It’s amazing the difference in effort you’ll get from one worksheet to another. Granted, the amount of effort can vary wildly from year to year, depending on the group of students you have. However, for the most part, when a worksheet is needed to dig deeper into a procedure, rule, or lesson, its effectiveness can and will vary.
Therefore, it is our job as teachers to make sure that when we need to use a worksheet, we provide students with one that is as inspiring as possible.
Times are different these days. Kids are growing up in a world of microwaves, fast food chains, Nintendo, Wi-Fi, iPads, and a host of other technical marvels.
When I was a kid, we didn’t have computers at home let alone PlayStation to entertain us. Handheld camcorders were barely hitting the retail market when I was in eighth grade, but they were still a long way from the YouTube and Facebook arena we see today. Times were extremely different back then and so was school.
From a teacher’s perspective, our competition is tough. Handing out a booklet of 30 problems that are all in a 534×25 format = is not as stimulating in the eyes of students as playing games like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil.
Of course, it will always be an uphill battle for math to beat most video games, but the point is that today’s students are far more immersed in technology than ever before. So even if you need to hand out a math worksheet to review concepts and formulas, it will be of great benefit to your cause if you design the worksheet to be as stimulating as possible.
Therefore, creativity is a must for worksheets to be successful.
Regardless of whether you are trying to brush up on math, science, reading, writing, health, or social studies, your goal should always be to try to create something that makes students want to do it. If you can do this, the battle is pretty much over.
For example, because I want to make sure my students get used to reviewing the various math concepts and standards we’ve learned throughout the year, I have them practice regularly. I want them to get to a point where they are so familiar with grade level math content that solving these types of problems becomes automatic.
However, caution should be exercised when the review is covered repeatedly in your classroom. You don’t want your students to get bored or frustrated with repetition.
Another important point to keep in mind is that I never want this regular math review time to take up an hour of class. I want it to be fast but effective. This is not instruction time, but rather time for students to review material they have already learned.
In my fifth grade class, we use a math review series that is engaging and entertaining at the same time. In essence, they are simply half-page booklets with ten standards-based math problems woven into a special image or exciting scene. Remember, I want math review time to be quick, but effective.
My students participate in the activity because they are always anxious to know what the next scene will be and how the math problems will be located. They also like how inside each booklet I inscribe the title in a way that fits the theme of that particular scene, another attention-grabbing technique. And since this review activity only takes about fifteen minutes of class time, it’s quick but extremely beneficial.
The point is, whatever it takes to get students actively involved in the review process where they don’t get bored and effectively review grade level material to prepare them for state or quarterly assessments.
We hope this has inspired you to develop exciting and engaging revision worksheets for your class when needed and your students to accomplish as much as they can come test time.