How ‘Task Sequence’ Makes Success Criteria Work for Every Student
As teachers, we’re often told to set success criteria—clear, specific descriptions of what students need to achieve. But with diverse learners in every classroom, especially those learning English, creating meaningful, accessible success criteria can be a real challenge. That’s where Task Sequence comes in. At Finita, we’ve developed Task Sequence as a practical way to break down success criteria into manageable, engaging steps that support students’ understanding and language growth.
What is Task Sequence?
Task Sequence is a step-by-step approach to guide students through the learning process, making success criteria clear and achievable. It combines two powerful Finita scaffolds, SKS (Skill, Knowledge, Strategy) and TWRLS (Thinking, Writing, Reading, Listening, Speaking), to support students at every stage of learning. Together, these frameworks help us design tasks that work across all language modes and ensure that each step of learning is clear, meaningful, and accessible.
Why Task Sequence Works for Diverse Learners
Teaching a classroom with language learners or students at different skill levels can make setting clear success criteria tricky. Task Sequence makes success criteria easier to implement by breaking down objectives into actions that students can see, hear, and understand.
Here’s how Task Sequence helps:
Clear Steps for Success: Each part of Task Sequence is broken down into concrete, observable actions. For example, if the goal is to identify key details, Task Sequence might include “highlighting details in the text” (Reading) and “sharing the main idea with a partner” (Speaking). This turns a big task into specific steps, making learning visible and measurable.
Engages All Learning Modes: Using TWRLS, Task Sequence involves students in thinking, writing, reading, listening, and speaking about the content. This is especially helpful for language learners, who benefit from practicing skills in multiple ways. For example, students might listen to a classmate explain a main idea, then share their own understanding aloud. Each language mode reinforces the others, creating a well-rounded learning experience.
Practical Tools and Strategies with SKS: SKS ensures each step includes what students need to do (Skill), what they need to know (Knowledge), and how to accomplish it (Strategy). This framework helps teachers design tasks that are specific and purposeful, such as using a Tree Map to organize main ideas and details. This structure guides students in both understanding the content and using academic language.
Builds Content Knowledge and Language Together: Task Sequence not only supports students in learning the material but also helps them build the academic language needed to explain it. With sentence frames like “The main idea is ____ because ____,” students practice using language that will support their future learning. This dual focus is powerful, especially for language learners who need both content and language development.
Task Sequence in Action: An Example
Let’s say the objective is for students to identify the main idea and supporting details in a text.
Using Task Sequence, we break it down like this:
Skill: Identify
Knowledge: Main idea and supporting details
Strategy: Use a Tree Map
Task Sequence using SKS and TWRLS to create useful success criteria.
For collaboration, try using the Round Robin structure. In this activity, students take turns sharing their identified main idea using the sentence frame, “The main idea is ____ because ____.” Listening to others’ explanations helps students confirm or refine their understanding, reinforcing both content and language skills.
Why Task Sequence is Essential for Teachers
Task Sequence isn’t just a way to meet success criteria—it becomes the criteria itself. It guides how we model, gives students a structure for practice, and makes room for “live” feedback throughout the lesson. Here’s how:
Supports Teacher Modeling: With Task Sequence, teachers can model each step clearly, showing students how to approach a task from start to finish. This makes learning visible and gives students confidence that they can follow along.
Structures Student Practice: By involving all language modes, Task Sequence helps students practice skills in a way that’s engaging and varied. Students see, hear, and do each part, reinforcing their understanding from multiple angles.
Allows Real-Time Feedback: Each step in Task Sequence is an opportunity for feedback. As students move through the tasks, teachers can provide immediate guidance, helping them adjust their approach and stay on track. This keeps learning dynamic and responsive.
Develops Academic Language and Content Together: Task Sequence integrates academic vocabulary and sentence structures, so students build language skills as they learn content. For example, using structured sentence frames gives language learners the support they need to articulate ideas clearly.
Final Thoughts
Task Sequence transforms success criteria into a guided process that is accessible, actionable, and supportive. By combining SKS and TWRLS, Task Sequence allows teachers to provide a scaffold that engages all students, especially those learning English, and helps them reach their full potential. With Task Sequence, success criteria aren’t just goals—they’re achievable steps toward meaningful learning.
At Finita, we’re committed to making learning accessible for all students. Task Sequence is one way we ensure every learner has a clear path to success, building confidence and skills along the way.
Nicole Teyechea, PhD
