Collaborative Planning as a Process

Abstract

All students should be provided with opportunities to develop conceptual understanding prior to procedural fluency (NCTM 2014; CCSSI 2010). To develop students' conceptual understanding, teachers must learn such skills as how to select, plan, and enact cognitively demanding tasks (CDT) (Lambert and Stylianou 2013; Smith, Bill, and Hughes 2008) and to evaluate evidence of student learning (Hiebert et al. 2007). Therefore, teachers need opportunities to develop these skills to maximize their students' learning outcomes. Starting with a well-designed CDT is essential. In other words, before planning the Justin D. Boyle and Sarah B. Kaiser enactment of a task, teachers should analyze the task and make revisions to align it with student learning goals that promote conceptual understanding (Hiebert et al. 2007; Smith and Stein 2011).