TeacherChic

The reason I wanted to set up a blog was to first have a way to make connections to teachers from all over.  Second, I want to share ideas, thoughts, and my knowledge of the teaching profession to others.  Lastly, I wanted a way to learn more too!  Together, we all work to educate the minds of the future.

Today, I want to share my ideas for exit tickets.  What are exit tickets?  Exit tickets are a type of formative assessment.  They are quick, easy, and accurate.

Here is the first style of exit tickets I want to discuss:  the "stop light".  At the end of a lesson, I will often pass out sticky notes to my students.  On the top of the note, they write their name.  Next, they demonstrate by explaining(words) or showing(pictures) their understanding of the topic.  For example, if the concept learned was fractions of a whole, the student might write an explanation of fractions of a whole in words, or show me an example of fractions of a whole.  I then call them up by groups and they decide where to place their exit ticket on the stop light.  Green = "I've Got It!"  Yellow = "Almost There"  Red = "I Still Need Help"

Now, what I love about this method of exit tickets is the self-evaluating the students have to do in placing their sticky note on the stop light.  They have to decide how they feel about their level of understanding.  And guess what?  The students are almost always accurate!!  They pretty much "hit the nail on the head" when they take this type of ownership in their learning. 

Once everyone has placed their ticket on the stop light, I take a moment or two (usually during their specials, recess, lunch, or after school)  to evaluate their tickets.  First, I remove the notes on the green light.  I read over them and decide if I agree with them.  I place the tickets that demonstrate accuracy on the topic in one pile and those that may need some reteaching in another pile.  I continue down the stop light until I have evaluated each "ticket".  Now this may seem like it takes a long time, but it is actually very quick and gives me a good idea of who's got it and who needs more assistance.

I hope this helps some of you with another type of formative assessment.  Let me know what you think!  I will continue to add more posts on different types of exit tickets.