I'm not a fan of "busy work."
I hope that most teachers who are up-to-date on best practce are not, as well.
I used to think "busy work" was any time a teacher was sitting down and students were filling in worksheets and nobody was speaking or making anything. Then I gave my students a 26-page English grammar packet and felt very disturbed about myself for a while.
The more I think about that packet, the more I am convinced there is such a thing as self-guided learning that can be achieved through worksheets. This unit of grammar is filled with review - I have eighth graders learning (yet again) what to capitalize, how to use commas, how to abbreviate, etc. I know they have had this at least 4 years in a row, and at some point standing at the board telling them <i>yet again</i> would only serve to make them hate grammar.
So I chose all of the most interesting, varied-level activities from all of my reproducable workbooks, put them in order according to the grammar book, and inserted a few helpful examples or "rules" before each new topic. I ran them off, showed my kids where to find help (i.e. the grammar book and which pages, the dictionary for abbreviations, etc.) and set them to it.
They've been working away for two days now, rediscovering the "rules" on their own, finding any help they need, and working at their own pace. Until next Friday.
What are your thoughts on worksheets as self-guided learning rather than "busy work?"
2 comments:
I totally agree with your grammar approach. I teach 7th grade and I've found they enjoy the challenge of independent packets. I just completed a "Survivor Unit" which was a thinly veiled set of functional reading comprehension worksheets. i.e. charts, graphs, tables and such. If you're interested let me know and I'll send your the details about the challenges and redemption island.
Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad to hear about your success with packets. Your "Survivor Unit" sounds fantastic - I would love to give it a look for next year!
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