Teach Me and I Remember: Task Boards for 3rd Grade CCSS Reading Standards

You’ve probably already heard the saying, “Tell me and I forget, teach
me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” by Benjamin Franklin.
Well, this lesson is aimed towards getting your students involved to
optimize learning by allowing your students to synthesize the
information learned in class and creating a “lesson” to present the
information to the class. Through teaching, the students are able to
show what they know and make more connections to solidify their
learning. This is my third grade version.  It addresses all of the literature, informational text, and foundational skills at the third grade level.  I will definitely be working on a fourth grade set too since I teach dual grade levels, and I MAY add more grade levels depending on the amount of interest this generates, so if you want to see something like this for your grade level, just let me know in the comments.  Let’s take a looksie, shall we?

Click on the photo to visit the third grade version of “Teach Me And I Remember” in my shop!

I love to use this activity as a partner lesson. Before breaking out to
work, we take notes on the back of the board to outline what needs to
be included specifically. For example, when teaching point of view, I
went beyond the grade level standard to have them teach about the
differences between first person, second person, third person limited,
and third person omniscient points of view. Using one board per
standard and using the back for notes/specifics allows me to
differentiate easily and avoid having umpteen million different boards. I
like “SIMPLE”. I like MEANINGFUL. I like this lesson. A lot.

Each group selects one option from the task board, and begins to plan
the lesson before presenting it to the class. This is always a HIT with
the kids, and it’s a great formative assessment at a higher level of
Blooms’ Taxonomy. A win-win situation, to say the least!

I have decided to keep the same tasks for each standard because I like
to keep it simple. I don’t like to waste precious instructional time
constantly teaching new procedures. I feel that the six choices
included in this pack are fairly broad and have plenty of room for
diversity and creativity within them. For example, if students choose
to do a multi-media presentation, they can utilize PowerPoint, Pages,
Prezi, Glogster, and various other apps such as My Story. A song can be
a rap, a ballad, a new tune, a song to an old tune, etc. Creativity
often thrives within a predictable structure because students know what
the expectations are and are free to experiment and synthesize
information in new and meaningful ways. If, however, you wish to have
more specific boards or more variety, an editable blank template has
been included for your convenience and customization.

CHECK OUT THE PREVIEW FOR TEACH ME AND I REMEMBER FOR A CLOSER LOOK!

 Here’s an example of a few posters created by a pair.  I wish I would have snapped a lot more pictures, but we’ll just go ahead and call this an epic fail.  🙂  I was so enamored by the work they did that I forgot all about my camera.  Actually, I video taped several presentations, and I plan on uploading them to our private YouTube channel for parents.  I just can’t post them here.  Bummer.

Here’s a few snapshots of a presentation that some of my students made.  We use Google Drive, so they created presentations using that software and shared them with me instead of creating a PowerPoint and uploading it this time around.  That’s okay with me!  I am just happy that they are working with technology!  I LOVE using Google apps with my kids.  It’s been a game changer.

Since I had some kids working on iPads and some kids working on Chromebooks, some kids used Google to send their presentations to me for projection, and some kids used Reflector to sync our devices and display their iMovies or PowerPoints with the class.  Reflector is $12.99 a year, but it has a free trial if you want to try it before you buy it.  It is one of my favorite techy tools. You can simply sync up to show what’s on a smart device like an iPad or an iPhone (if you photograph student work or the student-generated exit tickets in this file). Pure magic.

As you can see, this activity is a nice way to see what your students know about a particular standard, it allows them to be creative, they get to have student choice, and they reinforce the concepts for each other one more time.  LOVE.  While we were working on POV, I had my students write a reflection about our day in first or third person narration.  This was another great way to assess what they absorbed during our instructional time.  I just used blank paper, so it’s nothing fancy, but I loved reading their responses.

Well, I suppose it’s time to wrap this up and finish my grad school paper.  One more week and two research papers to go… then I start a new batch of classes.  I am learning a lot throughout the gifted endorsement coursework.  Mostly I am learning just how much I can juggle.  🙂  Ha! If you happen to need entertainment at your child’s birthday party, just let me know.  In the meantime, have a wonderful week, friends!