Get R.E.A.L with Worksheets

Despite the blog title, worksheets are a necessary evil in the classroom. I recently heard a quote from a collegue that really puts this into persepective- "A worksheet should be the recording of an activity, not the activity." If you think about it, this makes sense. So many times worksheets are used as the main "activity" in a lesson to pracitce or demonstrate a new skill or concept, but really, our students need to be more engaged in the process. They need R.E.A.L. activities to participate in and use the "worksheet" to record their participation. This holds the students accountable for their learning and behavior and still gives the teacher an opportunity to assess mastery of the objective.