My Worthwhile Wednesday Performance TASKS and the CCSS Mathematical Practices

I previously blogged about my Worthwhile Wednesday Performance Task idea to prepare my students for the Common Core way of thinking.  My acronym for T.A.S.K is: Thinking, Applying and Showing Knowledge.

To prepare for the Worthwhile Wednesday Performance Tasks we went over the Mathematical Practices as a class and I had my students discuss and write the MP's in their own words.  It was one of my goals this year for the students to understand and use the Mathematical Practices regularly.  I know that this is working when one of my students writes in a reflection that they learned how to have a viable argument today.  :o)

I decided to have the students make a book in which they will keep all of their Worthwhile Wednesday Performance Tasks after we correct them as a class.  At the beginning of the year, I had my students make a cover completing the acronym for the Worthwhile part of the title.

Here is a copy of my cover: Worthwhile Wednesday TASK Book Cover

My students have been completing my Worthwhile Wednesday Performance Tasks for the last 5 weeks. They really struggled the first few weeks.  Especially on the justifying and reasoning parts of the tasks. They have come a long way and 5 weeks later I have seen a huge difference, not only in there answers, but their confidence as well....

My students have bought into my Worthwhile Wednesdays Performance TASKs. I told them that these are practice tasks to prepare them for the SBAC in the Spring.  They take the practice tasks seriously.  I decided that I wanted my students to focus on the deeper concepts and the reasoning so I encourage them to use their notes for the practice tasks.

So far I love the growth that my students are making in their justifying and reasoning and I am excited to see how much more my students grow throughout the next quarter.  :o)

Here are some pictures of my students completing my Worthwhile Wednesday Performance TASKS.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog... :o)