Create a clay model of the Solar System (Teacher-Made)
1. Students will watch a Brain Pop video about the Solary Sytem. They will discuss with a partner before they create a clay model. In one group, there will be 4 students. Each student will be assigned to 2 planets. Student will create a clay model of their assigned planet. At the end of the clay model demonstration, the group will combine their planets and create a model of the solar system (how does it
look like). Students will present their model to the whole class.
look like). Students will present their model to the whole class.
Sample Performance Task
Cousins from Kansas are visiting Maine for the first time. You have planned a special trip to the Scarborough Marsh. While at the marsh you see many types of animals and plant life. In what ways might you classify the types of animals and plants? What are the characteristics used to determine your classification system?
During the tour, the guide noted that animals, birds and plants have adapted to living in this area between the shore and inland. What are some examples that were shared? Using your scientific skills, select a few animals, birds or plant life to observe. Watch the way they eat or note how they grow. What things might you tell your cousin to be careful of so she won’t disturb anything in the marsh?
Using the information you have collected, make inductions as to why the animals, birds and plants you have selected have adapted to the marsh.
You will be assessed on your ability to collect data from observations, your ability to make inductions based on your data, your expertise in not disturbing nature while observing and your ability to communicate effectively in a variety of ways.
| Complex Thinking Standards |
|
|---|---|
| Learner Expectation(s) |
|
| K-12 Content Standard(s) | III. Understands the implications of science and technology.VI. Understands the processes and structures of life that all living things change over time. |
| Key Learnings | 1. Understands that learning can come from close observation of plants and animals but that they should not be mistreated.2. Understands how adaptations enable different species to help them survive. |
Grades 2-3
Text Exemplars (PDF)
Sample Performance Tasks for Stories and Poetry
- Students ask and answer questions regarding the plot of Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall, explicitly referring to the book to form the basis for their answers. [RL.3.1]
- Students explain how Mark Teague’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed in Cynthia Rylant’s Poppleton in Winter to create the mood and emphasize aspects of characters and setting in the story. [RL.3.7]
- Students read fables and folktales from diverse cultures that represent various origin tales, such as Rudyard Kipling’s “How the Camel Got His Hump” and Natalie Babbitt’s The Search for Delicious, and paraphrase their central message, lesson, or moral. [RL.2.2]
- Students describe the overall story structure of The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber, describing how the interactions of the characters of the Duke and Princess Saralinda introduce the beginning of the story and how the suspenseful plot comes to an end. [RL.2.5]
- When discussing E. B. White’s book Charlotte’s Web, students distinguish their own point of view regarding Wilbur the Pig from that of Fern Arable as well as from that of the narrator. [RL.3.6]
- Students describe how the character of Bud in Christopher Paul Curtis’ story Bud, Not Buddy responds to a major event in his life of being placed in a foster home. [RL.2.3]
- Students read Paul Fleischman’s poem “Fireflies,” determining the meaning of words and phrases in the poem, particularly focusing on identifying his use of nonliteral language (e.g., “light is the ink we use”) and talking about how it suggests meaning. [RL.3.4]
Sample Performance Tasks for Informational Texts
- Students read Aliki’s description of A Medieval Feast and demonstrate their understanding of all that goes into such an event by asking questions pertaining to who, what, where, when, why, and howsuch a meal happens and by answering using key details. [RI.2.1]
- Students describe the reasons behind Joyce Milton’s statement that bats are nocturnal in her Bats: Creatures of the Night and how she supports the points she is making in the text. [RI.2.8]
- Students read Selby Beeler’s Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions Around the World and identify what Beeler wants to answer as well as explain the main purpose of the text. [RI.2.6]
- Students determine the meanings of words and phrases encountered in Sarah L. Thomson’s Where Do Polar Bears Live?, such as cub, den, blubber, and the Arctic. [RI.2.4]
- Students explain how the main idea that Lincoln had “many faces” in Russell Freedman’s Lincoln: A Photobiography is supported by key details in the text. [RI.3.2]
- Students read Robert Coles’s retelling of a series of historical events in The Story of Ruby Bridges. Using their knowledge of how cause and effect gives order to events, they use specific language todescribe the sequence of events that leads to Ruby desegregating her school. [RI.3.3]
- Students explain how the specific image of a soap bubble and other accompanying illustrations in Walter Wick’s A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder contribute to and clarify their understanding of bubbles and water. [RI.2.7]
- Students use text features, such as the table of contents and headers, found in Aliki’s text Ah, Music! to identify relevant sections and locate information relevant to a given topic (e.g., rhythm, instruments, harmony) quickly and efficiently. [RI.3.5]
Sample Performance Task
Your teacher has announced that you will be having a new desk buddy - a student from Florida. You hear she is sad about moving to Maine because it is winter and she feels there will be nothing to do outside. Using The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and your experiences with winter, come up with some ways you can help your new friend understand about possible winter fun. Be sure to provide reasons why winter is fun besides those provided in the book.
While rereading the book, you remember how Peter has a dream. Why do you think he dreamt as he did? Have you had similar dreams? Tell what happened and why.
You will be assessed on your ability to understand the story, your ability to reread for details, your ability to come up with ideas for winter fun, your ability to make conclusions and your ability to communicate effectivley in a variety of ways.
| Complex Thinking Standards |
|
|---|---|
| Learner Expectation(s) |
|
| K-12 Content Standard(s) | I. Uses reading skills and strategies to comprehend, interpret and evaluate what is read.IV. Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening tools as tools for learning |
| Key Learnings | 4. Uses clues within the text to develop fluency and comprehension (e.g. sentence structure, word meaning, rereading).3. Recounts personal experiences or personal knowledge about a topic. |
SOURCE: Paul MacDowell, Portland Public Schools
Performance Tasks
PERFORMANCE LEARNING PLUS is a monthly e-newsletter by Performance Learning Systems (PLS), a comprehensive educational services company that has provided a full spectrum of programs, products, and consulting services to educators and business professionals since 1971.
Twenty-first century assessments are needed to measure 21st century skills. Find out how to authentically assess your students’ learning by using PERFORMANCE TASKS. PERFORMANCE TASKS are activities, exercises, or problems that require students to show what they can do.
TIPS:
PERFORMANCE TASKS ask students to apply skills and knowledge by performing real-world tasks. Auditions, athletic competitions, driving tests, and graduation recitals are all examples of PERFORMANCE TASKS that have been used for years.
GETTING STARTED
When using PERFORMANCE TASKS, it is the task that drives the lesson. First determine the tasks students must perform; then develop lessons that will enable students to perform the tasks well. Essential skills, content knowledge, and standards requirements are all incorporated into the lessons.
Answer "yes" to the following questions to make sure your PERFORMANCE TASK is complete.
1. IS THE TASK BASED ON THE REAL-WORLD?
Performance Tasks are engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance that are similar to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field. They require students to proficiently perform tasks like those they will encounter when they leave school and go into the world.
2. DOES THE TASK REQUIRE STUDENTS TO USE HIGHER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS?
Performance tasks require students to think at a high level and employ a variety of skills. Mastering a Performance Task will take students through the following learning experiences:
- Students will gather information from sources such as books, articles, interviews, lectures, or experiments.
- Rather than simply memorizing facts, students will analyze, apply, and synthesize what they learn. They often have many opportunities to make choices, express creativity, and practice problem solving.
- Students will communicate their learning through a type of performance such as a demonstration, speech, exhibit, videotape, presentation, recital, dramatic reading, or role-play. Performance Tasks may be completed by a group of students.
3. CAN I USE A RUBRIC TO ASSESS THE PERFORMANCE?
Prior to beginning the task, give students a rubric (or score card) consisting of criteria for the performance. They will refer to the criteria while developing their performance, and this same rubric is used to assess the performance once the performance task is completed. Most rubrics have levels of performance, which may be identified by various names, for example:
- Highest level — Advanced, Excellent, Exemplary, Outstanding
- Second highest level — Accomplished, Competent, Proficient, Skilled
- Third highest level — Acceptable, Adequate, Passable, Satisfactory
- Fourth highest level — Developing, Emerging, Needs Improvement
- Lowest level — Incomplete, No Attempt
BEGIN SLOWLY, BUT BEGIN
Don't feel that you need to totally change all of your assessments to PERFORMANCE TASKS. Many teachers continue to use more traditional forms of assessment, such as tests and quizzes, and at the same time incorporate some PERFORMANCE TASKS into their curriculum. As you use PERFORMANCE TASKS more and more, you and your students will gain skill and expertise with this 21st century assessment tool.
The following PERFORMANCE TASKS cover a wide range of academic areas and social skills. Use them to spark your own ideas.
- Design a flyer to advertise an event.
- Assemble an emergency survival kit.
- Produce and distribute a newsletter informing parents about school events.
- Adhere to a budget to order classroom supplies from a mail-order catalog.
- Plan and grow a community garden.
- Participate in a mock job interview.
- Balance a checkbook.
- Conduct a menu preference survey for the school cafeteria and compile and report the results.
- Conduct an Internet search on selected topics and report findings along with an assessment of the web sites used.
- Demonstrate how to take care of a goldfish, including cleaning the bowl.
- Design and create greeting cards to be sold as a fundraiser.
- Rewrite and stage "Medea" setting it in modern times.
- Play the role of a guide telling tourists about he significance of an historical site.
- Create an interpretative dance about the effects of drug abuse.
- Adjust the pH in the school swimming pool.
- Plant flower bulbs.
To view a sample rubric for a Performance Task, see "Taking It Further" to the right
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