Exit Tickets are a great form of formative assessment at the end of your daily lesson.

I love exit tickets because they give tangible evidence of what students did or learned in class.

If you don't already use exit tickets in your classroom, I encourage you to do so. You just might be surprised at what you and your students learn!

What Kind of Exit Tickets?

I give exit tickets on a variety of topics. The point is to show what you've learned or that you paid attention in class that day. I try to have them answer in the target language whenever possible.

Here are some examples:

If we did conversations that day, I will ask them to answer the question of the day in written form and to include answers from three other students.

If we did a story or a reading that day, I may ask them to write down three details from the story or reading. Or I can ask them to tell me what happened before the story started or after the story ended.

Usually, when we read a novel chapter, I'll have them tell me three things that happened in the chapter that we read.

If we're building a character, I may have them vote on some details that we can add to our character next class.

Variety of Exit Ticket Formats

There are three principal formats that I use to have my students complete their exit tickets.

The first is the tried and true slip of paper. Students simply write their answers on a piece of paper and turn it in as they would any other assessment.

But truthfully, for me, this is a waste of paper for this activity. Even if you have students answer multiple exit tickets on the same sheet of paper, there's generally no real value to keeping these long-term, so I'd rather save paper and use one of the other digital options.

Google Forms are the second option I like to use. I prefer to use Google Forms for votes, coming up with character details, and things of the like because it's easier to compile the information into a pie chart, graph, or Google Sheet.

The last way I give exit tickets is using the website flip.com. I like this because students have to record a short video of their exit ticket. This makes it easier for me to see how they're doing speaking the language as well as put names to faces. I can leave comments on their videos and have a long-term record if I choose to use a sampling of these flip.com videos as a basis for a formative speaking grade.

Exit Ticket Ideas

I've already given you some ideas for exit tickets, but here are some more. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, but gives you some ideas to use in your classroom and may trigger some ideas of your own.

  • one thing you learned today
  • retell today's story
  • three things from today's reading
  • answer the question of the day
  • one question you still have from today's lesson
  • answer a reflection question
  • agree or disagree with today's topic?
  • what emoji would describe your learning?
  • how are you doing today?
  • rate your understanding of the language today from 0-10

If you have any other ideas for exit tickets, please share them in the comments below and don't forget to download our Exit-Ticket Guide!