Exit tickets: twelve shapes and when each one works

1 Why the shape of the ticket matters

Every exit ticket asks a question, but not every question tells you the same thing. "3-2-1" tells you what stuck and what students wonder about. "Show one" tells you whether they can actually do it. "One word" tells you how the lesson landed. If you use the same prompt every day, you get the same kind of answer every day, and you miss what the other shapes would have shown.

The exit ticket maker holds twelve prompts written for this site. They fall into three families:

• Check the skill: Show one, Spot the mistake, Write the test question, Draw it.
• Show the thinking: 3-2-1, Muddiest point, I used to think, Next time.
• Sum up the big idea: Tell a friend who was away, Make a connection, Headline, One word.

Pick the family first, from what you need to know for tomorrow. Then pick the shape inside it that fits the lesson. The companion page, 30 exit ticket ideas, has more prompts in quick list form; this guide goes deeper into the twelve the maker prints.

2 Four shapes that check the skill

Use these after a lesson that taught students to do something: a math procedure, a grammar rule, a science process. They show you work, not feelings about work.

• Show one. "Do one example of today's skill. Then explain one step in words." The example shows whether they can do it; the step in words shows whether they know why. Works from 2nd grade up, and in kindergarten and 1st grade if you say the prompt aloud and let them draw.
• Spot the mistake. "What is one mistake someone could make with today's lesson? How would you avoid it?" Students who can name a likely mistake usually understand the skill well. Best from 3rd grade up, after students have practiced enough to have seen mistakes.
• Write the test question. "Write a question about today that you think should be on the test, and answer it." It shows what students think matters most, and you get a pile of ready-made review questions. Best from 3rd grade up.
• Draw it. "Draw a picture or diagram that shows today's idea. Label two parts." The ticket prints a box instead of lines. Strong for science processes, fractions, story maps, and for young students and emerging writers at any grade.

These four take a little longer to read than a summary ticket, because you are looking at work. Read for one thing only: is the example right, is the mistake a real one, does the question test today's skill, are the two labels correct. Sorting by that one thing keeps the stack to five minutes, and the piles still tell you who needs you tomorrow.

If you need a quick yes or no on a skill rather than an open answer, switch the maker to question tickets, covered below.

3 Four shapes that show the thinking

Use these when you want to know how a lesson went for each student: what confused them, what they will carry forward, how their ideas changed. They are especially useful in the middle of a unit, before the confusion sets.

• 3-2-1. "Write 3 things you learned, 2 things that surprised you, and 1 question you still have." The longest ticket, with six lines, so it needs a few more minutes. Read the questions first; they are your best clue to what to open with tomorrow. Grades 2–8.
• Muddiest point. "What was the most confusing part of today? What would help you understand it?" Answers that repeat across the stack tell you exactly what to reteach. It also shows students that confusion is something you want to hear about. Grades 3–8.
• I used to think. "I used to think ... Now I think ..." Best at the end of a lesson that challenged a common idea, such as heavier things falling faster. It shows whose thinking moved and whose didn't. Grades 3–8.
• Next time. "What is one thing you will try or do differently next time?" Strong after a lab, a group task, a draft or a test, when the point is the habit, not the content. Grades 2–8.

4 Four shapes that sum up the big idea

Use these when the lesson had one main idea and you want to know whether students caught it, in their own words. They are short to write and fast to read.

• Tell a friend who was away. "Explain today's big idea to a friend who was away today, in two sentences." Putting it for someone else forces students to choose what matters. You can hand the best ones to students who really were away. Grades 2–8.
• Make a connection. "How does today's lesson connect to something you already knew?" It shows whether the new idea has hooked onto anything. Good at the start of a unit. Grades 3–8.
• Headline. "Write a newspaper headline that sums up today's lesson." Only two lines, so it pushes students to boil the idea down. Older students enjoy it; it works well for history, current topics and story chapters. Grades 4–8.
• One word. "Sum up today in one word. Then write one sentence about why you chose it." The quickest of the twelve. In kindergarten and 1st grade, take the word aloud as children line up and skip the sentence.

A summary ticket tells you whether students got the idea, not whether they can use it. If a summary ticket shows the class got it, follow up the next day with a ticket from the check-the-skill family.

5 When a question beats a prompt

Sometimes you don't need an open answer. You need to know, in two minutes, who can answer 7 × 8 or tell what a new vocabulary word means. For that, switch the maker from A prompt to Questions.

• One to three questions a ticket, drawn from the same sources as the quiz maker: math facts, sight words, word meanings, a reading passage's questions, or your own list.
• Three boxes or writing lines. Three boxes are fastest to check, and for math facts, sight words and word meanings the wrong boxes are the same near misses Peabody's games use. Writing lines make students produce the answer.
• An answer key prints on its own page after the tickets.
• Your own list takes one question and its answer a line, with a colon between them. It stays in your browser.

Question tickets pair well with the prompt shapes. A Monday question ticket on yesterday's skill, then a Friday "Spot the mistake" on the same skill, shows you both whether students can do it and whether they understand it.

You can also type your own prompt, up to two hundred characters, if none of the twelve fits. Keep it to one task, and never put a student's name on a ticket.

6 Printing and the "how sure are you?" line

The maker prints four tickets to a page with cut lines, or six when the ticket is short enough. A long prompt or long answers drop the page back to four, and the maker tells you when that happens. Short prompts such as One word, Headline and Muddiest point fit six.

Each ticket can also carry a "How sure are you?" line with three drawn faces: Not yet, Getting there and Got it. It is on by default, and it adds a second piece of information for almost no extra time.

• A right answer with a Not yet face is a student who guessed, or who needs reassurance.
• A wrong answer with a Got it face is the most important ticket in the stack: a confident misunderstanding. Talk to that student first.
• Young students can circle a face even when they can't write much yet, so the line works from kindergarten up.

The faces are drawn rather than typed, so they print the same on any printer. If you print the same ticket every day for a week, students start to use the faces honestly, because nothing happens to a Not yet except help.

7 Reading a stack in five minutes

An exit ticket is only worth the time if you read it before the next lesson. Five minutes is enough if you sort instead of mark.

1. Make three piles: got it, almost, not yet. Don't write on the tickets. The answer key page for question tickets says the same thing.
2. Look at the not-yet pile first. Is it a few students or most of the class? A few means a small group tomorrow. Most means you reteach.
3. Pull out one surprise: a great answer to share, or a common wrong idea to address. Don't name the student.
4. Write one line on a sticky note for tomorrow's plan: who to pull, what to open with.
5. Recycle the tickets or keep the not-yet pile for a week so you can see who moved.

What to sayYesterday's tickets showed me something interesting. A lot of us wrote that the bottom number in a fraction is how many pieces you have. Let's look at that together.

Rotating shapes across the week keeps both you and the students from going through the motions: a check-the-skill ticket after new teaching, a thinking ticket in the middle of a unit, a summary ticket at the end.