How to use Task Cards in Your Classroom

Everyone mentions task cards and you see them ALL. THE. TIME. If you haven't jumped on the task card bandwagon, you should because they are awesome! Why? Because they are a review for the students that can go over a broad or specific topic. I love them because answer sheets and questions are already included so they can be taken for a daily grade. 

 

1. White board review  I absolutely LOVE using this throughout the day or the week. Even better, task cards are great to use with white boards. Students write their answer on the white board, then show it to the teacher at the same time. It gives you instant data on how many students know the answer and what they might still be missing. Check out my blog post on how to use whiteboards in your class!

ex:

(teacher) What are the 3 causes of the Civil War?

(students write the answer on the white board and show it to the teacher on the count of three)

as a teacher, I notice that the students know that two of the causes are slavery and states’ rights, but many of them are forgetting about sectionalism. I know that I need to review that more in depth with them

2. Stations there are two main ways to use task cards for stations. 

• (one topic) put 3-5 task cards at each station and have students rotate throughout the stations in order to break up the monotony of doing all the task cards at once. It also helps students not feel overwhelmed having to complete all of them
•  (2+ topics) separate the task cards by topic and set up the stations according to that topic.

ex: when reviewing science, you could put 3 space questions at a station and add images/paraphernalia from NASA. Another station on earthquakes could have pictures of the San Andreas fault in California or a video of the aftermath in Japan.

3. Quiz Quiz Trade With this activity, students are given one task card and must look up the answer before them begin. Students then go around the room and quiz another student and trade task cards when done. 

This is great for lower students because it makes them the “expert” with that task card. Students get to re-teach another student and helps students take ownership of the question/topic. You can also add an answer sheet for accountability. Great for the on-task class!

4. Scoot!  a more organized form of review. Each student has one task card. Each student also has an answer sheet. Everyone completes their own task card and write the answer down. After an allotted time (usually 1 minute), students pass the task card to the next person in their row. This is a great way to use task cards for the talkative classes or the classes with more behavior issues because everyone get the same amount of time, and there is less getting up/moving around. try to make it in a circle so the last student doesn’t have to run across the class to hand off the task card to the next person.

Check out the video below for an alternate way to play Scoot!

5. Back to Back  This is activity is a fan favorite because it gives students interaction. It's a  mix of scoot and QQT. Have students partner up and give them their answer sheet on a clip board. If you have a subject like math or science, add an extra piece of scratch paper to do any calculations on. Then, the students stand back to back, but where they can both see the screen at the same time. 

When you display the task card on the screen, the students have 30 seconds- 1 minutes to write their answer down on their answer sheet. when time is up, they turn and face their partner. then, they compare answers with their partners. This is great because it gives them a chance to work the problem out on their own before they discuss with their partner. It is also an easy way to collaborate and re-teach if needed. 

Bonus remediation (small group or one-on-one). after school tutorials, pick out 3 cards. the student picks 2 that they answer. continue until they have gone through all the cards. then, at the end, take the cards they didn’t answer and work with them on each task card one by one. this helps students filter out the material they know so you can pinpoint where they need help.