Performance Tasks

     I have learned so much between my last blog in February and now. I think one of my biggest takeaways from this past month revolves around the unit we are writing. This semester in social studies methods, we are writing a unit plan that is concept based. We have learned that at the end of our unit, we must have a performance task. Before taking this course, I did not know what a performance task was. Of course, I already knew about assessments and how important they are, but I had mostly focused on formative assessments that belong at the end of a small lesson plan. Performance tasks are assessments that belong at the end of a unit. They are summative, and they should require students to portray conceptual knowledge about the unit that has been taught. This project should allow students to be creative and portray their work in various ways while also leading them to exhibit the specific knowledge you are looking for. We also learning that it should follow the GRASPS model. This stands for Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Product, performance, and purpose, and Standards and criteria for success. This helps your performance task become a real world, meaningful task for your students. It helps encourage conceptual thought within your task, and makes sure that your performance task exhibits inquiry. Throughout this process, I have learned the difference between a small assessment and a performance task. I believe performance tasks help students to truly show knowledge of their topic while also giving them a real world experience to attach their knowledge to.
     In order to implement an adequate performance task, according to Jay McTighe, your task must exhibit certain characteristics. Performance tasks must "call for the application of knowledge and skills, not just recall or recognition." They also must also be open-ended, and they must be "multifaceted". Lastly, the performance task must be evaluated by pre-established standards, such as a rubric, and they should include integration of other subjects and twenty-first century skills (link at bottom). I believe that these characteristics are what set performance tasks apart from regular, fact based assessments. In order for a performance task to be successful for encouraging outside connections and a deeper level of skills, we must make sure that we work hard to establish these characteristics in our performance tasks.
     This connects directly to standard 3, element d, which states that "Teachers make instruction relevant to students." By using performance tasks that ensure conceptual knowledge and allow real world experiences to attach the knowledge to, we are making sure our students see the relevance of their learning. Students need to be taught in a way that makes learning important to them, and shows them why they need the knowledge we are giving them. In my future classroom, I plan to use performance tasks at the end of my units in order to help my students gain intrinsic motivation by seeing the connections to their world outside of the four walls of my classroom. I do not want to be a teacher that makes students feel as if school is useless. I want to make sure that my students understand why everything I teach them matters so that they will care about their learning.
     The idea of a performance task also connects directly to standard 4, element e, which states that "Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills." Performance tasks tests the knowledge of a students conceptual knowledge through the use of large projects or simulations. Using conceptual knowledge requires a deeper level of thought than testing students on factual content. By using concepts, you are ensuring that students are learning the twenty-first century skills of problem solving and critical thinking. In my future classroom, I hope to promote twenty-first century skills in all aspects of my classroom. One of the ways I plan to promote these skills is through performance tasks.



Link: http://edge.ascd.org/blogpost/what-is-a-performance-task