Write red, yellow or green for how today went for you. Add one sentence to explain.Red is stuck, yellow is nearly there, green is ready to go on. Say so before pupils write.
A friend was out today. Tell them what they missed in three lines.Shows which parts of the lesson stayed and in what order pupils remember them.
Explain today's idea to a first grader in two sentences.Plain words show real understanding; borrowed phrases show a pupil repeating the board.
Finish the sentence: Today I learned that ... and it matters because ...The second half shows who sees a reason for the lesson.
In one sentence, what was today's lesson about?Shows who can name the main idea and who lists what the class did.
List the three most important words from today. Say why you chose one of them.Shows whether the key vocabulary landed, and what each pupil thinks it means.
Sketch today's big idea and label two parts of your drawing.Shows understanding from pupils who write slowly; the labels carry the answer.
What was the first thing we did today, and the last? How are the two linked?Shows whether pupils saw the lesson as one thread or as separate tasks.
Write a headline for today's lesson in six words or fewer.Shows whether a pupil can pick the one point that matters most.
Check the skill 8
Answer the question on the board. Then check your answer a second way.Shows who has more than one method and who trusts a first answer.
Do one more problem like the last one. Show every step.Write the problem beside the prompt. The steps show where a wrong answer started.
Give one example of today's idea and one thing that is not an example.The non-example shows whether a pupil knows where the idea stops.
Look at answers A and B on the board. Which is right? How do you know?Write one right and one almost right answer. The reason shows more than the letter.
Make up your own question on today's skill. Then answer it.The question a pupil chooses shows how hard a problem they feel ready for.
One step in the worked example on the board is wrong. Which one, and what should it say?Put up a worked example with one planted error. Shows who checks the steps and who checks only the answer.
Use today's key word correctly in a sentence of your own.Name the word beside the prompt. A sentence that fits any word shows the meaning is not there yet.
Write the steps for today's skill in order, as a numbered list.A missing or swapped step shows the part to go over again.
Rate yourself 8
Could you do tonight's practice without help? Write yes, mostly or not yet, and what would help.Shows who would be stuck at home before the practice goes out.
Draw a thumb up, sideways or down. Write the part you want to go over again.Quick for young classes; the second line turns a feeling into something to reteach.
How hard did you work today, from 1 to 5? What would have made it a 5?Shows effort as the pupil sees it, which can differ from what the room looked like.
How sure are you about today's skill? Write 1 (lost), 2 (shaky), 3 (got it) or 4 (could teach it), and say why.The numbers sort the slips into piles in a minute; the reasons say what each pile needs.
Name one thing you can do now that you could not do when the lesson started.A blank here shows a pupil who cannot yet name what changed.
What did you do today when you got stuck?Shows which pupils have a next move and which wait.
What was easiest for you today? What was hardest?The same hardest part on many slips shows where the lesson lost the room.
Write red, yellow or green for how today went for you. Add one sentence to explain.Red is stuck, yellow is nearly there, green is ready to go on. Say so before pupils write.
Connect it 8
Finish both sentences: I used to think ... Now I think ...Shows which earlier ideas the lesson changed and which are still standing.
Finish the sentence: Today's idea is like ... because ...A comparison that holds shows understanding; one that breaks shows the misconception.
How does today's lesson connect to what we did last time?Shows whether the unit reads as a sequence or as separate days.
Predict the next lesson: what comes after today, and why?Shows who sees where the unit is going.
What does today's idea remind you of from another subject?Shows links pupils make on their own, some of them useful for the next lesson's opening.
What job would need the skill we practiced today? Explain.Shows how widely a pupil can picture the skill being used.
Where have you seen today's idea before: in a book, in a game or somewhere else?Gives real examples to open the next lesson with.
Where would you use today's lesson outside school?Shows whether the skill has a use in the pupil's eyes or lives only in the classroom.
Ask a question 8
If we had ten more minutes, what should we spend them on?Shows whether the class wants more practice, more explanation or the next step.
What do you want to know more about? Start with: I wonder ...An easy way in for pupils who say they have no questions.
What is the one question you still have?The questions that come up most are tomorrow's first five minutes.
What would you ask an expert on today's topic?Shows curiosity past the lesson, and topics for an extension task.
Which part of today is still unclear? Point to it as exactly as you can.Shows the unclear step, not only that something is unclear.
Write a question for a classmate to answer at the start of the next lesson.Collect the slips and read a few aloud next time as the warm-up.
Write a true or false statement about today for the class to judge.A statement that is false in a small way shows a pupil who knows where the idea goes wrong.
Write one question today's lesson answered and one it did not.The second question shows what a pupil expected to find out and did not.
How it works
These exit ticket ideas are prompts for the last three minutes of a lesson: one question on the board and one short answer from every pupil. Each comes with a line for the teacher on what the answers show.
Read the full guide
Run one at the end of a lesson
1. Press Pick another exit ticket. The menu that then reads All exit tickets narrows the pick to one group.
2. Show the prompt. Pupils answer on a slip or on scrap paper.
3. Collect the slips at the door and sort them into two or three piles.
Five groups, by what you want to find out
Sum it up asks for the main idea. Check the skill asks for one more try. Rate yourself asks how sure a pupil is. Connect it ties the lesson to something else. Ask a question collects what is still unclear. No prompt comes up twice until all 40 have been shown.
Check the skill prompts need a problem, an example or a key word from you, written beside the prompt.
For slips to write on, the exit ticket template prints four to a page with cut lines.
Questions and answers
What are good exit ticket ideas for any subject?
Prompts that need no rewriting: In one sentence, what was today's lesson about? What is the one question you still have? How sure are you, 1 to 4, and why? Sum it up, Rate yourself and Ask a question hold prompts of this kind.
What is an example of an exit ticket?
One example: Do one more problem like the last one. Show every step. Each pupil answers on a slip and hands it in at the door, and the steps show where a wrong answer started.
What are fun exit ticket ideas?
Try the headline in six words, the sketch with two labels, the three lines to a friend who was out, or the idea explained to a first grader. Each asks for something other than a plain written answer.