Week 7 Assignment 2

Getting close to the ending!

 

       Time definitely flies, I can't believe we are at the end of week 7 and close to entering week 8 already. I did locate two new sources into my annotated bibliography and I must say it definitely seemed much easier and faster to do so this time. I did come across a source online that I found to be very informative, but wasn't sure how to cite it because there was no author included. I freaked out a little, but after applying the evaluation test from the textbook and the CRAAP test I found out that it was credible and had all the important information I needed. It had everything except a name for an author, but I learned that I was still able to use the source and cite it as a web reference and when citing it, I was to use the title of the articles name in place of the authors name.

 

       After seven weeks of doing research on my topic I feel confident to say that I feel I have a much more better understanding of my research question. I know how and why it is so important to obtain a teaching credential when becoming a teacher; in my case a multiple teaching credential would be required since I want to become an elementary school teacher. Being a highly qualified teacher is very important because being credentialed proofs that you are not only qualified, but prepared to teach. Below is my research question and my citation and annotations as well.

 

 



What’s the Importance of Obtaining a Teaching Credential?

 

How to Become a Teacher in California. (June 2015). How to Become a Teacher in California. Retrieved from http://www.teachingdegree.org/california/

            “How to Become a Teacher in California” is a very informative entry. It talks about the education requirements, California Teaching certification reciprocity, and gave a lot more helpful resources. It did mention that “To teach elementary school in California, you must have the multiple subject teaching credential which authorizes teaching in Preschool, Kindergarten, grades 1-12, and classes for adults.” Not only did this blog talk about important things to know when wanting to become a teacher and get your teaching credentials, but this information is legit. Just like I read the entry, I also made sure to evaluate it by using the CRAAP test and the evaluation from our text book too. The information on this blog has been updated to present year and has a lot of functional links to go. The intended audiences for this entry are people who are interested in becoming a qualified teacher.  It also gives a description of their data and includes their phone number and email to contact them. I feel safe to use this source because the URL ends with “.gov” which I believe is one of the most reliable web resources.                                                                                         

Ritter, Gary & Egalite, Anna J. (2014). Licensure and Certification. In Sageknowledge. Retrieved from http://knowledge.sagepub.com/view/encyclopedia-of-education-economics-and-finance/n161.i1.xml

            “Licensure and Certification” by Gary Ritter & Anna J. Egalite is a journal which focuses on the importance of being a licensed and certified teacher. The authors’ state that a teacher who is licensure and certified have a much greater impact on the student’s education. I felt comfortable using this encyclopedia entry as one of my sources because it’s title itself includes the words “Licensure and Certification.”  This entry talks about why it is important to have your teaching credential, and that is what my research question is about. It also passed the CRAAP test and textbook evaluation. This entry provides the published date, authors name, functional links, and publisher. I did do research on the authors to make sure that they were qualified to write this entry.

Barnett, S. (2003). Better teachers, Better Preschools. Student Achievement Linked to Teacher Qualifications, 13-13. Retrieved May 30, 2015, from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED480818

            The article that I found is called “Better teachers, Better Preschools: Student Achievement Linked to teacher Qualifications” by Steven W. Barnett. This article talks about how important it is for those who teach children to be a qualified teacher. According to the article a qualified teacher would be someone who has at least attended and earned a four year college degree. Parents want to make sure that those who are teaching their children are doing it right and are qualified because if they are not, then their children are not getting the proper education that they deserve and need. This article focuses a lot on teachers who don’t hold a bachelor’s degree, a preschool teacher to be more exact.  It states that a lot of preschool teachers don’t have any kind of education nor any kind of degree, which makes it scary because if they have no education or degree then they are not fully prepared to teach children.  The author’s main concern is that it is important to hold a degree and makes it clear that being credentialed is important.  This article helped me get a better understanding of my topic because it made me realize how important it is to have an education and degree if I want to be a teacher. I feel that after I finish school and get my bachelor’s degree and teaching credentials, I will be highly qualified and prepared to step into the teaching world and begin making a difference in children’s lives. This article made me want to continue doing more research on how important it is to be credentialed and what it is to have my teaching credentials. Not only has it given me a better understanding of my research topic, but it has improved my research skills as well. I’ve been learning how to make research easier on myself and how to properly cite it as well as evaluating the data. I’ve made sure I applied the CRAAP test. I always make sure to check if the attached links are working and that it has some kind of data addressed to contact them, and also do research on the authors myself to make sure that the authors are qualified.

 

Goldhaber, D., & Brewer, D. (n.d.). Teacher Licensing and Student Achievement. 7-7. Retrieved from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:RHLcen7kZhAJ:https://www.stcloudstate.edu/tpi/initiative/documents/recuitment/Teacher%20Licensing%20and%20Student%20Achievement.pdf &cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us  

The empirical research article that I came across with is “Teacher Licensing and Student Achievement” by Dan D. Goldhaber and Dominic J Brewer. This article talks about the way that states use licensing to make sure that only people who are qualified are hired. Of course one of the requirements to being qualified is having your credentials. It also explained how people who obtain any kind of certification such as standard, emergency, alternative, etc. will outperform people with no certification or certified in a different subject. This research article has given me a better understanding about my research topic. I didn’t know there was an emergency certification and therefore it is good to know what is out there. I believe that this article is very helpful and informative because it talks about the ways states hire. Since I want to become an elementary teacher I find it very important to try and get as much information as I can. I know that after this research article I will continue doing more research on my topic, but a bit more on teaching certifications that are out there and that allow you to teach. This article was very informative and also made it easy for me to cite it. It had all the data I needed to cite it and to evaluate it myself. I really like and think the CRAAP test is awesome because if I am able to have an answer to each of the CRAAP questions then that means the source is reliable. I like when I go over the list and can find anything the list asks for. I also make sure to rely on the Badke textbook as well. Both CRAAP test and textbook evaluation make it easy and helpful when doing my evaluation on the source I use.

Ackerman, Debra J. (June 2007). Early Childhood Research and Practice. Getting Teachers from Here to There: Examining Issues Related to an Early Care and Education Teacher Policy, volume 7. http://ercrp.uiuc.edu/v7n/ackerman.html

            The review article that I found and decided was appropriate for my research topic is called “Getting Teachers from Here to There: Examining Issues related to an Early care and Education Teacher Policy” by Debra J Ackerman. This article focuses on the qualifications of a teacher. It states that “early care and education teachers are not required to have attained a bachelor’s degree (BA) prior to working with young children.”  It also explains how those who obtain a Bachelor’s degree and teaching credential are highly qualified to teach in a classroom and at a higher chance of being hired. This article just proofs how important it is to be highly qualified and not only have a high school diploma, certificates, or associates degree, but to have at least a Bachelor’s degree and of course teaching credential for those who wish to pursue a career as a teacher. After reading this article I received a greater level of knowledge on my research topic. I will most definitely be doing further research on why preschool and child cares such as Head start teachers are not required to have a higher education and just need to have completed at least 12 units in ECS courses and few certificates.  This review article was very interesting and had a lot of useful and handy data. After having to learn how to cite my sources and evaluate it, I felt pretty comfortable using this source because it had all the data I needed to pass the CRAAP and textbook evaluation tests. I like reading the entries first, but there have been times when I get too excited and then realize that they are not credible, so I have learned to just skim over the text and begin to evaluate it and if I see it does pass the test then I actually begin to read the passage. As soon as I realize that it’s safe to use and to cite I feel very happy and comfortable knowing that I found a credible source because otherwise, I would keep on looking for one and not only that If I don’t apply the evaluation to it I might be using false information for my research assignments.

Grey, S., & Price Davis, A. (2011). PRAXIS II: Elementary Education, Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment (2nd ed., p. 15). Research & Education Association.

            The title of the E-book is PRAXIS II: Elementary, Education, Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment by Shannon Grey and Anita Price Davis.  This book is amazing! It explains in detail the process of earning your teaching credentials. It not only explains the steps to obtaining it, but it also provides insight information and helps you get prepared and be ready for when that time comes. I believe that the author of this book is qualified because I applied the CRAAP test and not only that, but I also did research on the Author. The author Shannon Grey also known as Dr. Shannon Grey has a very high education and was a teacher herself for several years. She has written over 80 books. She has also written two college text books, published history books, and is also the author of over eighty papers, book reviews, journal articles, and encyclopedia entries. This book has already helped me gained a better understanding of my topic and as I continue reading I will learn even more. I didn’t know what exactly test you had to take or what they were based on, but this book has it all. I’ve learned so much by just reading the first chapters of the book. This book gives me more information than what I thought I needed to know. It’s made me want to do more research on the test subjects and how to prepare for them. I am excited to have found this text and hope to continue learning more over my topic and also continue learning more research strategies. I was kind of unsure of how to cite this entry because I was too worried I would cite it incorrectly. So what I did is I made sure to look for the authors name, the currency, asked myself if this information was useful for my research topic, what’s the accuracy like, is it reliable, etc. After asking myself these questions and of course going through the textbook and CRAAP test list I then know if the source is credible. If it is then I begin to read more about it and to cite it. I always make sure that I give credit to those who write the data because It’s important to cite it, otherwise it means I am writing about my own ideas, my own thoughts, my own research which would be incredibly wrong. I’ve learned and have enjoyed evaluating the sources I find before I begin to use them. It is such an easy and quick step to do, that makes your research assignments that much more powerful.