Try This: See Student Strategies in Small Groups With One Task

Try this one thing this week: pull a targeted small group and hand them a rich Task instead of a worksheet. Tasks offer one problem with multiple ways in.

Here's why it matters: In a small group, you get an up-close view of how each student approaches the same problem. You see who reaches for objects, who draws, and who jumps to numbers. A Task naturally supports that range because it doesn't hand students one "right way" to solve it, so a small group becomes a window into real strategy differences, not just who's "got it" and who doesn't.

Your first step: Look at recent data and pick 3-5 students who share one specific need (not just "struggling," but something more precise, like "still counting one-by-one instead of grouping," or "unsure how to represent the remainder"). Grab the Task for your grade level below, pose it without walking through a solution method first, and give silent think time. Then watch which representations each student reaches for as they work. That's your formative data, and it'll tell you if your group was targeted at the right need.

Want to go deeper? Copy this into AI Math Coach:

Resources: one Task per grade, K–8

Find the complete Main Lesson Task Library in your ALO Account.

Ready to try it?