Blog for October 2nd.

On page 57 of Routman's text, Regie states, "Worksheets foster mediocrity." Do you agree or disagree? Why? Here's my input on this topic.
While I understand the view that an over-reliance on worksheets used in an ininteresting, irrelevant, and unchallenging environment most likely would lead to a medial classroom standard, I don't view worksheets as being totally taboo and without some merit. Let me tell you why. Before I decided to pursue an educaation degree, I did some field research. I got on the phone, called up principals, explained my situation, and asked if I would be able to interview teachers. To my great surprise, most schools were very accommodating. A lot of teachers responded to my request. It is from talking with these teachers, listening to their different teaching philosophies, and observing them at work that I can say with surety that there are capable teachers out there who would take umbrage with Routman's statement in the context it was written.
Primarily, most of these teachers taught grades K-3. From what I remember observing, their use of worksheets, for the most part, was in conjunction with the "Balanced Literacy" programs that some of these teachers were using. A common factor I noticed among these classrooms was the number of interesting and challenging centers each one employed. I observed students who were on-task and engaged in their activities - even the worksheet activities! While worksheet activity certainly didn't rule the curriculum, it was viewed as a useful tool, in particular, to reinforce phonics' learning.
My experience with these teachers, I think, is the reason Routman's statement jumped off the page at me. In my own teaching practice, I'm not going to exclusively rule out the use of worksheets. I think that's a bit extreme. I'll use worksheets, in moderation, if I feel it's necessary to use them. In the younger grades, I feel that worksheets can be appropriately used as useful reinforcers of application activities. As Gail Tompkins "Literacy for the 21 st Century" suggests, if you're going to use worksheets, try to address a variety of skills, have several levels, and look for different interests. I think that's sound advice. As always, I believe a mix of professional common sense and good judgement should prevail.

My First Blog

Hello Everyone,
This is my very first blog! I'm looking forward to our writing activities in this new digital literacy environment.