Entry tickets focus student attention on the day’s topic or ask students to recall background knowledge relevant to the day’s lesson.

Example:

“Based on the readings for class today, what is your understanding of ___________?"

Exit tickets collect feedback on students’ understanding at the end of a class and provide the students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned. They can be helpful in prompting students to begin to synthesize and integrate the information gained during a class period.

Examples of a "muddiest point prompt":

"What was the muddiest point in today's class?"

"What questions do you still have about today's lecture?"

• Participation of each student
• Prompt for students to focus on key concepts and ideas
• A high return of information for the amount of time invested
• Important feedback for the instructor that can be useful to guide teaching decisions

(e.g., course pacing, quick clarification of small misunderstandings, identification of student interests and questions).

Sample Exit Tickets

Larry Wakeford (Education)

"Ticket to leave" (or "exit ticket") is an ideal way to end a class. It can serve a number of purposes:

• Provide feedback to the teacher about the class;
• Require the student to do some synthesis of the day’s content;
• Challenge the student with a question requiring some application of what was learned in the lesson.

The prompt or question should require only a brief time to respond to, certainly no more than five minutes, but perhaps only 1-2 minutes. The “ticket to leave’ is not intended as a major task, rather, a quick summarizer having one of the purposes listed above. The responses should not be part of formal assessment, but it can provide valuable feedback to the teacher.

Some possible prompts or questions to use for the "ticket to leave":

• Name one important thing you learned in class today.
• What did you think was accomplished by the small group activity we did today?
• Write/ask one question about today's content - something that has left you puzzled.
• Today's lesson had three objectives (These would have been shared at the beginning of class and should still be available for referencing). Which of the three do you think was most successfully reached? Explain. Or, which was not attained? Why do you think it was not?
• Read this problem, and tell me what your first step would be in solving it.
• One of the goals of this class is to have all participants contribute to the seminar. How well do you think this was achieved today?
• Do you have any suggestions for how today's class could have been improved?
• I used the blackboard extensively today. Was its organization and content helpful to you in learning? Why or why not?
• Which of the readings you did for class today was most helpful in preparing you for the lesson? Why?
• We did a concept map activity in class today. Was this a useful learning activity for you? Why or why not?

Usually, “tickets to leave” are handed to the teacher as the students leave. However, you might want to have some or all, in small classes, the students quickly share their responses.