Task Cards

Formula for Classroom Success Series Post #2: Modeling

Today we are continuing on in the Classroom Success Formula Series. I am excited to be sharing today one of my favorite teaching strategies – Modeling. It isn’t new, but perhaps I can share a few new ideas that you might can use.

How many of
us would rather watch a youtube video of how to make chicken dumplings rather
than reading the written directions? I know I certainly would. There are at
least seven major learning styles, and while not everyone would prefer to see
a video, the point is, working through a process to learn something is often
much easier than just diving in head-first with no guidance. After all, how does that saying go? – Teaching is
the one profession that creates all other professions.

1) Modeling is not the same as lecturing. I’ve heard educational trainers say
that lecturing is the worst way to teach, and you should never do it. I’ve
also heard that a carefully crafted lecture is sometimes needed. I’m torn on the concept of lecturing. Personally, as a learner myself I struggle being
attentive during lectures – unless they are very quick, show me what I need,
and then I get to try it myself. I
personally lean against an “old-fashioned” PowerPoint no matter how cute it is; I just think
they are dry. However, I note that my classroom is fully of diverse learners,
and to be as effective as possible, I must provide many different learning
strategies and opportunities. I do believe, though, that a teacher’s job is not
to impart knowledge but rather to insight discovery. ‘nough said.

2) “I do/we do/ya’ll do/you do” gradual release
model of teaching. In
this model of teaching the student is active the entire time, where in a
lecture, the student is largely copying notes or just watching the teacher talk
for an entire period or a large part of the period. This isn’t a new strategy by any means, and I
love it. It is pretty much what my classroom looks like every day. If you are
new to this strategy, it goes something like this:

– “I do”: The
teacher explains and demonstrates the skill while the students follow along,
trying on their own or processing. Here sometimes I do use a PPT, anchor chart, Activ Flipchart, white board, video, or guided notes. I just depends on what skill I’m teaching.

– “We do”: In
the “we do” stage, the teacher is again modeling, but the teacher engages the
class. For example, if I am teaching paragraph writing, I will have already
written one for the students in the “I do” phase. In this phase, I am asking
for student volunteers to give me sentence starters, active verbs, or
transitions. Faster learners often step up in this phase, and I think that’s a
good way to let them lead.

– “Ya’ll do”: Common
statistics in education are that you retain 10% of what you hear, 20% of what
you read, 50% of what you do, 75% of what you discuss and 90% of what you teach. Here students
are working on an activity with a partner or very small group. I like to give them something hands-on here or with movement, so they are talking about it and explaining it to each
other. This is an excellent place to use task cards. Also, students who are too shy to
speak out in class will be more likely to ask a friend or peer in a small
group. The teacher monitors during this
time taking notes for formative assessment.

– “You do”: Finally,
this is the time where students must show they understand the skill on their
own.

How to pace
this strategy for best results? Every period is different, and so is the depth
of every skill we teach, but I have 90 minute blocks. So I set up each step for
about 15 minutes. What I love most about
this strategy, is that anybody teaching anything can use this strategy successfully
and reach every student in the class. Every teaching pack that I have available in my TpT store is designed this way. I
had the privilege of meeting Sarah Wessling at a conference I presented at last
fall, and she was just as inspiring and down-to-earth as I had hoped. See a
video on the Teaching Channel of her explaining this process. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/improving-teacher-practice#video-sidebar_tab_video-guide-tab

3) Build confidence and eliminate
frustration. I, personally, feel really uncomfortable
cooking. I’m not horrible at it where I
burn everything; I just don’t have that special touch. So the thought of trying to cook something
new causes me anxiety. If I’ve seen someone do it, I feel a little better about
trying it on my own. I think the same is
true for students.

4) Modeling works for new concepts and
even review. When I begin to teach writing, I use the RACE paragraph. RACE is an acronym for the formula I want students to use in my
classroom when we write. I’ve seen variations of this
formula, but I’ve tweaked this one specifically to help students formulate
short, entire constructed responses and branch out to larger pieces of writing.
In my mind, it is a simple formula – to my students, it’s foreign. I once just wrote the formula on the board,
gave a prompt, and said, “Go.” The students
tried, but what they produced was not on point.
Then I was frustrated, and so were they. Now, I just go ahead and stick
to my trusty modeling technique to ensure all students are comfortable before we
proceed. I understand sometimes letting
them take off flying on their own can work, but mostly I think they just
leave the nest and fall to the ground.

How to Write a Paragraph Constructed Response, Writing For

5) Modeling also ties in with classroom
management/routines. I described my grouping snafu in the last post in this series. Again, though, it’s critical to model what we expect of students,
even if we think it’s something simple. It prevents time being wasted, and we
know how precious class time is.

Friday Flashback: June 2015 Edition

So this isn’t a Friday, but it’s summer….and I’m
not even really sure what day it is :)! And that’s not an excuse… it’s the
truth! Anyway, on to the highlights from June, and don’t forget to link up your
adventures and good news from June, too. I love reading them.

1) This month was my 11 year
wedding anniversary. We didn’t have
anything huge planned for this year since we took a big trip last year to
Hawaii for our 10th. Time is
sure ticking by quickly. See some pics from my trip to Hawaii last year here with some prompts to use in your classroom.

2) At the beginning of the month
was my church’s Vacation Bible School. I didn’t teach a class this go around,
but we went to help where needed. Our
theme was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a Kid, and we had over 100 kids each night. It was an amazing outreach to kids in our church and neighborhood.

3) One of my favorite things to
do associated with teaching is traveling around and presenting at different
conferences and workshops. This month I
presented at the Tennessee Association for Middle Schools conference in
Sevierville, TN, on using task cards at the secondary level. Click here to read somehighlights from my presentation, and here to see some pics.

4) My first ever TpT Meet Up was
an absolute blast. Our impromptu meet-up
at a cool little coffee shop outside of Atlanta turned out to be so much fun. I
loved meeting 12 other fabulous sellers on TpT. Before we knew it, 3 hours had
passed!

5) Summer wouldn’t be complete
without plenty of pool time! And here’s a fun way to make a sand box – Just take a plastic box with a lid of any size. I had one in my basement. Fill it with sand from Home Depot or Lowes, a few shovels, toys, rocks, letters, and other goodies. Then once the kiddos are finished playing with it, put the lid back on and store it easily. It’s nice this way because no bugs or other dirt can get in; plus, it’s so easy to move around and inexpensive. The kids love it!

Here’s how to link up:

– Grab my button from above. (Just copy and paste it to the top of your blog post.)

– Write about some highlights from your month. It can be events, accomplishments, or a new product. It can be anything you want to share. I write in groups of 5 – for my Fast Five.

– Once you have your post done, come back to my blog and link it up via the linky below!

– If you want to link up next month, just watch for my post near the end of the month!

Don’t have a blog, but want to get in on the fun? Just comment below with something to share from your June!

An InLinkz Link-up

Benefits of Using Task Cards at the Secondary Level

Using task cards at the secondary level can be hugely successful. Interestingly, I was using “task cards” in my class before I knew they were called that – and way before they looked so cute! If I needed to guide a particular group on a topic or break up the assignment, I would often just grab some colored index cards and a sharpie and beginning assigning the tasks, differentiating, or reviewing! Now with the wonderful world of technology 🙂 and access to tons of programs, task cards can come in any form or fashion. Here are 5 ways and reasons to use the task cards strategy at the middle and high school level.

#1) Differentiation and Scaffolding: Task cards offer teachers and students many benefits. Teachers need easy, but effective ways to meet the needs of all students who come to the table with all different ability levels. Task cards can easily be used to tailor instruction and reinforcement to those needs.

–You choose who gets which card, and that can be done without the students’ knowledge of that choice. All of my response to text task cards are written in two levels and are clearly labeled in the file. Pictured below are two examples from my poetry and speech task cards. If you head over to my TeachersPayTeachers store, you’ll be able to get a couple of these free in the preview file.

– One directive per card helps students focus.

–If students or groups of students are working through a set of cards, they set their own pacing. Here different groups of students are analyzing poetry, but one group only has one card, while the other group has two cards.

–Some cards can have suggested answers or clues, while others are more open-ended.

–Some students or groups can be assigned one or more depending on their needs.

– Task cards just by their nature provide individualized instruction and scaffolding because they allow for effective chunking of material. For example, when I teach writing, we use task cards to guide analysis of model papers during the pre-writing process and task cards to provide directives for revision and editing during the phases of the writing process.

#2) Discussion & Collaboration: Classroom discussion is very important for classroom culture but also for understanding. I believe students need to read about it, talk about it, and then write about it. Task cards provide a direct focus for talk topics where needed.

–Students can see cards first to prepare individually before small or whole group discussion.

–Guides whole group discussion. Take a look at these fun Emoji Accountable Talk Stem Puppets They offer a accountable talk stems for students to respond to or use during discussions.

– Can require students to produce a larger product together. For example, if you want students to write a paragraph, give each group a task to complete a certain section of the paragraph. When they put their work together, they have a complete product.

– Can even be used with large class sizes. See how I make it work:

#3) Games and Review

–Play traditional games (board games, card games, beach ball toss, etc.) with task cards for your subject. Below students are reviewing ELA vocabulary using vocabulary cards from my 100 words every high school English student should know pack in order to move their pieces around a game board I whipped up for fun. Give each group a set of task cards, and in order to take a turn, each student had to answer a question on one of the cards. The rest of the group had to agree with the answer before they could move on. Groups or students could also have a recording sheet that they turn in or use as a study guide.

#4) Gallery Walks, Scavenger Hunts, Quests. and Stations: Lessons that involve movement can sometimes be overwhelming to create and produce, but for Kinesthetic students especially, movement enhances learning. Pretty much any student, though, enjoys the opportunity to move around during class. Task cards make these types of activities much more attainable because they are easier to create and/or manage.

–Cards are posted around the room/hall for a gallery walk. Never tried a gallery walk? Want some fresh tips? Click over to take a look at this FREE video tutorial where I explain how to set up and manage gallery walks.

–Assign students certain numbers to complete or do them all.

–Set time limits.

–Students record answers on sheets.

– Use them in stations or centers. Here’s a quick video where I explain how I developed impromptu centers using my poetry task cards in station rotations. Get the FREE poetry recording sheet here.

– Add QR codes for a self-checking function or to add a quick video tutorial.

#5) Going green with task cards The trend is certainly moving toward more technology in the classroom that is student-centered. Task cards offer so many opportunities for teachers to convey both lesson content, practice, and assessment because they are so flexible.

•1:1 schools

•via Google Slides or Google Classroom in the lab, group device, or on their own devices. All of my response to text task cards are now available in Google Slides format. You can get them here.

•Nearpod student led or in homework mode.

•Classflow with student response systems or on their own devices

•Kahoot for whole class review and gaming. I love putting my Real-World Grammar Fails Task Cards in Kahoot to use at bell ringers or fun test-prep review! They come in large pdf and large jpeg mode for easy uploading in this format, so there’s no extra work for you. See more about my experience with Kahoot at this post!

•Single iPad used via Apple TV to share task card work. Below students were correcting sentences with some grammar task cards. In order to share with the class, I used the mirror feature on my iPad with my Apple TV, so the entire class could see the original sentence from the task card as each group explained the corrections that needed to be made.

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Updated Sep. 2018

Treating “Activityitis” – Adding Value and Quality to Activities

Class time is precious and limited. With so many standards to cover and stakes being so high, it is imperative that everything we put in front of our students be standards-based, purposeful, and designed to drive and assess student growth. Over the years, I’ve reflected on some activities that I’ve done with students and realized that maybe just maybe 🙂 some of them were “fluff.” In the past, I have certainly been afflicted with “activity-itis.” In this blog post, I will explore in depth how to determine if activities are of quality and value.

The Symptoms of Activity-itis:

The students have no idea why they are doing the activity. You could probably argue that there will always be students who are clueless in a sense that they aren’t trying. In this case, I the problem goes much deeper. There are times when I dive right into a lesson or activity and just don’t tell my students why we are doing it or what it connects to. If I just forget to tell them, that’s one thing, but if I can’t answer the questions “Why are we doing this?” or “What are they learning from doing this?” then why are we doing it? Why are we building a model of a fire-proof house with our 451 unit? Guilty. Why are we drawing a picture of our favorite character in The Lord of the Flies? Guilty again. Instead, let’s trace the symbol of fire throughout the novel and analyze how it changes. Let’s read an informational text about how fire works and make literal and symbolic connections. If we want students to get to know characters, let’s have them create a body biography with text-based descriptions. Just make some tiny, purpose-driven adjustments can make huge changes in students’ growth and understanding.
The students are busy, but there’s no challenge. I suppose this could happen for a couple of reasons, but like I said before, class time is precious and limited. I’m going confess here that two of my biggest pet peeves are coloring and watching movies. I actually use and sell resource for both. However, there is always something students are doing that is skills based. Yes, coloring and movies make excellent brain breaks and sub plans, but even then, I just can’t get behind vacuous time-fillers. If students are coloring in my class, they will be editing sentences in order to color by number. If they are watching a movie, they are analyzing character development. More on using movies effectively in this post. There is always something that can be done to up the ante with any assignment.
The activity steps too far out of its subject, isn’t grounded in standards, or isn’t connected to any prior or future learning. I think this one creeps up a lot in English class because we do so much with texts that we feel we need to introduce. When I first started teaching The Crucible, I felt I had to tell students everything they needed to know about Puritans before we started the unit. Then I had to spend another day or so talking about the 1950s. Then, yet another day was spent covering the elements of drama. A week or more had passed and we hadn’t even started reading the text; and my kids were bored and over it. Eventually, I stepped back and asked myself, what I am I doing wrong? I love this play so much, but the kids hate it. Then, I realized: it wasn’t the play they hated, it was the presentation. Wow. So, how did I fix it? I ask myself one question: Why am I teaching this play? The answer? It wasn’t so they could learn the history of the Puritans. It wasn’t so they could understand the 1950s. It is so we could analyze a true hallmark in the canon of American literature — for the literature. That’s why I am teaching. In that regard, the only intro material I kept was one short informational text article about McCarthy and a quick vocabulary lesson on allegory. Then, we just dug in. I let the text do the talking. I developed questions, prompts, close reading exercises, and activities that drove students further and further into the text. The result? Students who enjoyed the play more than ever before, and students who were mastering standards.
The activity lack true engagement and/or collaboration. Students aren’t talking at all or aren’t talking about the actual task. How many times have you overheard students saying “What’s for lunch?” or “I have to work this afternoon” during an activity? Sure, students get off task with even the best designed activity. However, a key symptom of activity-itis is students who are off-task. If I have students in groups, what I really want them to be able to do is collaboration, bounce ideas off each, and share out. I want them to even learn to hear different ideas and defend their own answers. I love to have students think first, and talk second, so they have something prepared when they join the group. Task cards are hugely helpful with getting kids thinking and giving them direction.
There is no assessment or there is a discrepancy between the assessment and the activity. If at the end of the day, I’ve done a lesson and can’t recall if the students really “got it,” then I’m pretty much in panic mode. For me, it can be as simple as asking them. Other times, I’ll have a worksheet they have to complete. Other people like to do the ticket out the door. Whatever you choose, again, it needs to be purpose-driven, and truly measurable. You won’t find me having students hold up their thumbs, unless everyone’s eyes are closed! I need to truly know what they learned.

The Cure:

Design, discuss, and post essential questions to drive planning and measure learning. For more tips on creating essential questions and a free planning template to help with creating standards-based lessons and activities, take a look at my CC standards aligned depth of knowledge chart where I’ve aligned every ELA standard 9-12 and my free Guide to Essential Questions.
Student self-reflection. This isn’t always easy, but with particularly reluctant groups, I have success with my weekly reflection task cards that come in my student-directed data pack.Think about the end goal when planning. In other words, plan backwards. In order to help myself remember this important piece, in every one of the teacher planners that I design, I have a reflection page at the end of the month. It reminds me to pause and reflect on what we accomplished and need to work more on. More on planning backwards in this post.
Assessment and measurement that are consistent and align with the skills.
Make connections to prior and future learning. This can be done effectively if you work inside of units where a big picture is evident.

Yes, there are crazy-day schedules, half days , sub days, or sick days, or any number of random odd days occasionally when we need a quick low-stakes, no prep activity, but even those days need to be utilized to matter. Ultimately, I now evaluate each lesson and activity I plan for its standards-based value.