Exit tickets
An exit ticket is one question. Make it the right one.
Five formats that each tell you something different, ready examples to use tomorrow, and the five-minute sort that turns a stack of paper into tomorrow's lesson. One question is a signal, not a grade — used well, it's the most honest data you collect all day.
Five formats, five different findings
The examples use a fractions lesson — swap in your own content. What matters is matching the format to what you need to know tonight.
The one-question check
Which is greater: 2/3 or 3/5? Show how you know.
What it tells you: Whether the day's ONE key idea landed. Ask the exact concept, demand the reasoning - the answer alone can be a guess.
Muddiest point
What part of today was the most confusing? Where exactly did it stop making sense?
What it tells you: Where to start tomorrow. Expect vague answers at first - the skill of naming confusion has to be taught too.
3-2-1
3 things you learned, 2 examples you could make, 1 question you still have.
What it tells you: Range: the 3 shows recall, the 2 shows transfer, the 1 hands you tomorrow's Do-Now for free.
Find the mistake
A student wrote 1/3 + 1/6 = 2/9. What went wrong, and what's the correct answer?
What it tells you: Whether students can spot the misconception - harder and more diagnostic than solving cleanly. Use YOUR class's actual error from today.
Traffic light + evidence
Green, yellow, or red on today's goal - AND one line of work that proves your colour.
What it tells you: Self-assessment you can trust, because the evidence line stops the polite green. Mismatches between colour and evidence are the real finding.
The five-minute sort (or the stack was for nothing)
- 1.Three piles in five minutes: got it / partly / reteach. Don't grade, just sort - the ticket is a signal, not an assessment.
- 2.Count the reteach pile. Under a quarter of the class? Small group tomorrow while others practise. Over half? The lesson reruns with a different model.
- 3.Steal tomorrow's Do-Now from the stack: the most common wrong answer becomes the warm-up ('Yesterday someone wrote ___ - what do you think happened?'). No names, ever.
- 4.Keep three tickets per unit per student if you track growth - the exit stack is report-card evidence hiding in plain sight.
Tickets written from YOUR lesson
"Exit tickets for today's Grade 6 lesson on comparing fractions - include a find-the-mistake question" is a useful prompt for shaping a ready set with an answer key. Keep the final question tied to the learning you actually taught.