I have attended a webinar on march 22-2016 for Jay Mctighe the author of the book understanding by design that we use last semester, in his webinar ha talk about 3 main points:
1- Why use performance tasks?
2- Characteristics of performance tasks.
3-Designing authentic tasks.
He first gave a brief definition for performance task which is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge skills and understanding. After that he starts with why use performance task, he mention many reasons, some of them are: focus on important outcomes of schooling, support meaningful and engaged learning, and effectively write in various genres for various audiences and purposes ( inform, explain, entertain, persuade, guide or challenge, change things).
Then he mention that every subject has along term goals, performance based and what student will be able to do and understand.
21st century skill are performance goals, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication and collaboration.
some of the characteristics of rich performance tasks:
1- Call for the application and knowledge of skills.
2- Open ended and typically do not yield a single correct answer.
3- Establish novel and authentic contexts for performance.
4- Provide evidence of understanding and transfer.
5- Learning and practicing knowledge, skills, strategies, requires transfer, authentic performance.
Designing authentic tasks that deal with real life materials that motivate the students, that will be applicable in their life and based on their interest.
I do believe that performance tasks are the most effective activities in classroom. Performance tasks engage students with different needs in the learning processes and provide them with opportunities to gain more knowledge and experiences.
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