A worksheet typically contains questions that need to be answered by the students and exercises that they need to attempt. The idea behind it is to incorporate different learning styles into one activity so that they learn faster and their retention of what they learn is also prolonged. It brings together the concepts of kinesthetic learning, shared learning, teamwork, cooperation, and visual and reading methods together in a single activity, hence helping the students remember what they studied in the long run much better.
Uses of Worksheets in the Classroom
Is there a need to create worksheets in the first place? Why is there a need to create worksheets for students at all? This is one of the most fundamental questions teachers and students alike ask when it comes to worksheets - do worksheets actually work? Well, here are a few ways in which worksheets can be used in the classroom:
- Improves Engagement
The primary function of a worksheet is to improve engagement in a classroom. A worksheet is aimed at involving the students in the class and as a result, increasing interest in that subject so that they can further study that subject with new vigor and greater enthusiasm.
- Gives the Incentive to Learn
Worksheets are mostly DIY sheets that make the student do the heavy-lifting when it comes to learning rather than the teacher putting in all the effort. This gives the students a sense of independence which translates into a sense of responsibility towards themselves. This is crucial because it gives the students a strong incentive to learn on their own and accomplish something.
- Helps Identify Gaps in the Learning Process
A student may or may not be well-versed in the idea of metacognition. Metacognition is essentially the introspection that a learner has to do to understand if they are doing something wrong and become aware of it to do something about it. Since the worksheet is an exercise that needs to be done by the students, they will be able to identify the gaps in the learning process and rectify them.
- Increases Interest in the Subject
As mentioned earlier, worksheets are a way to make the students engage with the lesson in a more interactive way. Engaging with the subject in this uniquely individualistic way gives the students the opportunity to expand their knowledge on their own and do some research on their own. This will spark interest in the subject and make them feel like taking agency of their academics.
- Makes Understanding Complex Subjects Digestible
A worksheet forces the students to confront their own research on the subject, hence helping them understand the concept better. This kind of knowledge is more valuable than learning through the process of rote learning because there is an experiential journey involved in the learning process that makes it much easier for the students to understand the subject understandable.
Benefits of Using a Worksheet Planner
Before getting into the core matter, let us first discuss what is a worksheet planner. A worksheet planner, or a worksheet creator, is quite simply a tool that can be used by teachers to create and maintain worksheets. It is a means of simplifying the worksheet creation process. However, this leads to another question - why use an online worksheet maker? Is it not possible to create a worksheet on your own?
Well, yes, of course, you could, but that does not take away from the fact that the process takes a lot of time and effort. A worksheet generator makes the process simpler, smoother, and more efficient.
- Saves Time & Effort
The first and most obvious reason why anyone would look for a worksheet maker is the aspect of ease and time efficiency. With a proper worksheet maker and through its proper use, it is possible to reduce the time required for the process manifold.
- Teachers can Focus on Teaching More
Worksheets are essentially created for the students to work on, which takes the strain off of teachers, giving them more time to focus on the act of teaching. Since other managerial roles of the teacher can be taken care of with attendance management systems and other such software solutions, the entirety of the class can be taken up by the teacher just for teaching.
- Less Class Preparation Time
Worksheets can also help teachers keep track of students’ progress. Hence, there is less time spent on preparation for the class they are about to take. The worksheet maker will take care of the preparation of the worksheet for the class.
- Makes the Process Much Faster by Use of Worksheet Template
With a good worksheet generator, the process of creating a worksheet becomes much faster. This is because there is a worksheet template into which all the information can be entered, which makes it a go-to tool for making life in the classroom much simpler and faster.
When to Use Worksheets?
Now comes another important question - when do you need to use worksheets? Of course, they help in engaging the students and can definitely help them understand concepts better, but when is it optimal to replace traditional teaching practices with the use of worksheets? Here are a few situations where worksheets can help out:
When Critical Thinking is Required
Critical thinking is a skill that needs to be cultivated right from the beginning of childhood, and it should be inculcated as early as school age. It is a soft skill that needs to be developed in all students because it can help them in the long run outside their academic careers. A great way to start out small is by giving them agency over their own studies by means of using a worksheet in activities that they can do fairly easily on their own.
When the Engagement in Class is Low
Some lessons can seem dull and boring to some students, hence lowering the amount of engagement that the class receives in general. This can affect the effectiveness of the class, which can, in turn, lead to students even losing interest in the subject. So, in such situations, worksheets can greatly improve the way in which students interact with the class and the course material, which can completely change the way they look at the class and the subject.
When a Complex Concept is Being Taught
It can be argued that all subjects are comprehensible on some level with practice and training, but it is undeniable that there are certain concepts that are much more difficult to understand than others, and such concepts take a lot more time to explain on the side of the teachers and more time to understand on the side of the students. This is where the experiential learning aspect of worksheets can really come in handy. With the help of a proper worksheet maker, teachers can give students exercises in the form of a worksheet so that students can engage with the content themselves and learn the subject matter on their own, hence giving them the opportunity to understand the concept in a very unique way - on their own.
Facilitates Learning Through Experience
One of the easiest ways to understand a concept and keep it in long-term memory is to get down into it and learn it through experience. This is why a lot of courses recommend doing projects and assignments as part of their course, and it is in this way that a worksheet can also help students. Making students understand concepts on their own means that they will remember the concept longer and will have comprehended it in their own way.
How to Use the Worksheet Planner?
A worksheet maker is effective only if you know how to use the same. Of course, it is easy to plan a worksheet with the worksheet maker, but knowing the basics of the same is essential to make the whole process smooth and flawless.
Choose the Class and Section
Click on the drop-down button on the sheet and choose the class and section you want. You might be teaching class 10 A and class 10 C, you can choose the classes and sections based on your requirements.
Choose the Subject and Time Slot
Teachers can choose the subjects from the drop-down menu and add the subject and timings accordingly. If there are any special classes on Saturday or Sunday, you can add that as well.
Choose the Task and Mark the Progress
You can choose the task from the drop-down menu under the task tab and mark the progress of the task similarly. You will be able to find multiple options like ‘task started’, ‘in progress’, tentative turn-around time, and the like.
How to download the worksheet maker?
- Click on Download The Worksheet Maker Button
- Go to the “File” option on the top left
- Click on the “download” option
- Download the sheet
You now have access to the worksheet maker. It is surprising how small incremental steps toward the development of a student can have a profound impact on the student’s view of education, and a worksheet can have that effect on them without a doubt.
The use of a worksheet maker can help teachers plan worksheets without any external help, and it has been proven that it can improve the quality of education for the students as well as the overall quality of the class by focusing more on what they can do to learn rather than just blindly mugging up the concepts to be studied through sheer rote learning.
