Cherish Vimbai Bere
The Use of Worksheets in the Classroom
One of the most popular teaching strategies employed in most classrooms today
is a Worksheet. One of the reasons why the use of worksheets in classroom is
popular is because they are time saving.
Teachers often have a limited amount of lesson time to cover their subject in
depth and usually resort to teaching students what they need to know without
ant time for reflection and deep comprehension. If correctly used worksheets
can act as scaffolding to students learning by providing them with an
opportunity to reflect on what they are studying.
For example, in my Year 8 Buddhist class on the Buddhist Community the Sangha
I had to first cover the notion of community as it applies to Buddhism and the
rules and guidelines that keep the community together, the Precepts. I designed
a worksheet that had all the 10 precepts written out as well as space for students
to unpack what each precept meant. There was also space for students to reflect
on why the precepts are important for Buddhists applying what they had
previously learnt. The worksheet was devised to emphasise the 5 Moral Precepts
that all Buddhists follow as well as the additional 5 that only monks and nuns
followed. The reason for this was that previously when it came to the End of Unit
assessment students often mixed up the precepts either because they had not
noted them down correctly during lesson time because time had run out or they
had copied the precepts from the board but had not engaged with the meaning of
the precepts or reflected on their significance in regards to Buddhist teachings.
The aim of this new worksheet was twofold, one to provide students with a
space where all the precepts where noted and a chance for them to engage with
the meaning of each in lesson time and two for the worksheet to be a point of
reference for Buddhist Precepts and as a tool for revision. Time was saved, as
students did not have to copy each precept down from the board rather there
was more time for class interaction and discussion. A student was asked to read
a precept and the floor was opened as to what that precept might mean as well
as for links to Buddhist teaching to be made. After the short discussion students
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were given a moment to reflect on what has been discussed using the space
provided on the worksheet.
Secondly, worksheets are a good resource for reviewing and practicing material.
There are some subjects, Maths and Science, that have some concepts that
students can easily understand if the practice them. A worksheet designed for
this purpose can act a tool for students to use and enhance their learning by
being able to practice as well as return to it to review their understanding of the
topic.
There are some problems with using worksheets in the classroom. If the teacher
does not carefully monitor the work that is taking place students will often spend
the time they are meant to be using to complete the sheet talking to other
students. This will often result in half completed worksheets and the teacher
assigning their completion as homework. This undermines the use of the
worksheet as a classroom activity. Ideally as students are working the teacher is
meant to address any problems or questions that arise in the classroom
environment. This learning is not possible if students complete the worksheet
specifically designed for classroom use at home. One way of overcoming this is
setting a time limit. This gives students a sense of urgency and regard that the
work is important.
Another problem comes from the student who waits for a friend or more able
students to finish their worksheets and either copies the answers down or
paraphrases them without any real engagement. The mere accomplishment of
the worksheet task does not signify the child’s ability to read or comprehend.
One way to ensure productivity is to go through the worksheet as a class. This
means factoring in time for discussion and personal response to the issues
raised.
Worksheet-based curricula dampen enthusiasm for learning and as such
worksheets should be regarded as one of the many teaching strategies that
teachers can employ in order to ensure learning has take place. A failure to
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appropriate them as such will often result in the teacher who relies of
worksheets to do his/her teaching for her. Students require a variety of
techniques to learn and a good teacher should discern the appropriateness and
effectiveness of any resource at the planning stage in relation to what she wants
her students to learn and thus achieve by the end of the lesson, topic or term. A
worksheet is simply one of the many how’s a teacher can employ for her use.