I’ve written previously about exit slips and how useful I’ve found them. Essentially they are almost like a mini-quiz you give at the end of a lesson, which children all do independently.
I’ve found the benefits of exit slips include:
-I get valuable feedback about where each pupil is up to in their learning and an idea as to how confident each child feels about their ability, which helps me plan further lessons.
-The exit slip serves as a piece of solid evidence as to what the child could accomplish by themselves at the end of a lesson (rather than perhaps what their partner’s sheet showed!). Exit slips are small, so children can cover their answers easily to prevent copying. The feedback I get from exit slips is therefore a genuine picture of what that child knows.
-Using exit slips at the end of practical lessons discourages children from trying to coast or ‘free ride’, as they know they will be held individually accountable for what they have learned at the end of the lesson.
-it allows you to spend the majority of a lesson doing hands-on, engaging activities that are about the children learning, but you still get something written from the lesson for their books.
TIP: Sometimes I ask questions orally for children to answer on exit slips, sometimes I put up a slide on my smartboard and sometimes I actually write on the exit slips some differentiated questions in advance. Like in this example looking at place value and comparing numbers with <, > and =
TIP: I make it VERY VERY OH SO ABUNDANTLY clear to my pupils that the purpose of an exit slip isn’t that everyone needs to be getting 100%. I explain the exit slips are there for me to see where everyone is up to so that I can plan what I am going to teach better so that everyone can learn what they need to know. In the example above, I can see that the child is pretty secure on comparing numbers but needs to make sure if the digits are the same they are double-checking which way round they are.
TIP: I have quick finishers turn over and answer a question which makes them reflect on today’s lesson on the back of their exit slip: what are you proudest of from this lesson? What else would you like to know about this subject? How have you improved this lesson?
TIP: I collect in and read exit slips at the end of a lesson and then give them back out at the start of the next lesson and have pupils stick them in.
Click here to download my generic exit slip (two per page) template
Children draw hairs on the head of a minion-type character to show how confident they feel in their learning. I find this to be a fun non-judgemental way to find out how they feel, as opposed to, for example, them drawing traffic lights which I think can carry negative connotations (who really enjoys drawing a red traffic light on their learning???).