No Worksheet Week

I teach English to ninth and tenth graders all day, in a time of insane standardized testing. Seriously, my sophomores take a high stakes test, or a predictive test for a standardized test, every month of the school year from October through May. They equate learning with stapled papers and bubbles to fill in with number 2 pencils. Between the testing and the worksheets and packets I see them completing for other classes, I’m surprised they have any interest in school at all. Not to say I don’t give the occasional worksheet, but I want to do everything in my power to make school a positive, fun, and productive place. I want my students to do, to create; if they don’t create things now, they won’t be likely to create things as adults.  Needless to say, I was completely on board when I heard of the #noworksheetweek challenge on Twitter.

Comic Summary of The Invocation

Immediately, I thought, “this won’t be hard; I rarely give worksheets anyway!” I participated in my state’s Twitter chat (#inelearn) the week beforehand and even gathered some new ideas. Then, I found out I would have to miss at least half the day on Monday of #noworksheetweek, and my first thought was, “I’ll leave some handouts for the sub...oh snap! #noworksheetweek!” This is the real struggle.  It IS pretty easy for me to teach without worksheets, so why is my response different when I won’t be there?!  Sure, some students try to push the boundaries a little with a substitute teacher, but I have good students.  We’ve built relationships. I have them do and create all the time! Why would I leave them anything less when I have to miss a day? They deserve better!

Working on the Iron Chef Activity

Just a little more thought helped me plan out a creation activity for my absence.  My sophomores were easy--We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday writing and peer editing argumentative essays.  Thursday and Friday were rounded out with watching a film to prepare for a Socratic seminar the next week.  My freshmen were a little tougher.  We were just beginning to read the Odyssey and write a research paper. On Monday, they read, created a comic summary of one of the scenes, and searched for evidence of strengths/weaknesses of Odysseus’s leadership for a graphic organizer we will continue throughout our reading. Tuesday found us discussing the reading and practicing paraphrasing and summarizing different sections of a news article. Wednesday we generated research questions as a group, collected articles, and formed a tentative Works Cited page. Thursday brought an Iron Chef assessment of the Cyclops section of the Odyssey, and on Friday we read and marked up our research articles and planned our own epithets based on our personal traits, modeled after The Odyssey.

The whole week, I did not use a single worksheet, but I wonder how often I do it without being intentional? I wonder how much more I can do it if I AM intentional about planning no worksheets? As I asked my students to reflect, their response was all the same. They liked #noworksheetweek, but they didn’t feel anything unusual was going on in my room. Instead, they urged me to keep fighting for them.  They are creative, capable, intelligent beings who can Do and Create if we allow them to do it! They asked me to spread the word, to show other teachers what is possible if we do away with the worksheets.

What could your students do if they weren’t doing worksheets? What are some of your favorite non-worksheet activities or non-test assessments? Please share in the comments below!

Dear First Year Teacher Self

Dear First Year Teacher Self,

You know those crazy, scary thoughts you had about the time demands of teaching? You know, the ones brought on by seeing the first year teacher race into the teacher’s lounge, down a Snickers and a Coke in 2 minutes flat, and pass out asleep on the couch for the remainder of lunch while you were substitute teaching as a college sophomore? Yes, it really is that intense. Teaching, really teaching, is an exhausting job.  Even when you design student-centered, differentiated, authentic learning experiences.  Especially when you do that.  But it’s all worth it; just make better food choices.  When the student’s wish they could spend all day in your class, when you see a student who has been told he’s a failure succeed, and when the bell rings and the students say, “I can’t believe class is over already!” you know your fatigue is paying off!

Remember how terrified you were that you might mess up or not know the answer? It’s really going to be ok. You won’t always know the answer, and sometimes your perfectly planned lessons won’t work. Use that to your advantage. Teach students it’s ok to make mistakes, that we shouldn’t avoid them, that we won’t learn if we don’t make them. Admit mistakes, revel in them, announce them to students because you won’t make too many. That student who never speaks up in class? He’s been ridiculed for mistakes.  He needs to trust you to model a First Attempt At Learning so he’ll share his brilliance. The girl who cries when she *only* earns 95%? She needs to reclaim her childhood, and you can help!

Never forget your main purpose. Keep student engagement and learning as your compass, and you will never go wrong. Administrators, politicians, standards, tests...they will come and go. Your students will only get one school experience. If they are learning, if you make it fun, interesting, and relevant to their lives, they will have positive views on learning and school long after graduation. They deserve to be the center of everyone with a stake in education’s universe; and if others won’t put them there it’s your job to fight for them.

Take care of yourself, and connect with as many educators as possible who know these ideas are true!

Sincerely,

Your more experienced, but still student-centered, Self