Exit tickets are not a new concept, but making them work for you can be time consuming and feel like a chore. Instead of a helpful tool to wrap up a class, they can be a hindrance of extra grading time. So, how can we make exit tickets work in an effective way that won’t take up more of our time than needed but will also give us valuable feedback to guide instruction?
Here are three strategies for making exit tickets work for you!
Strategy #1: Use a Google Slideshow
For this option, you can have students keep an online exit ticket journal using Google Slides. For each day that you have have students complete an exit ticket, they can simply add a new slide to the slideshow, date it, and then answer the prompt— or just simply reflect on the day’s lesson. In order to check these slideshows, you can have students submit them at the end of the class period and then unsubmit the next day to continue working on them.
Alternatively, you can opt to have students share their slideshows with you, and you can keep them in a class period folder inside of your Google Drive. That’s what I like to do because I can keep them organized by class. I have my students name the Slideshow something like: “LAST NAME, FIRST NAME— CLASS PERIOD”. That makes it easy for me to keep track of whose journal I’m reviewing.
This digital journal on Google Slides enables students to reflect back on classroom lessons either in class or at home through distance learning. There are over 70 original prompts included in this bundle as well as free choice options that encourage students to reflect on their learning. These exit tickets are appropriate for any secondary content area in grades 6-12.
To use this Exit Ticket Journal, each prompt is numbered 1-180 so that you can assign a specific number of prompts to your students at a time. For example, you can assign prompts 1-5 due by the end of a specific week or by a specific date. You can also log in and check students' exit tickets at random to keep them on their toes.
Strategy #2: Use a Jamboard for Visual Feedback
Jamboard is my new crush when it comes to Google Classroom— especially during virtual teaching! These can be used for so many reasons, but I love the idea of using these as exit tickets. Here’s a way to do that:
Pose the exit ticket question by typing it at the top of the Jamboard.
There are a few ways to get quick and easy visual feedback: A) Have students place a checkmark in a column such as “YES / NO” or “NEVER / SOMETIMES / ALWAYS”, etc. This strategy works if you’re wanting quick overall class feedback on the lesson.
If you are looking for more comprehensive feedback, then you can pose a question on the first slide of the Jamboard and then have your students add a Jamboard page with their response on it (each student can have a slide— or even a group can take a slide, etc.). This same strategy also works with Google Slides by the way.
Here is a picture of how I used Jamboard for quick and effective class feedback:
For this Jamboard, students held an in-class debate, so I wanted to know where they stood at the end of the class period after the debate. So, I gave them this easy Jamboard, which allowed me to quickly gauge what the class was thinking after the debate. It looks like there was one individual outlier in this class (but all classes had different results).
Students used the drawing feature to create a checkmark. If you want more individual feedback, you could have students type their initials into a column rather than using the checkmark. There are LOTS of options for using Jamboard as a feedback tool. I love it! Check out this post for more ideas on how to use Jamboard in secondary ELA.
Strategy #3: Use Feedback Friday
In reality, we may not have the time to complete an exit ticket every day of the week. That’s when a “Feedback Friday” concept can really work. On my calendars and curriculum maps, I always build out Fridays as “Flex Fridays” for reteaching, reviewing, enriching, or finishing (honestly, we use the time mostly to finish things). But Fridays can be used as a time for reflection. Students can use the day to reflect back on skills taught during the week, and this is when you can implement a Friday Exit Ticket.
For this exit ticket strategy, students can review the lessons from the past week and see where they need help or further review as well as what they feel like they’ve mastered during week. This gives you time over the weekend or beginning of the next week to process the feedback and alter plans accordingly.
How do you use exit tickets in your classroom? Please a comment below to join the conversation!
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About the Author
Meredith is the founder and creator of TeachWriting.org and Bespoke ELA. She has taught high school English for 14+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City and holds a M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University. She has always had a connection to the written word-- through songwriting, screenplay writing, and essay writing-- and she enjoys the process of teaching students how to express their ideas. Meredith enjoys life with her sweet daughter and Yorkie.