• Increase student engagement by slowing down
• Assess quality before quantity
• Differentiate where needed

The Joy of the Lock and Unlock Feature

This probably doesn’t happen in your classroom, but it has in ours. Some students know that there are four parts to a Performance Task and they attack it with rushing or racing.  

The Lock Feature puts the brakes on the rush and hands the controls to the teacher.  Unlocked means the section of the Performance Task is viewable by students and Locked means it is viewable by the teacher only.

The feature gives you the opportunity to insist on the quality of work and to assess for that quality before students move on and to provide a differentiated assignment for those needing it.

To use the feature, follow these easy steps:

• Download the Performance Task to your My Lessons library
• Go to your My Lessons library
• Open the Performance Task you would like to edit
• Navigate to the Lesson Settings page by clicking through the lesson or by selecting the Table of Contents in the navigation bar on the right side, and then selecting Lesson Settings
• Determine which sections of the Performance Task you would like to Lock for now and select the slider for those sections.
• Assign the Performance Task to students.

Note: If you are ready to unlock a section for students to view, it is best to do it when students are not using the Performance Task. Just prior to use, in the morning before class, recess or passing period, are best practice times for adjusting a feature for all students. If you adjust while students are viewing the lesson, they may need to refresh the page for changes to take effect. 

How will you use the Lock and Unlock Feature?