Exit tickets are one of the most popular teaching strategies. There is a good reason for this, in fact, there are 9 good reasons!
One of the most common reasons teachers use exit tickets is to check for understanding.In addition to checking for understanding, exit tickets can be used in several other ways to engage students and support them in their learning. They can even help with classroom management!
Exit Ticket Ideas
To Checking for Understanding
Exit tickets allow you to check for understanding quickly and immediately. You can check in on one area of learning from the day and know right away if you need to review it or if the class is ready to move forward.Then, when you get to the final assessment you know all students are prepared.
Guide Instruction
Exit tickets are an excellent way to guide your instruction as a teacher. If you have ever used a model like Backwards by Design to create units, you can use exit tickets in a similar way on a smaller scale.
An exit ticket allows you to choose one to three specific things you want your students to know by the end of that day’s lesson. Once you know the desired outcome of the lesson, you can use those questions to help you effectively narrow in on what you need to teach your students in that lesson.
Create groups
The data you collect from exit tickets is an excellent way to create learning groups for future lessons. An example of this would be to use the answers on the exit tickets to create 3 groups: above proficient, proficient, below proficient.
During the next lesson, have students meet in their assigned groups and assign differentiated lessons based on what each group of students needs to work on. This is also a great way to work with small groups who need extra support.
Student Accountability
Exit tickets are a great way to teach students accountability. By letting students know there will be an exit ticket, you give them ownership of their learning. They can choose if they are going to engage in the learning and be prepared to share what they’ve learned. You can also teach students that when they did not comprehend the content to take the initiative to ask you questions.
Student engagement
Student engagement and accountability go hand-in-hand in many instances, like exit tickets. Part of students being accountable for their learning is to stay engaged during the lesson. Therefore, by telling students that there will be an exit ticket at the end of the activity they are more likely to stay engaged.
Self assessment
Beyond simply being accountable for listening and engaging in the lesson, exit tickets offer students opportunities to assess their own learning. You can do this by having them grade their exit ticket before turning it in. This provides students with the same immediate feedback that you get as the teacher, which further encourages them to stay engaged and to continue to be accountable for their learning.
Safe to Ask Questions
Exit tickets don’t always have to be used for academic purposes. They are also a great strategy to give students a safe space to ask questions. Furthermore, they allow all students to ask questions!
Student Participation
In addition to giving every student a space to ask questions, you can also use exit tickets to encourage participation from every student. It can be difficult to give every student a chance to share their comments (or ask questions) during a lesson. By using an exit ticket, every student gets to share their feedback, comments, and questions.
Digital and Printable Exit Tickets
In the early days of exit tickets they were a basic piece of paper that students wrote on. This simple form is still a great tool. You can have students write or draw their answers. However, in today’s digital world you can also use digital exit tickets!
If you need some new exit ticket ideas that are ready to go, check out our bundles of digital and printable exit tickets.
