Exit Tickets
With the technique Exit Tickets (Teach Like A Champion, Doug Lemov), in the final few minutes of a lesson, students complete a short task based on the success criteria for the lesson, which they write responses to. For example, they might do this on Post-it notes. You collect responses and review these ahead of the next lesson, adapting your lesson planning based on the degree of success you see.
Why use this technique?
Students’ answers in Exit Tickets should help you to gauge the size of the teaching–learning gap so you can respond to this in future lesson planning. By generating evidence, students should develop a better idea of what they actually know and can do, as opposed to what they believe to be true. This technique requires retrieval, which strengthens memory.
Example
In a maths lesson on rounding numbers, students are asked the following Exit Ticket questions…
Round 246 to the nearest 5.
Round 246 to the nearest 10.
Round 246 to the nearest 100.
On reviewing these after the lesson, the teacher discovers that everyone bar one student got the first question correct, 20 out of 25 students got the second question correct, but only half the class got the third question correct. At the start of the next lesson, they go over the correct answers with students, briefly reteaching particular points. In the Exit Ticket task for this lesson, students are asked three similar questions to gauge how their understanding has developed:
Round 636 to the nearest 5.
Round 636 to the nearest 10.
Round 636 to the nearest 100.
Notes and tips
The biggest pitfall teachers fall into with Exit Tickets (and plenaries in general) is not allowing enough time for them. They keep going and going with the lesson and, before they know it, there is only one minute to go. The bell sounds almost as soon as the Exit Ticket task has started, so students rush it or abandon it altogether. Either way, it means the Exit Ticket isn’t taken seriously and, as a result, it offers little formative value to the teacher. So, the key point is keep an eye on the clock and, if you need to, set an alarm to remind you to start the Exit Ticket task.
There is no harm in asking an Exit Ticket question that has already been asked earlier in the lesson. In fact, there is often a lot of value in doing that. For example, if 20 minutes into the lesson you had asked the class to spell the words ‘unnecessary’, ‘superficially’ and ‘obstreperous’, and only a handful of students got all three correct, there would probably be great value in asking this question again in an Exit Ticket (assuming there had been corrective feedback). If any student complains they got all three correct the first time, you just need to tell them that you want to double check it wasn’t a fluke.
Remember that Exit Tickets evidence short-term learning, not longer-term learning. Getting evidence that students know or understand something (or don’t) by the end of a lesson can be important, but don’t fall into the trap of believing that the ‘learning’ will still be there in future.
Focused reflection
How well do you currently use this technique?
Is it a technique you will focus on developing?
If so, what are the key features you will focus on (things to do, and not do)?