It has been clear for years that these performance tasks are difficult. However, if we can support students and change our instruction to build confidence, they can become more adept at completing these tasks.
The second half of the day was spent brushing up on mathematical discourse using Thinking Maps. That means we are going to use our deep knowledge of mapping to help our students not only understand math terminology but think deeply about math concepts.
It was a great day of learning and collaborating. If I want my students to get better, I must also get improve!