Your lesson was beautifully prepared and taught. The big question is: Did students get it?
A quick way to check for understanding at the end of a lesson is to use an exit slip (sometimes called an exit ticket).
This is a quick question that will help you find out if students get it or if there is still more work to be done. Here are a few tips on how I use exit slips in science.
1. Ask just one question
I use exit slips after the Explain sections of the 5E Model to formatively assess students’ needs going forward.
I keep it simple. One question is great. You don’t want the majority of your time spent on a formative assessment… I prefer 3 minutes max. I may ask students to explain their answer sometimes if it’s a quick question.
I’ve tried just having students write what they learned, but that can be pesky because they don’t always give me what I’m looking for and I don’t know if they met the objective. With a specific question, I can assess their understanding of the objective.
You also might want to have students rate their own understanding of the objective. Some teachers use Marzano’s scale of a 1-4 (1=meh, 4=yay). They can just write their self rating in the corner.
2. Sort the exit slips
Once I get the exit slip back, I sort them into 3 categories: Got It, Almost There, and Re-teach Needed. I don’t spend all day analyzing these things. I glance at it and within a few seconds can tell what category it belongs in.
Got It: This pile is for a correct answer, correct work, correct everything.
Almost There: This pile is for answers that look okay, but require a bit more practice and time.
Re-Teach Needed: This pile is for answers where the students needs intervention to continue.
3. Make a plan
This is totally going to vary teacher to teacher, but decide where you want to go next. Did all but 2 students end up in the Got It pile? Great! Be sure to visit with those 2 students and move forward.
Do a few need re-teach? Keep working in small group and stations to revisit the concept or skill.
Do more than half of your students need re-teach? Spend an extra day on it (despite the pesky pacing guide). Yeah, I said it.
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5 thoughts on “How To (Quickly) Use Exit Slips”
I love exit slips! Thank you for creating these! I am hesitating to purchase now, but am totally in favor of Earth and Physical Science exit slips! Then I could buy the bundle and save money! Thanks so much for all you do to make our life easier!
Cool idea for rapid informal assessment. I like the curriculum artist thing, too. I can’t say I’ve met one before.
Thanks for the great tips. I love that you only have one question and that you sort them in that way. I will have to try that. I also wanted to tell you that I adore your blog logo penguin beaker. So stinking cute! Happy blogging.
@ Wiley Teaching
This was short and informal which makes it the perfect idea to implement immediately and quickly. Thank you!
This was short and to the point which makes it easy to implement quickly and immediately! Thanks for the tips!