Group Worthy Tasks

I loved the readings this week.  I got inspired while reading the article on Orchestrating Discussions, so I went online to join NCTM to be able to start reading the middle school journal regularly.  The bag of marbles problems is a marvelous and simple example of a group worthy task and gives me something to contemplate for the lesson assignment.  The article makes so much sense to me that I pulled out the five practices planning worksheets from last quarter so that I actually start using them in my main placement.  I like the idea of trying to anticipate all the possible ways that my students will solve the problem- especially the ways that they may solve incorrectly due to common misconceptions.  Monitoring, selecting and sequencing becomes a whole lot easier when I know what I am looking for.  As a new teacher, I am not as good "on the fly" as I would like to be so I want to plan as much as I can until my comfort level increases.  Making connections to the lessons goals and then extending and making generalizations are all things to strive for.  But it gives me a template and something to try and I like that.

The Lotan article on GroupWorthy Tasks is exciting and a bit daunting.  I know it is a lot of work up front, but the group work in the article really did help even the playing field for students from different racial, ethnic and social groups.  I loved the multiple entry points and opportunities for students to display "smarts" in different ways in response to complicated problems.  The frightening truth is the quote from the article that "one dimensional tasks require the same skills and the result is uniform success for some students and uniform failure for others."  We need to carefully craft group work to enhance participation and learning for all our students - it is worth the effort.  Our lesson plan will be an authentic opportunity to consider this goal.

Finally, I continue to struggle with manipulatives.  The Mira symmetry manipulative was a challenge to me.  I was slowly getting the hang of it, but I need remedial work.  I think I will need to make my way to Math and Things store sometime soon.  My experience with virtual manipulatives is even more challenging.  Just give me the algorithm!