Tasking is having my student’s do something in order to convey the answer. Every student is responsible for doing the task. Tasking is a way to increase the engagement throughout my lessons- especially with direct instruction. When I ask a question to my class, I'm only engaging the students who raise their hand. If I ask the question, “who can remember the 7 continents?” and only 5 students raise their hand out of a class of 30, I am engaging around 16% of my students. That means, 84% of my class in no longer engaged in what I'm saying, and essentially have been given the freedom to zone out. Out of the 5 hands raised, once I call on a student, I now am only engaging that ONE student. This is why it’s important to TASK instead of ASK. Instead of asking, “who can remember the 7 continents?” I might use some tasks such as: “Hold up your fingers to show me how many continents there are.” “Write on your whiteboard as many continents as you can remember, go” “Turn to your neighbor and share your continent list. Together, see if you can come up with all 7.” “Let’s shout out the 7 continents in alphabetical order!” By tasking, ALL students are responsible for thinking. I am engaging their brain instead of giving them permission to zone out.