Thin-Slicing Tasks

Have you heard of thin-slicing tasks?  I hadn't, until I read "Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12" by Peter Liljedahl.  This idea was one of my favorites!  Basically, thin-slicing tasks are questions on a given topic that gradually increase in difficulty.  Students are only given one task at a time to complete. Since I wasn't ready to dedicate a whole period to allow students to learn by thin-slicing tasks, I had to come up with a way to incorporate it.  I decided to do this during Math Workshop.  One of the stations is "Meet with the Teacher" and that is where I used them.

This is how I ran it...

 I have a table in the back of my room with seats for four students and a large white board on the wall behind the table.  Since I have a class of 28 and need larger group sizes, I used 2-3 desks also, facing the white board.  When students came to that station, all they needed was their calculator.  My setup included:

• Individual white boards for each student
• Expo markers
• Erasers
• A set of thin-slicing tasks for each student
• Teacher answer key

I dedicated 15 - 20 minutes for the station.  All of the other students had different activities to work on.  Each student in my group then worked through the thin-slicing tasks starting with the easiest and progressively getting harder.  I had 5 problems ready.  Only a few students were able to make it through all five in the 15 minute period so that seemed like a good amount.  As each student completed one problem they would show it to me on their white board.  If they were correct I let them know and told them to move on to the next.  If they were incorrect, we worked through it to find their mistake.

What I love about using them...

• Each student gets to work at their own pace and they know it is okay if they don't get through them all.
• I get to meet with EVERY student and see their understanding of the topic we are doing.
• It is built-in differentiation.
• Students gained confidence.
• They are easy to create and can be used with many topics!

Click on the links below for a free download of the thin-slicing tasks I used for the Systems of Equations unit.  One set I used for the substitution method and one for the elimination method.

Substitution Thin-Slicing Tasks

Elimination Thin-Slicing Tasks

How I prepared them...

• Printed on colored paper
• Laminated them
• Punched a single hole 
• Used a binder clip to attach

Below is an example of how I used thin-slicing tasks for teaching multiplying powers after developing the laws of exponents.

I displayed the problems on the board one at a time. Students worked in small groups at vertical white boards around the room.  

Although many students were successful, I found flaws in doing it this way. 

• I couldn't display one problem at a time on the Smartboard because the groups worked at different paces.  Seeing the longer problems can feel overwhelming for groups working at a slower pace.
• There were students in some groups that weren't involved or one person in a group would kind of take over with little input from the other group members.
• When a group completed a problem, I had to check it before they could move on, which can be hard to keep up with when there are 8-9 groups and these examples are pretty quick.

Thin-slicing tasks are a great strategy to help students gain and build confidence as they are working and I love the concept.  What worked best for me, was first teaching a lesson in a whole group setting and then practicing the skill  by using them in a small group structure so that I could make sure every student was involved.  Also, if students know they are going to have to show you what they know individually, they are more likely to pay attention during the whole class lesson. I just started this recently in my classroom, but plan to incorporate it from the beginning of the year next year to set those expectations and routines early on.