Exit-Slips/Ticket-Out-The-Door TEACHING STRATEGY

At the end of each lesson, do you often ask yourself if your students understood the lesson?  What ways and how often do you check for understanding? One of the most popular strategies for many teachers is Exit Slips or Tickets-Out-The-Door. This strategy is used to help students process the information and reflect on what they learned. They also incorporate writing and make quick formative assessments. 

Exit slip questions may fall into these specific categories:

1. Prompts that demonstrate knowledge of a topic. 

    *Ex. Write three things you learned from today's lesson. 

    *Ex. Explain one idea that you found the most interesting. 

2. Prompts that make students critically think about the lesson.

    *Ex. One idea I need clarified is...

    *Ex. One question I have about the topic is...

Other questions you may ask:

*What made learning easy for you today?

*What made learning difficult for you today?

*What do you still need to know before we move on?

*What did you learn today?

*What should our next step be?

How to use this strategy:

1. At the end of the lesson or a few minutes before class ends, ask students to respond to a prompt you created beforehand. 

2. Distribute small pieces of scratch paper or sticky notes, or have students complete a digital version if your classroom is paperless. Be sure they include their name. 

3. To exit the class or to be excused, students must turn in their Exit Slip. I usually stand by the door and quickly review each slip. I then place the papers in two piles; "they got it" or "they need more clarification."  If I see that many students did not understand the topic or have more questions, I spend a few minutes the next day to reteach. If students use a digital version, I give students a point from 1-5. One means they did not understand the lesson, Five means they understood the major concepts, and reteaching is unnecessary. 

If you are looking for some fun formative assessments, click HERE. 

I hope you found this post useful. Click HERE to grab over 70 teaching strategies for FREE! 

Happy Teaching, 

LINES OF COMMUNICATION Teaching Strategy

Lines of Communication teaching strategy is one of my favorites! It gets the students out of their seats and most importantly communicating with their classmates. Follow the easy instructions below to implement this fun activity into your classroom.

1. Have students get into two lines. Each student faces another student. You may want to consider having the students go outside since you will need a lot of space.
2. Next, have students discuss important ideas, debate a topic, or review the main ideas from a lesson.
3. Once both partners have shared, have one line move in the same direction to the next student and repeat the process. Below are some ideas I use in my classroom.

I have my Civics students debate the death penalty after they read this informational text.

Death Penalty

In my World History class, I have my students learn about the Enlightenment Philosophers and discuss the question: Which Philosopher was the most significant in the development of democracy and why?

Enlightenment Philosophers

In my U.S. History class, my students have a blast debating the question, "Who started the Cold War?" before or after they write a DBQ.

Who Started the Cold War?

And, in my Psychology class, my students discuss the different theories of Personality after completing this graphic organizer:

Theories of Personality

Check out my TpT store HERE for more fun ideas!

Happy Teaching,
Chalk Dust Diva

WHIP AROUND Teaching Strategy

In my classroom, I am constantly looking for new and quick ways to assess my students. Sometimes I  check for understanding by calling on random students using index cards. Other times I might ask a few students to write their answer on the whiteboard. There are so many engaging options to assess your students.  "Whip-Around" is one of my favorite teaching strategies.  Here is how it works:

STEP 1: Have each student write down two or three possible responses to a prompt or question.
STEP 2: Then have students, in order, share out one of their responses using a public speaking voice.
STEP 3: Ask all students to stand up prior to speaking, then as they share they sit down. You may want to have student pair-share prior to having them share with the entire class.

This activity is best meant to be a quick moving activity that only takes a few minutes. If your class is large use only one or two rows, not the entire class.

This strategy works best when summarizing or to be able to hear from multiple voices in the room. It is also a good end-of-period activity.

Make sure the question being asked has many answers and they or not long and/or complex.

How do you assess your students? I would love to hear about your ideas! Leave a comment below.

Are you looking for more teaching strategies? Click HERE to get 70 strategies for FREE!

Happy Teaching!

THINK-PAIR-SHARE Teaching Strategy

Research shows that the most effective teachers ask an average of 24 questions (at all levels) during a 50-minute period; the least effective asked an average of 8.6 questions.

Think-Pair-Share is a great strategy to incorporate questions into any lesson. Just follow the instructions below:

The teacher will ask a question to the entire class and give at least 3-5 seconds to have the students think about the answer. Then the students share their answers with a partner. The teacher will then randomly call on a few students to share their answers in front of the class. This can be done throughout a lesson to check for understanding. I usually make sure the my students answer in complete sentences using academic language. 

For every unit I post a "Word Wall" so my students have something to refer throughout the lesson. Get a FREE Word Wall HERE!

If you are looking for more engaging teaching strategies click on the HERE!

Happy Teaching!

Fun Games and Review Strategies for the Secondary Classroom

I don't know about you, but I love to play games! I love competition so much that I started a monthly game night in my neighborhood. My favorite day to teach is the day before the test - review day! Are you looking for some new and engaging review games for your secondary classroom? Here are some of my favorites!

1. Bingo: I put a twist on this old-time favorite. I don't  call out the term, but I define the term and the students will have to find the correct answer on their bingo sheet! On the back of the sheet is a list of definitions. Once the term is chosen, the students write the term next to the definition. They can then take the review sheet home to study.

2. The SNAKE Game: This is one of my favorite's! It's also a great way to find out who is prepared for the test and who is not. In a nutshell, the teacher asks a question and the students write their answer on a piece of paper. For those students who do not have the correct answer, they stay seated. If they do have the correct answer they move to the next available seat. The first to pass their seat is the winner! (You can see more detailed directions HERE)

3. Cold Potato: Just like "hot potato" but opposite! Students sit in a large circle. The teacher asks a question.  As the music plays the students rotate a potato, or a kleenex box, or a ball of tape (whatever works). When the teacher stops the music, the student who is holding the "potato" has a chance to answer the question. If they are correct, they get an extra credit point!

Check out more of my "Fun Games and Review Strategies" HERE!

 

Let the games begin!

Numbered Heads Teaching Strategy

Are you looking for a different way to check for understanding from your students? Numbered Heads is a fun and copperative stragegy that makes sure that all students participate. Here are the easy steps:

STEP 1: Have students number off in teams, one through four. If your students are already in teams, assign each student a different number in their team.
STEP 2: Then ask a series of questions, one at a time. It could be review questions, questions to check for prior knowledge, even questions to ask their opinion about something.
STEP 3: Have the students in each group discuss possible answers for about 30 -90 seconds.
STEP 4: Call a number (1-4), and the students with that number either raise their hand or stand up, ready to respond.
STEP 5:  Then randomly call on students with the specified number to answer the on behalf of their group.
STEP 6: Continue to ask questions until the review session is over.

CLICK HERE to see more review strategies.

Happy Teaching!

IDEA WAVE Teaching Strategy

Are you looking for a fun activity to check for understanding? Here is a great teaching strategy the entire class can participate in. Read below for the directions for an IDEA WAVE. 

After students learn about a specific topic each student shares ideas they learned about that topic.

·         A volunteer begins the “idea wave” by sharing one idea.

·         The students to the right of the volunteer shares one idea; the next student to the right shares one idea.

·         The teacher directs the flow of the “idea wave” until several different ideas have been shared. 

At the end of the formal "idea wave, " a few volunteers who were not included can contribute an idea.

To put a twist on the idea wave, ask all students to stand and share information they learned about the topic. Tell the students that they must speak in complete sentences using academic langauge. (I post word walls for every unit for students to refer to). I say to the class, "the person who goes first is the person who is speaking". They cannot repeat information that someone else has already said, so they need to listen carefully. The goal for the students is not to be the last person standing. 

This is a great way to assess your student's knowledge about any topic and then be able to reteach information if necessary. 

To see more teaching strategies click HERE!

Happy Teaching!

Chalk Dust Diva

Give-One-Get-One Teaching Strategy

Give-One-Get-One is a great, interactive, teaching strategy that will help your students review any topic covered in your class. Simply have your students follow the steps below to easily implement this strategy in your classroom:

 STEP 1: Write your name legibly at the top of a piece of paper. List 3 to 5 ideas about the assigned

topic.

STEP 2: Draw a line after your last idea to separate your idea from those you select from your classmates’ lists.
STEP 3: Get up and interact with one classmate at a time. Exchange papers, read your partner’s list, then ask questions about new or confusing idea.

STEP 4: Add one new idea from your partner’s list to your own, along with his/her name. Make sure

that you are able to accurately present this idea during a class discussion.

STEP 5:  Continue sharing ideas with different classmates until the specified time is over. Be

prepared to report one new idea you obtained!

Here is an example of what your students' papers may look like.

 

Find this template and many more formative assessment ideas HERE!

Happy Teaching!

K – W – L Chart Instructional Strategy

One of my favorite instructional strategies is the K-W-L Chart. 

What I Know  –What I want to know – what I Learned

This strategy helps students organize, access, and reflect on learning which increases comprehension and engagement.

• To activate prior knowledge ask, “What do I know?”
• To set purpose ask, “What do I want to know?” 
• To reflect on a new learning ask, “What did I learn?”

I either create a chart for my students or I have my students create their own. Before I teach a unit or topic I will have my students complete the section, "What I Know". This helps me understand what my students already know about the topic. I then have my students complete the section, "What do I want to know?". I usually have my students share their answers with the class. After the unit is over I then have them return back to their chart to complete the section, "What did I learn?". This a great way for you to gain prior knowledge of what your students already know about a topic and also have your students reflect on their own learning. 

Check out 70 more instructional strategies HERE! 

This K-W-L Chart can be found in my product, FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Teaching Strategies for Analyzing Primary Sources

Analyzing primary sources is a critical strategy to teach in any history classroom. Teaching students how to "think like historians" is essential to help them comprehend what historians actually do. The best way to learn about past events is to actually study historical documents - journals, letters, auto-biographies, newspapers, artwork, etc.

Teaching students how to analyze documents can be a difficult task. I found two helpful strategies that I often use in my history classes; SOAPStone and APPARTS.

Here is a FREE SOAPStone analysis worksheet for the Berlin Blockade. Click HERE to get this FREE resource.

Check out my other SOAPStone worksheets below:
The Great Depression
American Isolationism in WWII
The Korean War
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Russian Revolution - Lenin

Happy Teaching!

Formative Assessments for Every Classroom

When incorporated into classroom practice, the formative assessment process provides information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are still happening. The process serves as practice for the student and a check for understanding during the learning process. The formative assessment process also guides teachers in making decisions about future instruction. Check out these fun and creative formative assessments that can be used for any subject (best for grades 5-12).