Exit Ticket
What is this strategy?
The concept of an exit ticket might sound very familiar to you, but it is extremely important for you to understand the purpose and intentions behind it all. An exit ticket is perhaps one or two questions or problems for students to answer quickly at the end of class. You can collect them as students leave, so it is a good way to dismiss your students individually and be intentional with saying goodbye to each one of them. Exit tickets are a deliberate way to establish an expectation that they need to be focused and driven during the lesson so that they can complete the exit ticket.
Not only are exit tickets a great way to assess what students learned, but they are also a good tool for teachers to see how well they taught the material. If it is apparent that most students didn't understand the main points of the lesson, then perhaps you need to go over the material again the next day. You are able to see what percentage of students got the right answers and you can also see their mistakes written down on paper. This way, you can develop a plan for what you can do to teach better and get your points accross in a more clear and effective way.
How/why does it work?
The exit ticket strategy works well because teachers are able to see how much/which information that was presented in the lesson actually made it into students long term memory. Long term memory consists of two different types, explicit declarative which includes facts and memorized items, and implicit nondeclarative, which includes skills and emotional connections. Teachers must present information to students in a way that the information will resonate with students. One way to do this is by using meaningful learning strategies which allows students to personally relate and make connections to things they have already learned.
A teacher who implements the exit ticket strategy can hope that students will learn to develop mastery goals rather than performance goals. Mastery goals include the ethics of reflecting a desire to gain knowledge and skills. On the other hand, students who possess performance goals reflect a desire to look competent in others' eyes. As teachers allow students to get used to the routine of completing exit tickets upon the dismissal of each class period, teachers can hope that students will learn to use the exit tickets as a way to improve their work ethic and better understand, apply and use the knowledge that they have acquired. In this instance, teachers can shape students behaviors, meaning that you can reinforce successive approximations among students.
How can I implement this strategy in MY classroom?
An important aspect of exit tickets is that you need to make sure that they are short and simple, and also usually focused on the main points of the lesson, not small details. In the long run, it will be important for you to know that your students understood the general idea. To successfully execute this strategy in your classroom, make sure that you have the exit ticket questions ready before class begins, so that you don't waste time at the end of class trying to come up with questions. Either write them on the board or pass out a slip of paper so that the students can visually see the questions.
An example of an exit ticket:
You just taught a 3rd grade class about Christopher Columbus's voyage to the new land, America. In order to execute an appropriate exit ticket, you write 3 questions on the board in the right hand corner where you ALWAYS write the exit ticket questions. The students know that before they can leave class, they must answer these 3 questions in complete sentences on a slip of paper. The students answer the questions, pack up their bookbags and hand you the exit ticket on their way out the door. This way, you can say goodbye to each student individually.
The concept of an exit ticket might sound very familiar to you, but it is extremely important for you to understand the purpose and intentions behind it all. An exit ticket is perhaps one or two questions or problems for students to answer quickly at the end of class. You can collect them as students leave, so it is a good way to dismiss your students individually and be intentional with saying goodbye to each one of them. Exit tickets are a deliberate way to establish an expectation that they need to be focused and driven during the lesson so that they can complete the exit ticket.
Not only are exit tickets a great way to assess what students learned, but they are also a good tool for teachers to see how well they taught the material. If it is apparent that most students didn't understand the main points of the lesson, then perhaps you need to go over the material again the next day. You are able to see what percentage of students got the right answers and you can also see their mistakes written down on paper. This way, you can develop a plan for what you can do to teach better and get your points accross in a more clear and effective way.
How/why does it work?
The exit ticket strategy works well because teachers are able to see how much/which information that was presented in the lesson actually made it into students long term memory. Long term memory consists of two different types, explicit declarative which includes facts and memorized items, and implicit nondeclarative, which includes skills and emotional connections. Teachers must present information to students in a way that the information will resonate with students. One way to do this is by using meaningful learning strategies which allows students to personally relate and make connections to things they have already learned.
A teacher who implements the exit ticket strategy can hope that students will learn to develop mastery goals rather than performance goals. Mastery goals include the ethics of reflecting a desire to gain knowledge and skills. On the other hand, students who possess performance goals reflect a desire to look competent in others' eyes. As teachers allow students to get used to the routine of completing exit tickets upon the dismissal of each class period, teachers can hope that students will learn to use the exit tickets as a way to improve their work ethic and better understand, apply and use the knowledge that they have acquired. In this instance, teachers can shape students behaviors, meaning that you can reinforce successive approximations among students.
How can I implement this strategy in MY classroom?
An important aspect of exit tickets is that you need to make sure that they are short and simple, and also usually focused on the main points of the lesson, not small details. In the long run, it will be important for you to know that your students understood the general idea. To successfully execute this strategy in your classroom, make sure that you have the exit ticket questions ready before class begins, so that you don't waste time at the end of class trying to come up with questions. Either write them on the board or pass out a slip of paper so that the students can visually see the questions.
An example of an exit ticket:
You just taught a 3rd grade class about Christopher Columbus's voyage to the new land, America. In order to execute an appropriate exit ticket, you write 3 questions on the board in the right hand corner where you ALWAYS write the exit ticket questions. The students know that before they can leave class, they must answer these 3 questions in complete sentences on a slip of paper. The students answer the questions, pack up their bookbags and hand you the exit ticket on their way out the door. This way, you can say goodbye to each student individually.