Exit Slips

Recently, I was one of the facilitators of a professional development workshop for college instructors. I attended the workshops of my colleagues and left feeling excited that even after all these years I have been a teacher and instructional designer, I am able to learn new things. This old dog can learn new tricks.

The topic of the workshop was on andragogy, which was pretty heavy for attendees, but it set the stage well for what followed: lesson planning and lesson planning frameworks, which I have posted about here.

At the end of the workshop, the facilitator used the term "exit slip", which is a much catchier way of saying formative assessment, and gave us a quick task to close the lesson.

It was called "Aha!, Huh?, Argh"
We were asked to jot down  our lightbulb moment (Aha!), something that we are still confused about that we learned (Huh?) and a moment of frustration based on what we learned (Argh.).

I thought this was a great way to provide a reflective close to the lesson reviewing key points, and giving students the opportunity to show what they know.

This got me thinking about what other kinds of exit slips there out there. So, I did some research and have compiled some resources for you. Be sure to check them out, and think about how they could be adapted for your audience.
Beyond the Exit Slip
40 Ways to Leave a Lesson
Lesson Closure Strategies
22 Powerful Closure Activities

Some of my favourites include:
  • Pair/Share – “Tell the person next to you . . .” 
Have students verbally summarize main ideas, answer questions posed at the beginning of a lesson, and link both past and future lessons.
  • Fishbowl
Students write one question they have about the topic of the lesson., which can be something for they know the answer for or they want an answer to. Form an inner and outer circle (also known as a concentric circle). Share  the question with the person in front of you see if they know the answer, switch who is asking question, if time rotate to a new partner.
  •  KWL Chart - What do you Know? What do you Want to know? What did you Learn?
At the beginning of a lesson, introduce students to a concept such as fractions or adverbs by asking them what they already know about it and what they want to learn. Then, as the closing activity, have students fill out the “What did you learn?” column.

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