This is a time of innovation for teachers across the country and indeed across the world. Perhaps a silver lining of the interesting, scary, unprecedented times we all find ourselves in these days is that there has never been a better time to try something new, or to try something new in a different way. After all, when you’re drawing the map and following it at the same time, you get to have control over a lot of the details.
I digress.
Anyway, the idea of working smarter and not harder has never been more true than now, when folks are juggling multiple roles to keep the world turning- online instructor, parent, in my case student, homeschool teacher, side gig worker, and many other things. One way to help streamline things is to find new purposes and uses for old things, and to use materials in new ways. Some educational materials are obviously more easily repurposed than others, but one of my favorites is definitely task cards!
There are probably a million posts and resources already about what task cards are and how they’re set up, but one of the most familiar setups probably looks a little something like this:
They come four to a page so you print (I usually print mine on cardstock to give them a fighting chance), cut them apart, hole punch the corner and put them on a ring. They’re perfect for skills practice, earlier finishers, small groups, centers, and lots of other uses, and by having an answer sheet that students fill in it saves a lot of space when it comes time to assess student work and progress. Easy as that.
But how else could these task cards be used? What other formats might there be that would increase access for other students? These were questions I was already considering when I started making my own task cards to address skills I work on with students all the time. When it comes to special education and providing services and skills practice to students, accommodations are front and center.
One of my favorite ways to use task cards with students is to use the task cards themselves to make practice books. All you need is a binder and some page protectors (or access to a laminator) and you’re in business!
This strategy works best when the task cards themselves are sized to a full page (8.5 x 11); you can print double sided to save paper as well. Even though there’s an initial investment in paper and ink to print everything, once the practice books are assembled, the tasks are immediately reusable! Students can mark their answers on the visuals, if those are included (see above) or can write their answers (see below).
I especially like this option because you can use a larger product and make several smaller activities for students that address their specific skills. For example, my Next Dollar Task Card Bundle includes activities that target one-, five- and ten- dollar increments as well as simply reading price tags to identify the price (like in the photo above.) Obviously, not all students need to work on all the skills at the same time! By breaking the larger products down into skill based practice books, each student can be challenged on an appropriate level, without being frustrated or bored.
The biggest downside to task cards, honestly, is that they can be a little material intensive. I was fortunate enough when the idea hit me for practice books that I already had binders and page protectors leftover from other projects, but they (or a laminator, or even a color printer or ink or what have you) may not be available to everyone. What can you do with task cards then?
Especially now in these challenging times, online resources and activities that can be completed digitally have never been more valuable. I’ve had a lot of fun learning how to create these resources to support teachers using Google Apps and assigning items in Google Classroom, and digital task cards were a great place to start!
Digital flashcards allow for each student to be assigned the deck for skills practice, and the variations are endless here too. My Prepositions Digital Flashcards are simple and straightforward- students are asked a question, and then they check their answer on the next page! No clicking around is necessary other than to advance through the flashcards. These types of resources can be really handy for families that are supporting distance learning and are having to learn new technology as well. Other versions may have movable pieces, text boxes for typing, and other customized options to promote student participation.
What are your favorite ways to use task cards? How have you made adjustments to accommodate distance learning with task cards? Are there other types of learning tools you find easy and simple to change to meet student needs? Talk about it in the comments!
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