Abstract of

Teaching Tips
What's a Teacher to Do? Navigating the Worksheet Curriculum

Arlene R.H. Pincus

Most published reading programs include teacher's manuals, lessons, workbooks, and other materials that accompany literature anthologies. If teachers were to use all of these materials, the time left for reading actual texts and engaging children in writing and discussion would be seriously compromised. The article suggests that strong lessons help children develop phonemic awareness and phonics skills, fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and text comprehension strategies. It provides guiding questions that will help teachers determine whether a worksheet lesson develops a reading goal effectively and efficiently, and whether to use a worksheet for modeling a strategy, guided practice, or as a pre- or posttest. The article illustrates the use of the questions by analyzing two worksheet lessons. The author suggests that teachers use the questions to decide which worksheets are truly valuable for their students. Teachers are encouraged to view this type of decision making as their professional responsibility.

Abstract from Pincus, A.H. (2005, September). What's a Teacher to Do? Navigating the Worksheet Curriculum. The Reading Teacher, 59(1), 75–79. doi: 10.1598/RT.59.1.8