What's a good task anyway?
Learning about tasks as they relate to teaching, at this point in my life, feels a little bit like drawing back the curtain of good teaching to reveal the inner workings of what's actually going on. I remember plenty of good activities from my time as a student that engaged me and promoted my learning, but they all seemed so helpful and clear that they felt obvious. Learning more about tasks as a specific subject and what makes some of them more helpful to students than others reveals the careful planning and consideration that no doubt went into some of the tasks I valued so much as a learner.
In reflecting now, and considering the discussions we've had so far as a class, I can think of a handful of traits of good tasks that I want to keep in mind when I develop tasks for my own students. Some traits that come to mind:
- Students should use the task to apply their knowledge, not repeat it
- The task should allow students flexibility and room to make mistakes
- The task should be inquiry-based and focus on asking questions, not finding answers
- Different students should be able to approach the same task in different ways
- Students should enjoy the task!
- Students should be able to see how the task is not independent and ties into their prior learning
Of course, there's a lot more to it than just that, but when I think about tasks that worked for me, I just can't help thinking about how much I enjoyed them and how natural they felt. Good tasks never felt like tasks, they felt like exploration, solving puzzles, and playing games. That's what I'm going for with my students!
P.S. Enjoy this video about logs. Is it about logarithms? Not really. Will I play it for my students when we learn about logarithms anyway? You bet.