Hello teachers! Brittany from The SuperHERO Teacher's Resources here to talk all about why you should incorporate exit tickets into your daily classroom routine. If your teaching style is anything like mine, you love spontaneity in the classroom just as much as you love a solid classroom management plan that paves the way for an engaging and innovative lesson. My first couple of years teaching, I struggled to find the balance between fun and focus. I honestly wasn't sure if it was possible to have both-- until I began incorporating exit tickets. You're probably thinking: "wait-- I thought exit tickets assessed student comprehension"-- and you would be right, but they also help with SO much more. Let me explain! 1. Exit tickets are a classroom management miracle. I am not even exaggerating when I say incorporating exit tickets will transform your classroom management. Picture this: it's the end of a class period and you just finished up the best lesson of your career... 5 minutes early... You start to notice students packing up, fidgeting, and then the sweet student who loves discussing the daily lunch menu breaks out into chatter with the person next to them. Soon, every student in the room is in a debate about whether square pizza or chicken nuggets are better (square pizza, obviously)! It's stressful and nearly impossible to avoid... that is, without exit tickets! If your students know they have an exit ticket prompt they have to complete before they can leave the classroom, they will remain focused on the task at hand and there won't be time for the excess chatter that inevitably occurs moments before the bell rings. Exit tickets are a classroom management hack that students will be oblivious to. It's not a punishment, it's a routine that is developed to track their comprehension and growth... It just so happens to also prevent them from focusing on the distractions around the room. 2. Exit tickets create student routine. Classroom routine and classroom management kind of go hand in hand, in my opinion. If a routine is developed from the beginning, your classroom management will be in tune. When I used exit ticket and bell ringer journals in my classroom, the students knew the moment they entered my classroom that they had a 5 minute bell ringer prompt to complete and at the end of class they were to reflect on the lesson by completing a 5 minute exit ticket prompt. Developing these daily routines allowed me the opportunity to be more spontaneous and exciting in my lessons and delivery. Using an exit ticket journal, like the one linked here, gives you all of the prompts you'll need for an entire year, taking the stress of developing them off your shoulders. 3. Exit tickets assess student comprehension. The most common reason teachers use exit tickets is their ability to assess student comprehension in a quick, simply way. In five minutes or less, teachers can determine whether their lesson is successful or if there needs to be some re-teaching the following day. Exit tickets don't have to be in a question format either-- they can be visuals, graphs, images and more, which will help meet the learning styles and expectations of each student in your classroom. You can test out an entire week of exit ticket prompts using the freebie I designed from one of my Exit Ticket Journals. Simply click here, download the free resource and share with your students. 4. Exit tickets track student growth. Tracking growth is important for both you AND your students. When students have a moment to reflect on their comprehension of a lesson, they can process where they may be struggling or excelling in your class. If you're using something like an exit ticket journal, students have the ability to go back and see how far they've grown from the beginning of the school year, which can serve as motivation and inspiration to continue working hard throughout the school year. These simple prompts provide students with a visual representation of their progress in your class, whether it's a unit or an ongoing theme over the course of an entire year. 5. Exit tickets help teachers reflect on their teaching practices. Reflecting on our own teaching practices is equally as important as helping students reflect on their progress! However, I think we all know how time consuming it is to do a pre-test and post-test for every single unit or lesson. Exit tickets can be assessed in seconds, especially visuals. For example: if you asked students to shade in their understanding of the day's lesson on a bar scaled 1 to 10 and you see that most students shaded in 5 or less, you'll know that re-teaching needs to occur the following day. While you may have days that students are confused or lacking comprehension, you'll also find exit ticket responses to be rewarding-- because you'll see the positive things they take away from your lessons, too! Looking for an entire year of exit tickets? Check out my Exit Ticket Journal here. Download two free weeks of exit tickets here! These resources are also incredible for incorporating exit tickets: 1. Growth Mindset Exit Tickets from The Daring English Teacher 2. Formative Assessment Power Pack from Room 213 3. Exit Slips for Any Subject from Presto Plans 4. English Bell Ringers and Exit Tickets from Tracee Orman Have a fabulous day and keep changing lives!