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)

My Worthwhile Wednesday Performance TASK Update

I previously posted about my new idea for this year to get my students prepared for the Common Core way of thinking; Worthwhile Wednesday Performance TASK .  My acronym for T.A.S.K. is: Thinking, Applying & Showing Knowledge, which is what I think a performance task encompasses.

I am so excited, I created one of my first Worthwhile Wednesday Performance Tasks for linear equations in two variables. This performance task will incorporate multiple strategies the students will have been learning and the students will use color-coding to help them identify and apply the information in the real world situation.

*** I use color-coding to help the students understand how to differentiate the information. And having the students color-code helps me when I look at the tasks to check for understanding, because I can see by the color-coding if they are understanding or confusing the variables.

On the first page of the performance task the students will use color-coding to identify the x and y variables, the slope and y-intercept in the situation. They will write an equation that represents the situation and explain what the variables represent in the real world situation.  I am emphasizing multiple representations this year so they will also represent the situation using a table and a graph. They will then use color-coding again to identify the slope and y-intercept on the table and the graph to help them make the connections between different representations.

On the second page of the performance task the students will apply the information using the equation from the situation.  They will explain and justify their reasoning in complete sentences.  At the end of each Worthwhile Wednesday Performance Task they will reflect on the task and rate themselves as a "Mathematician" and explain their performance and rating.

I am hoping that the scaffolded color-coding and their written explanations and justification on the Weekly Wednesday Worthwhile Performance Tasks will help them prepare for the Common Core way of learning.

Follow me and check back, I will be posting more about my Worthwhile Wednesdays Performance Tasks throughout the year.... :o)

My First New Idea: Worthwhile Wednesday Task

Yay!!! I have completed one of the plethora of ideas that have been filling my "To Do For Next Year" list in my Ideas Notebook....

Why this idea was necessary....
We have been teaching Common Core for two years, and I have created all of our curriculum.... The first year was the hardest, but we just jumped in and pieced it together...  Last summer, I rearranged the entire pacing from the first year and made all new curriculum. Last year,( the second year) went so much better.

The first year, we taught Common Core, but took the CST.  Last year, we opted out of the CST and focused on Common Core.... In the Spring our 8th Graders took the SBAC Practice Test and Field Test... Wow, what an eye opener.So much different than old school testing.

On the upside, it was great to see that we were definitely on the right track with our curriculum, but I also saw that it still needs some tweaks, (which I am working on this summer)...  On the downside, I realized how unprepared the students really were. They completely forgot all of the first semester concepts. When they got to the Performance Task it seemed so overwhelming. So I knew I had to figure how to solve that problem.... I had to figure out a way to make sure they were more prepared....

And that is where my new idea comes in... :o)  Worthwhile Wednesday .... Every Wednesday the students will do a structured performance task containing multiple concepts within the task. The performance tasks will be focused on past concepts to help the students retain what they have learned.  In the beginning the performance tasks will be guided and we will model how to think and work through a performance task. After that the students will complete the tasks independently.

This is the page from my Flipchart that I will display. I made an acronym for TASK....

This is a new idea, and I am excited to try it and I am hoping it works. I will be posting throughout the year about Worthwhile Wednesdays...

My goal is to have the students comfortable with the new way of testing and feel like "I Got This", and not "OMG, What is this?"...