Under Pressure?!

By: Madison

Playing or sitting at a desk doing a worksheet? I think we all know which one we would choose!

Some teachers feel as though they are pressured to send home worksheets so that the parents can see what their child did at school that day. Worksheets are easily transmittable into grades. Grades and quantitative performance are the main concern of parents today. It is essential that parents understand the importance of play instead of using worksheets in the classroom that the teacher can send home. Through play children work through problem solving and in the primary grades “if we want children to learn to solve problems we must create safe environments in which they feel confident taking risks, making mistakes, learning from them, and trying again” (Fordham & Anderson, 1992). Worksheets do not allow for this.  Where do those stacks of worksheets go that your children bring home? By inviting the parents to come watch centers and play in the classroom will allow them to see that the children are actually learning through play. Parents could sign up for parent observations to visit the class to see all of the rich learning that is happening while not using worksheets. There are plenty of other ways that parents can see what their child is learning at school other than using worksheets to send home. Some of those ideas in which teachers can implement in their classroom are:

·      Take pictures of the students engaging in play based learning and post on a private class website.

·      Use hands on activities where the children can make things such as projects to bring home.

·      Create a newsletter about what it is that they are learning that week with highlights of things they will be doing at school to learn about that topic.

·      Display the children’s work by posting it around the classroom for parents to see when they come.

·      Have children free write about their favorite activity of the week and what they learned by doing that activity.

·      Have recordings of the children talking about something that they discovered or learned that day

Some teachers may not feel this way and may see that it is fine to use worksheets in the classroom to show parents what is happening at school, however it is not developmentally appropriate. Worksheets are not developmentally appropriate because it doesn’t provide movement that young children need. Worksheets are only a snapshot of their learning and in the younger grades we show progress and mastery over these concepts which worksheets don’t allow. As children get older, “worksheets and workbooks should be used in schools only when children are older and developmentally ready to profit from them” (Bredekamp, S. & Rosegrant, T., 1992). Teachers may use worksheets because it is something easy to just give to the child to put in their backpack to send home. I hope that all parents and teachers see the importance of interactive play to facilitate learning rather than using worksheets.

References

Bredekamp, S. & Rosegrant, T. (Eds.). (1992). Reaching potential: Appropriate curriculum and assessment for young children. Washington, DC: Natl. Assn. for the Education of Young Children.

Fordham, A.E. & Anderson, W.W. (1992). Play, risk-taking, and the emergence of literacy. In Play's place in public education for young children, edited by V.J. Dimidjian, 105-114. Washington, DC: National Education Association.

Grossman, S. (2008). The Worksheet Dilemma: Benefits of Play-Based Curricula. http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=134