Oh what I wouldn't have given to skip worksheets in grade school. The totally useless (in a kid's mind anyway) busy work handed out by bored teachers to get us to sit down and shut up.
I guess I was just born a few decades too early. Sigh.
Teachers are saying bye bye to the worksheet in an effort to both cut costs and cut their carbon footprint, and today's kids are loving it.
They write their papers on a computer, read books on the computer, even do their homework on scanned PDFs available via the Internet. The teachers are finding themselves spending less time at the copy machine (or less time sending their assistants to the copy machine) and more time for classroom instruction or preparation for instruction. And the kids, they say, are more engaged. Used to cell phones, Wiis and constant electronic connections, being plugged in inside the classroom has meant better student engagement.
And, of course, there's that cost issue - even in better economic times, schools across the country could always used more money. Now, the financial issues are dire in some districts - where teachers have sold ad space on testpapers, administrators have called for kids to bring their own toilet paper and all classroom appliances have been yanked.
With kids learning about Twitter and Wikipedia in England and these efforts, are you worried our kids will never be able to unplug? Or are you just happy to see a greener planet that costs you less green?
Image/Source: Boston Herald
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