More On Task Cards.

Using task cards in math is one of the suggested ways of providing differentiation.  You can always pop onto a paid site to find them or you can make some yourself.  Although making them yourself may take more time, you get cards that have the problems you want.  So today, we'll look at the different ways task cards can be used in class. It is always nice to have a variety of ways they can be used.  

A task card is a card about the size of a index card with one problem or task written on it. A set has between 10 and 20 cards and each student has a sheet to write answers on and access to the answer key so they can self check their work. Later on, I'll explain how to make task cards on power point.  In addition, task cards are a good way to have students practice what they've learned and provides independent practice.

One way to get students up and walking around is to place the task cards on the wall around the classroom or in the hall. Students can either work in pairs or alone for this activity. Pass out one answer sheet to each student or each pair of students.  Students can start at any place they want but if students need a bit more structure, assign them a starting number.  So they start at one card, work it, and move on to the next.  Eventually, they will end up back where they started. Once they are done, they can either check the answers with the answer key or they can turn it in for a grade.  It is up to the teacher.

Another use is to have sets of task cards in small baggies.  These task card are for the students who finish first and need something to do.  The material on the task cards is either what they have already learned (a review) or it is composed of problems for the material they are currently learning. They work through the problems, write the answers on the answer sheet, and either check it with the answer key or turn them in for extra credit.

Of course, task cards can be used as the warm-up or bell ringer as something different. They write their answers on the warmup paper and if you don't want to deal with 10 to 20 task cards, settle on between three to five to use.  Again, have the answers available for students to check their work.  Furthermore, task cards can be used as exit tickets so the teacher can do a quick assessment of where they are. If you don't want to collect all the exit tickets, have students write their answer to the task card on a sticky note and pop it on a piece of paper by the door. This way, you can check the answers later.

Remember, if your school is a one to one school, you can make all the task cards be digital so students can pull them up via google classroom or other learning management system.  They can do their answers on the computer or on a physical answer sheet.

If you use stations, you can place 4 to 6 task cards at each station for students to do. So what if you don't have tables in your room, you can group student desks into clusters of 3 to 5 desks so you have stations.  Students begin at one station and work on the problems.  The teacher has a timer going and when the timer goes off, students rotate to the next station and work on those problems.  This continues until students have completed all the stations or the time is up.  One thing, if you allow students to work together at the stations, they get to practice cooperative learning.

Task cards can also be a nice part of direct instruction.  Show a task card on the board or digitally.  Allow students to complete the problem, and when they are all done, work the problem so students can check their work. You can have students work the problems on white boards and show the answer to you when they are done.  On the other hand, if you want to use only physical task cards, spread them out on a table, have students come up and take one card to work on. When they are done, they return the card to the table and choose another one.  After a certain amount of time, go over the answers with the class.

What about doing Quiz, Quiz, Trade with your students.  Give each student a task card and they work that problem out.  After everyone is finished, they partner up so person 1 asks the other person the question on their card.  The other person either works it out and shares the answer or is allowed to say "I don't know" if they don't. Person 1 either says good job if the other person got it right or explains how to do the problem.  Then person 2 asks the question on their task card and person 1 answers it. Person 2 praises the correct answer or explains the answer if it was incorrect.  Then students trade cards and find a new partner and do this again.  10 to 15 minutes is a good amount of time to schedule for this activity.

Make a Jeopardy game out of the task cards.  In addition, if you complete your lesson and there is time left at the end of class, think about pulling out the task cards so students can practice working problems.  So now you have a variety of ways to incorporate task cards into your math classroom.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.