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Bell Ringers and Exit Tickets

These strategies engage participants actively at the beginning and end of a lesson and facilitate communicating prior knowledge, lesson expectations, and holes in understanding between student and teacher.

Bell Ringers and Exit Tickets

Summary

Bell Ringers are one or two questions posed at the beginning of a lesson that require short oral or written responses. This exercise is intended to focus students on the topic immediately after the "bell rings" for the class to begin. Exit Tickets serve a similar purpose at the end of the class, usually consisting of one question that asks students to use the information in the lesson to create a written response. Exit Tickets are a quick, informal way to assess what students learned from the lesson.

Procedure

Bell Ringer: At the beginning of a lesson, ask students a higher-order thinking question that requires them to review previous information, assess prior knowledge, predict or preview new information, or initiate discussion.
Exit Ticket: At the end of a lesson, ask students a higher-order thinking question that asks them to analyze, summarize, apply, or synthesize what they learned. Alternatively, ask a question that requires them to predict what happens next. For examples of strategies that could be used as exit tickets, see this Exit Strategies collection.

Wong, H. & Wong, R. (1994). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher. Sunnyvale, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.