Performance Task

Effective Performance Tasks

            Do your performance tasks provide a valid measure of the targeted understanding?  Here are some examples to explore.  What would the learning goals be for each?  Would these be worthy of the time and effort involved?  Would they lend themselves to evaluation with a rubric?  Let's discuss.

•    Assume the role of an advisor to President Johnson during the Viet Nam Conflict.  Write (or demonstrate in a presentation) a recommendation as to whether he should send in more troops or withdraw troops from the conflict.  Support your recommendations with examples of facts and historical documents.
  
• Write a 10 minute script (or perform or film a 10 minute skit) for a TV documentary about President Johnson.  Include the most important milestones of his career.
  
• Build a Diorama of the Viet Nam War.  Include the most important generals and advisors.

        Indicators of Valid Performance Tasks

• The task can only be accomplished well by students who have the desired understanding.
• The task will be performed poorly by students who lack the desired understanding.
• The task calls for students to thoughtfully apply their understanding.  It requires flexibility and good judgment as opposed to plugging information into a formula.
  
  
  
  
  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 how such 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 to describe 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

  As you and a partner study conflicts during the Revolutionary war, think about the statement "The pen is mightier than the sword". What does this statement mean? Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Each time you discuss your views in context to the Revolutionary War, keep a log of the reasons for or against supporting the statement. With your partner, reach consensus on how to view the statement and then construct an argument supporting the statement or why you do not agree with it. You must use specific historical examples in your argument. Be sure you can identify and explain cause and effect in the historical examples.
  
  Is the statement relevant to today’s world? Why or why not? Can you think of some challenge the world faces today that can be remedied by "the pen"? How might you go about making this change?
  
  You will be assessed on your ability to work collaboratively with a peer, your ability to understand the effects of major conflicts, your understanding of major written documents in American history, your ability to explain cause and effect, your ability to construct support and your ability to communicate effectively in a variety of ways.
  

  This sample performance task addresses the following:
  
  

  Complex Thinking Standards	Constructing Support
  Learner Expectation(s)	Effective Communicator Knowledgeable Person (see content standard) Versatile Thinker (see complex thinking standard)
  K-12 Content Standard(s)	I. Uses chronology of history to demonstrate the relationship of events and people. II. Knows major periods, themes, events and people in history.
  Key Learnings	2. Understands cause and effect in a sequenceof events. 1. Understands the impact of specific individuals, events, and ideas on local, state and national levels.

  SOURCE: Educational Planning, Portland Public Schools

Performance Tasks

Performance Tasks for Algebraic Thinking for K- 5 This section contains a number of questions for students to answer. The tasks also contain the specific Sunshine State Standards being used. These tasks were originally developed as part of a DOE supported project, Algebraic Thinking for K-5, directed by Dr. Michael Hynes at the University of Central Florida.
Introduction
Lizards and Snakes: working with logic
Pocket Count: analyzing graphs
Quilting Pattern: determining patterns on a quilt
Seating Problem: arranging seats at a table according to a pattern
Seal Problem: deciding how much a cube and a cone weigh
Stairs: building sets of stairs, creating patterns with stairs

Teacher Made Performance Task 

Career in Science (2nd Grade)

1. Watch a BrainPop Video on different careers in the field of science

2. Do the BrainPop Activity after watching the video

3. Choose a career and write about it; make sure to include what kind of scientist he or she is, include his or her roles and responsibilities.

4. Transfer your story into a book. Create book from the story you have written earlier. Add pictures, details, if necessary, and proof read before you begin rewriting your story on the book.

5. Read you story to the whole class.