Most problems in elementary education begin with the impossible task of teaching three groups of students at the same time: gifted students, average students, and slower-learning students.

From the teacher’s perspective, the gifted students just need to be pointed in the right direction, average kids will do fine as she devotes constant care to their learning, and the slower students can then sometimes seem like they are just in the way of her plans to create a wonderful learning environment. But they are her students and deserve her very best efforts. What to do?

One way to deal with the slower students is to give them help with instructionally sound language arts worksheets along with a good paraprofessional or a willing parent volunteer. Ideally, all students who need such help would be brought together for about ½ hour each day. The worksheets selected should integrate language arts and phonics since reading consists of phonetic words that can be sounded out and sight words that have to be memorized because they can’t be sounded out.

According to a study at Towson State College, children enter schools for the first time with a speaking vocabulary of about 15,000 words, but they use 3,000 of those words 90% of the time (and so do adults). So the most important thing that can happen academically for primary grade students is achieving instant recognition of those 3,000 words as quickly as possible.

Consistent use of effective worksheets can be invaluable in bringing this about. The importance of consistency in reaching success reminds me of my friend Don, who wanted to make a 100-yard flagstone path in a garden. Don had two big problems: he was 80 years old, and the stones were large and heavy. But using a pry bar and a hand truck, he would lay one to two stones by lunch each day. After lunch he’d take a nap, and after the nap he’d lay one or two more stones. After two months, he had a beautiful flagstone path that blesses all who visit the garden.

Learning to read is much like Don’s program of path-building. It has to happen at a rate that is appropriate for the students; the important thing is consistency. Everyday some new words need to be learned. Phonetic words teach the skill of decoding and blending. Sight words just have to be memorized through constant encounters in various applications. Worksheets can be a great help in slower students’ achieving literacy.

Good worksheets will have students read, teach, and write the most common words in the English language over and over again until they become the property of each student. Can you imagine the effect this achievement would have on these kids?

By: Mark Traney

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