What is "Exit Ticket"?
An exit ticket is one to three questions that each student will answer before leaving the class. The questions will be about what was learned in class that specific day. The questions should be simple and focused on a specific part of the objective so the teacher can clearly see what the student is having trouble with. The teacher will collect the tickets as the students leave the class or transition into the next subject. The teacher will have data for the class on if they understood that day’s content or not. The beginning of the next class can be a time where the teacher discusses what the students had trouble with and go back over that content before going on to the next topic. This informs the teacher whether or not his/her students are truly learning the content.
An exit ticket is one to three questions that each student will answer before leaving the class. The questions will be about what was learned in class that specific day. The questions should be simple and focused on a specific part of the objective so the teacher can clearly see what the student is having trouble with. The teacher will collect the tickets as the students leave the class or transition into the next subject. The teacher will have data for the class on if they understood that day’s content or not. The beginning of the next class can be a time where the teacher discusses what the students had trouble with and go back over that content before going on to the next topic. This informs the teacher whether or not his/her students are truly learning the content.
Why is it Effective?
The Exit Ticket is an effective strategy because it allows the teacher to know how much of the content is being stored into student’s long term memory (LTM). There are two types of LTM: declarative which are episodic life events, word, ideas, and concepts and there is non-declarative which are skills and emotional connections. The student is truly learning the content when they are storing the information into LTM. If the collected exit ticket data indicates that many students are not storing the information into the LTM, then the teacher will learn that he/she may need to take a different approach on how they teach into a way that makes it easier for children to store info into their LTM. Meaningful learning is the best way for students to learn declarative knowledge. Meaningful learning makes it easier for students to make multiple connections with the new knowledge and previous knowledge they have. Having multiple connections makes it easier to remember and easier to retrieve the information within their brains. Lessons that incorporate meaningful learning would have an organizational structure with tools, such as concept maps and categories, and visual imagery by helping students create mental pictures by asking them to create illustrations or imagining how an event may have looked and providing visual materials in class.
The Exit Ticket also establishes expectations that you have for your students. The Exit Ticket shows students that you not only expect them sit and listen in class, but you also expect them to understand and be able to do a concept.
The Exit Ticket is an effective strategy because it allows the teacher to know how much of the content is being stored into student’s long term memory (LTM). There are two types of LTM: declarative which are episodic life events, word, ideas, and concepts and there is non-declarative which are skills and emotional connections. The student is truly learning the content when they are storing the information into LTM. If the collected exit ticket data indicates that many students are not storing the information into the LTM, then the teacher will learn that he/she may need to take a different approach on how they teach into a way that makes it easier for children to store info into their LTM. Meaningful learning is the best way for students to learn declarative knowledge. Meaningful learning makes it easier for students to make multiple connections with the new knowledge and previous knowledge they have. Having multiple connections makes it easier to remember and easier to retrieve the information within their brains. Lessons that incorporate meaningful learning would have an organizational structure with tools, such as concept maps and categories, and visual imagery by helping students create mental pictures by asking them to create illustrations or imagining how an event may have looked and providing visual materials in class.
The Exit Ticket also establishes expectations that you have for your students. The Exit Ticket shows students that you not only expect them sit and listen in class, but you also expect them to understand and be able to do a concept.
Implementation in My Classroom
I plan to teach elementary students, preferably Kindergarten through third grade. For example, if I was teaching a fourth grade lesson on order of operations, I would create my Exit Ticket with three questions to see if my students were truly learning the order. I could give the following problems:
1. 20 – 5 + 7 – 3=
2. 10 + 10 ÷ 2 – 1=
3. 7 – 6 ÷ 2 X 4=
Depending on which problem a student got wrong, I could see what they are having trouble with. For number 3, if a student got 9 for the answer, I would know that my student didn't understand that division comes before addition in the order of operations. If the majority of the class had a difficult time with the problem, at the beginning of my next class I would discuss this problem and make sure that all my students understand before moving on to the next problem.
I plan to teach elementary students, preferably Kindergarten through third grade. For example, if I was teaching a fourth grade lesson on order of operations, I would create my Exit Ticket with three questions to see if my students were truly learning the order. I could give the following problems:
1. 20 – 5 + 7 – 3=
2. 10 + 10 ÷ 2 – 1=
3. 7 – 6 ÷ 2 X 4=
Depending on which problem a student got wrong, I could see what they are having trouble with. For number 3, if a student got 9 for the answer, I would know that my student didn't understand that division comes before addition in the order of operations. If the majority of the class had a difficult time with the problem, at the beginning of my next class I would discuss this problem and make sure that all my students understand before moving on to the next problem.