Why I Hate Teachers Pay Teachers

First off, just bear with me if this is a website you’re a fan of before jumping into defensive mode . I swear there is a point to this.

My job working as a behavior specialist took place in a school with a high poverty rate, nearly 82% of our kids were free or reduced lunch and much of the student population is English language learners (Wyoming Public Schools).  I spent the majority of my time with our four kindergarten classrooms. My kindergarten caseload was heavy. I often would just drop in the rooms to check on kids, and observe classrooms to give suggestions. Every morning around ten o clock students would began their center rotations. These rotations, if you’re unfamiliar with this kind of practice, consist of different curriculum activities that small group of students rotate to. I love this kind of teaching. They give kids a chance to practice skills, accomplish group work in some situations, and have a more varied exposure to content during the day.

During my observations I begin to notice a pattern. Every single day at least half of the center stations were worksheets based off of the Teachers Pay Teachers website. All of these worksheets were either an item where you had to cut and paste something, or fill things out. There was also a category of a “sort” section using pocket charts. Students had to sort pictures into the correct sound pattern, or other decided rule. Now, maybe this is where you’re wondering, what is wrong with all of this? They’re working! I questioned the number of worksheets to a few teachers, as well as higher up administration. They all gave me the answer that because there were high class numbers, they had no choice but to do worksheet work activities.  

These are the problems I have with the entire situation.

   The Graphics

 Just one piece of the achievement gap has to do with the exposure of varied vocabulary and experiences with students. Students at the achieving end of the gap have had authentic experiences, and often have been surrounded by a variety of verbal vocabulary and interesting texts. In a fantastic article by USA Today, poverty is discussed in terms of success in the classroom a poignant part said "When it comes to early language development, research shows there is a 4,700 vocabulary word difference between high and low income students and that by first grade students from higher income families know twice as many words as low income students, Haskin said. This likely stems from the fact that higher income students are more likely to be read to and spoken to early in life, whereas students from a low income family might be competing for parental attention with second jobs and other financial stresses."  Worksheets from this particular site, usually revolve around a cute cartoon or coloring book generated style. This style of art is completely missing a great opportunity to show students authentic pictures of real life items that they may have not had the experience of seeing before. Often, too, this style of worksheet does not reflect the diversity and culture of the classroom it is being used in. If students cannot see themselves in the work they are doing, it doesn’t give much individual ownership over their own work. The imagery is very white suburban based.

Poverty - Test Scores http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2015/07/25/complicated-correlation-poverty-lower-test-scores/30683627

Imagery and Word Choice

       Over the span of the year the kids were used to me popping in and out of their rooms. I began to notice that they would save up all their center question to ask me when I came in their rooms. I began to get incredibly frustrated over the pattern of their questions. Not because they were asking, because of why they had to ask. The issue the kids kept having was that they did not know what the pictures were of in their matching sections, or that they did not know what the words meant when having to sort for sounds. For instance, the word Jack o Lantern for Pumpkin, Hen for Chicken or a spade for shovel. There were countless incidents like this where students would not know what to do. When they asked for help, they were yelled at that they just did not want to do their work. This problem could have had two solutions. These images were connected to experiences and vocabulary exposure that students just did not have. It was not fair to expect that knowledge. If the teacher really wanted to continue to use this kind of work sheet, the teacher could have gone over these words and connected it to examples that would teach the meaning. The second option the teacher could have done is create their own worksheets that were culturally component, and done the same thing. If they really felt like going the extra mile, they could have come up with activities outside of a worksheet that encompassed the same exact content mastery goal. Possible? Completely. Extra time? Probably. It is my personal opinion though that when you put actual effort into something you’re going to see the results you want instead of confused students every day of the year.

More Authentic Clip Art/Imagery Use http://search.creativecommons.org/

       Classroom Community and Knowledge

.       My third issue with items found on Teachers Pay Teachers is the lack of thought that goes into the use of it. Teachers are stressed for time, and energy. The quick method of printing something out, having an aid or yourself cut it up, and being ready to go sounds so nice. But how is that matching your students’ individual needs? You can’t differentiate a worksheet unless you yourself have created it or have specifically chosen multiple activities for each child. The idea behind these activities is that you can laminate them and use them again every year. Again, simple and easy, but lazy. I can understand if you’re using a repeat behavior chart or even anchor chart, but students are going to be way more excited about a learning activity if it is fresh and based on some of their individual interests. Not only is it drawing them into the curriculum, but also showing them that you took that time to care about them as individuals. This furthers the trust and relationships in the classroom.

Now what?

                How do we create curriculum that doesn’t seem to further widen this achievement gap in our lower elementary grades instead of using this whitewash worksheet approach? I think this answer is something that I personally will continue to learn and develop.  I do have some strong ideas though. I think we forget what a great tool technology is. There are countless videos, online story books, Skype classrooms, and much more that can create a deeper understanding and new experiences within the classroom.Museums, historical monuments, zoos and other exhibits have online tours students can experience in almost real time. If lack of technology is an issue, nothing is greater than our good old fashioned libraries. Connecting new words and experiences with mentor texts is just as wonderful. Libraries with smaller resources have interloan opportunities to check things out from bigger libraries. Often too, they have group books to use for small group activities. Universities and other community resources also have items like this to loan out to schools. It is just all about going that extra mile to make that connection for our students. Other great ways to make these curricular connections are the use of games in centers instead of a worksheet. Although this wouldn’t always give knowledge to new material, students can learn from each other not only in the concept mastery, but in social skills and from each other’s vocabulary and experiences.

Worst comes to worst, if you completely disagree with all of this and feel more confident in worksheet ability, at least use higher quality graphics and pre-teach worksheet content. Do not choose cutesy over quality. 

Activity Suggestions, further information on the achievment gap in classroom curriculum. 

http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/2123.pdf

"



The opinions expressed here by me (and those providing comments) are mine or theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of AUSL, NLU, or any employee thereof. Neither AUSL nor NLU are responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied here or in any linked web site."