Worksheets, like lectures have taken a beating in the 21st century education dialogue. A few weeks ago, a hard-working and thoughtful teacher said to me, “But my kids like worksheets.” I do not doubt the veracity of that statement. I do, however, take issue with the implied value because they like it.
Instructional approaches need to be varied and many, diverse, differentiated, interesting, scaffolded, layered, remediated, curiosity invoking. Sometimes a worksheet can be a means to that end. Similarly, so can a lecture or even… *gasp* … a reading out of a textbook. The issue is not that these are instructional tools that are bad, the issue is when these are the only instructional tools being used. Much like McDonald’s, if a kid has a worksheet a week, they will be fine. If McDonald’s is all they ever eat… I think we all know how that turns out.
Let’s think critically about what kind of instructional diet we are feeding our students everyday.
In the summer of 1980, just before I moved to the SF Bay Area, I worked for the Social Studies School Service evaluating materials sent by publishers for possible inclusion in our catalogs. There were unbelievably great books, simulations, videos, etc.; but no workbooks (or as they were then, ditto master books). So you can imagine my surprise one afternoon when I was talking with Irwin Levin (one of the two founders of the company). I explained that I was truly blown away by all of the outstanding materials I’d seen over the course of the summer, and was thrilled that social studies teachers had so many terrific options for materials with which to have students work. Irwin looked at me and said he agreed, but that what most people bought were ditto master books, which turned out to be what kept the company profitable. From what you write here, Diana, I’m guessing that must still be the case.
I think that the ease that both McDonald’s delivers a meal… worksheets easily deliver content. I wish we would get to the place where we understood that ease was not important in either endeavor… if its meant to sustain a human.
“The critical content of any learning experience is the method or process through which the learning occurs.” – Neil Postman (on McLuhan), Teaching As a Subversive Activity. (I love thinking about what an “adult worksheet” – because they’re meant for young people, aren’t they? – looks like.)
Pingback: Goals Worksheet | One Meal