As young adolescents, middle grades students experience a wide variety of changes related to their cognitive capabilities, social and emotional well-being, and use of self-regulation strategies. Authentic performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to realistic problems to create products or performances--consistent with AMLE's position that successful middle grades curriculum is "challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant" (National Middle School Association [now Association for Middle Level Education, AMLE], 2010). In this article, the authors discuss an authentic performance task used in several middle grades classrooms and offer general guidelines for middle school teachers to help them plan for, implement, and assess authentic performance tasks specifically designed to engage young adolescents and increase learning.