of Media in Classroom

Media plays a huge role in modern education. Media influence range from social network to news and blog. I think it is really important that students have proper education in regard to media. Media is very powerful because it impose a type of control and social norm over not only students, but adults as well. What people suppose to look like, act like, and other stereotypes that may or may not be healthy. I am not here to say that media is all bad, its power can be used in the appropreiate manner. And when it does, the effect can be very beneficial. Examples can be using social media to spread words of positivity, hope, or motivation. However, I think it is safe to say that the majority of the media seem to have negative effect on the general population, whether its giving out biased information, or distorting facts. Hence, students should be given the proper training in how to interpret various information from the media.

Exist Slip - Orchard Garden

Gardening can be used very effectively to encourage healthy learning. Gardens are great places for place-based learning that promotes inquiry. Furthermore, gardens can help build and maintain a more positive classroom envrionment. When done properly, there are many things students can learn from a garden, ranging from art to science.
However, there may be many difficulties in the creation and maintainence of a garden. The land is very hard to come by. Maintaining a garden also takes a lot of time and effort. Hence, not many schools have a garden under their name.
Regardless, learning in a garden can be used as an example for place-based-inquiry. One is not neccessary restricted to learning in a garden. Parks, nature, and other places will all have similar function in terms of place-based-learning and inquiry.

Entrance Slip - Orchard Garden

I am not really a gardening type of person. However, after reading this article and thinking about what I have learned in the B.Ed program, I am starting to like the idea of incorporating gardening into education. First of all, place-based-learning is a huge topic and focus for the new cirriculum. Place-based-learning is more than just trying to learn things about a certain place. Instead, the important part is the community that occupies the place rather than the place on its own. Hence, what better way to implement place-based-learning than to have students build and contribute to a garden as their own community? Moreover, as the article mentioned, gardening incorporates so much more than just gardening. One can easily combine the idea of food, culture, and language into the experience. Academically, we can teach them about the biology, earth science, mathematical symmetry, chemical composition of the scent, and many more.

Exit Slip - Praise

Praises should be used as a method to replace punishment, as a superior way of provoking students to work harder. However, priases can be really dangerous in the sense that they can make students become dependent on external approval and acknowledgement. I believe praises should be done in regard to the work students do and not the students themselves. Ultimately, it should stimulate and promote a sense of self-acknowledgement that may eventually boost self-confidence and encourage self-encouragement. The strongest individuals are those who are independent of others physically and mentally. I wish to show my students how to value progression in their learning rather than the end-goal.

Entrance Slip - Tact in teaching

"However, while interacting with their students and while presenting their lessons, teachers usually do not have the time or inclination to truly reflect on any of such questions."

- One of the theme from last week was that teachers are humans too, and there's only so much a teacher can do. I think it is totally understandable if a teacher, regardless of experience, becomes overwelmed to engage in those deeper thinking and reflective processes. That being said, however, it should still be every teacher's goal to push themselves further and actively think and reflect on the students as well as themselves.

"What makes true reflection in action difficult is that life in classrooms is contingent, dynamic, everchanging: every moment, every second is situation-specific. Moments of teaching are ongoing incidents that require instant actions."

- If the first quote describes or relates more to the personal/emotional state of the teacher as a person, then the this quote relates more to the techniqual or physical challenges, in terms of teaching in a classroom, that a teacher faces on a daily basis. I think in this case, every teacher will become more skilled at making those "in-a-flash" decisions, as Manen describes, with more experience in teaching.

"On the one hand, our actions are sedimented into habituations, routines, kinesthetic memories. We do things in response to the rituals of the situation in which we find ourselves. On the other hand, our actions are sensitive to the contingencies, novelties, and expectancies of our world."

- This phrase applies to much more than just teaching. I really love this comment because it applies to almost every profession in any circumstance. There's so much one can talk about with regard to what he mentions here, but the takehome point for me is that one must acknowledge the fact that our actions and responses are the result of a very complex network of forces, for the lack of a better word. Therefore, it is totally normal when we feel at times we don't know how to make the "right" decision, because perhaps there is never a "right" response. In the case of teaching, I guess it's OK if one doesn't know how to approach something, since so many other factors play a role and are interferring with one's thought process in various aspects.

Exit Slip - Flip Classroom

Flip classroom seems like a wonderful idea at first glance. It allows more potential and time for interaction and engagements among students and teachers. The pre-class lecture or video allows the students to prime and prepare their mind for the class. However, there are still many underlying problems with this approach. For instance, technological struggles are bound to be there regardless the region. More importantly, the biggest problem for me is the fact that students are lazy and unmotivated in nature, and they will most likley not to participate in the pre-class self-study. It is a very important issue that must be address in some manner so that kids will actually do the study ahead of time. Ultimately, there is no doubt that the current education system needs to improve and adjust along with the fast-changing society and world. Technologies are bound to be part of this change, and one way or another, a balance of integration will be achieved.

Entrance Slip - Reflective Teacher

I can relate to the part where the article says you will be bombarded in courses and practicums with suggestions and advice regarding the numerous techniques and strategies that we can potentially use in education. It is already happening and can be seen from personal past teachers. It goes back to the idea that all teachers have their own way of teaching, and there is no perfect teaching technique. Teachers teach who they are, and since there are endless combinations of teacher and students, there will also be many combinatons of teaching methods.

It is really interesting how Phillip Jackson estimated teachers engae in approximately 1000 interpersonal interactions on any given day. It is a number far greater than what I expected. As mentioned in the article, human actions are defined as reflective and routine in nature by John Dewey. Hence, Jackson suggested that just because classrooms are fast-paced and complex envrionments doesn't mean reflective teaching cannot be used. However, due to the difficulties of actually using such technique, some may argue that reflective teaching is not really necessary, as stated in Scheffler's view. 

Exit Slip

Education goes two-ways. The teacher can learn from the students just as how students can learn from the teacher. The understanding process goes both ways. A teacher needs to make sure he or she is understood by the students, whether it's pronounciation, content, or concepts. At the same time, the teacher needs to understand the students too. Rather than trying to forcefully steer the direction of study, going with the flow of the students can be also very benefitial. However, there has to be a balance between how much teachers stick to their ideas and how much they follow's the students. Hence, preparation, back-up plans, and multiple methods are important in teaching. 

How much should we adapt to the students? To what extend should we make them feel that we are close to them? There are underlying dangers and risks when talking about yourself and your story to students. One must consider not only the need of the students but also the parents, because of the related laws in that aspect. 

Entrance Slip - Inquiry Topic Possibility

Three areas of education that I am interested in are the people you study with, the space you study in, and how emotion may affect learning. First, I am interested in how group study differs from individual study. Some students prefer to study with others while others prefer to study alone. The outcome, or efficiency, can differ significantly between the two study methods. More specifically, the type of people students study with may also affect the studying process. Second, I am interested to investigate if and how the location, not necessarily the space orientation, will affect students' learning. Some people perfer a quiet space, such as the library, while other prefer loud music and a more comfortable space, such as one's own home. It would be interesting to investigate the reason behind such differences. Lastly, I am interested in learning about how the emotion or mood the person has during learning can affect the efficiency or outcome. I think having a calm and relaxed mood makes a huge difference in comparison to someone who is anxious and under pressure. And depending on the person and situation, it can be hard to tell which emotion helps for a more efficient learning. To go further, how can we, as teachers, learn and teach how to get into the "mood" or the "zone" to promote better learning efficiency.

Sept 7 Exit Blog

There are always multiple ways to approach any one topic in education. Things will always change with different people, place, or time. When it comes to the importance of teaching mathematical theories, teachers must find the right balance of freedom. It is the responsibility of teachers to help students realize their potential. And most of the fun about mathematics is in the proofs themselves! However, at the same time, teachers must respect that fact that everyone has limited time and energy to absorb new information. For example, with an art student who wish to spend every possible spare minute on drawing, is it OK for teachers to give "extra" work that ultimately takes away the time that student has in subject(s) he or she enjoys? Another analogy is the idea of a remote, as someone mentioned in class. Math is like a remote control, a tool, used to make people's lives easier, if not possible. Although there must be those who are skilled and dedicated to manufacture and perfect this tool, the majority of us who use it don't necessarily need to understand how it works. In the end, there is no real solution or answer, as there will always be. Every situation is different, which is exactly why as teachers we need to be observant and vigilant to inquire new information in order to perfect our teaching methods.

Test test... first published post.

Ohayo