Ever wondered what to do with all those adorable exit tickets your students complete at the end of your lesson? It seems such a waste to discard them, especially when student progress is being tracked so nicely!

Well, how about keeping hold of them so you and your students can look back on them to see progress over time? (Those of you in the UK will know that OFSTED, school inspectors, look out for evidence of this in particular!).

I have solved your problems and created a range of Interactive Notebook Exit Tickets that are perfect for students to flap open and write on, and they can make a great reflection and goal setting activity too. These work with any topic and they are editable for you to customise to suit your needs! The great bit is that they stick these in their books - they stand out well and are easy to refer to when needed.

You can either print them onto coloured paper or leave them black and white for students to personalise and decorate as they wish, great for allowing them to take ownership of their work.

Each of these exit tickets come in 10 different styles and 3 different sizes: the largest takes up a whole page and these are ideal for stapling on Interactive Bulletin Boards where students can flip and read personal responses!

And as always, these are all my own hand drawn clip art so are completely unique, just for you:

These Interactive Notebook Exit Tickets come in 10 different objects that students are familiar with, and all request something unique for your students to reflect on about your lesson / topic they are learning about. They also hit a range of learning styles allowing you to easily differentiate for your learners as well!

Reflecting on learning is of course extremely important, but what about building up your students' self-esteem and well-being too? That is a topic I am very passionate about and I am always giving my students pep talks to build their confidence (check out my Instagram page for some of my favourite quotes and stories of how I use them in lesson). That's why I designed these special Character Education style Growth Mindset Emoji Interactive Notebook Exit Tickets! Students can reflect on their mindset in your lessons and consider ways to continue improving as well. Print these onto coloured paper or just leave them black and white for some fun colouring opportunities. These can also be stuck in their books or displayed in your classroom!

These ones also come in 10 styles and 3 different sizes: the giant emojis look particularly striking on the wall!

Finally, here are a few reasons why students should be writing down their reflections at the end of your lessons and why you should be keeping hold of them:

• Students writing down their thoughts ensures they are really having to think about their learning. It's all too easy for some students to fall under the radar if they're not all documenting something.
  
  
• It also means you can check each student's response. Whole group questioning has its benefits, but it won't tell you what they know as individuals.
  
  
• Writing enables students to go back and reflect on their progress. They can look back at what they wanted to improve on in previous lessons and actually take action. If they write a great reflection or goal for improvement but then never see it again, much of the value is lost.
  
  
• Writing down success and understanding is a great confidence booster for the students.
  
  If you like these and want to try out a free sample, you can find a free download in the VIP area!

So, it got me: the bug got me. I was doing so well to avoid getting sick, but it looks like my luck ran out! I was definitely too sick to teach, and I know this... but for a while I found myself resisting and actually considering forcing myself to go in!? Whyyyy!?

If you're like me and many other teachers around the world, you may be tempted to push yourself to teach when you're feeling sick anyway. (Ahem, yes I wrote a whole blog post on this last year!)  This time however, I decided to put myself first for a change and just stop feeling so guilty for a basic human need. I gave myself a proper pep talk which really helped me come to my senses, so if you too suffer with the guilt bug, then this is for you!

If you'd rather watch and listen to this article, then check out the video below:

Look after yourself because no one is going to do it for you.

Yeh sure, colleagues might be sympathetic for a bit (while gently edging further and further away from you whilst you have a coughing fit), but we know the reality of teaching is so demanding that we can't just "take it easy". We have to be on top form and run around after people all day. It will take a lot out of you if you try to teach...

I remember in my early years as a teacher, I would force myself in in the hopes that someone would tell me to go home when they saw how ill I was because I felt too guilty to stay home, but it never happened... I guess the motto was: "if you managed to get yourself there then you're expected to work like everyone else..." or maybe that was just where I was employed :P But really though, don't wait for anyone else to give you permission - you know what is best for you.

Another thing, don't expect any thanks or leniency for working when sick. Here's a good example: when I push myself to go in, I'm really proud of myself for doing so, but in reality, no one else cares - in fact, I usually get a slap in the face by having to cover someone else's class (who was smart enough to stay home)! How's that for a thank you!? The demands will still be there: kids will still act up, emails will need to be answered, deadlines met, photocopies made and you'll still be expected to stand in the freezing cold on duty... It's exhausting just thinking about it! Seriously, stay home and recover. That will all still be there for you when you get back!

Self assessment and self reflection are some of the most significant tools we can teach our students and are a fundamental aspect to Character Education. We want students to be reflecting on their learning, understanding, strengths, weaknesses, goals and so much more. Teaching self assessment is what separates the 'good' teacher from the 'outstanding' teacher.

Here are 4 great reasons why teachers should be offering the opportunity for students to self assess in every single lesson, as well as some fun and engaging ideas for self reflection that your students are going to love!


​1) Deeper thinking: Usually when we formally assess students, they receive feedback with a grade which tells them how well they have done. There is a time and place for this of course, but really we want to go a step further and encourage our students to think more deeply about their learning. By doing this, they also learn the qualities of "good" work and how to judge their work against these qualities. They also learn to look at their own performance and assess their efforts and accomplishments so they can set goals to improve in the future.


​2) Structure your next lesson: This is also a great opportunity for you to find out what common problems students are having so you can go over it next lesson or offer small group training. You can even differentiate your self assessment activities to target different groups of students / learning styles. Check out these Social Media Exit Tickets below as an example - some of these are targeted at visual learners, others are just focusing on keywords and others are asking for more depth in creating questions and answers based on their understanding of the lesson.

3) Take ownership: they can take ownership of their own learning and learn that assessment isn't something that is done "to" them (we all know the dreaded feeling of getting back test scores!) but something that is an integral part of their learning and collaboration between themselves and their teachers. 


4) Engage them: self assessment doesn't have to be boring and tedious. There are plenty of ways to capture their interest and engagement - simply tap into what they are already tuned into! I have created an array of exciting exit tickets that are based on popular trending themes that students love, e.g.: emojis, social media, cell phones, comics etc! Click on any of the images below to find out more!

Need more proof? Check out what other teachers have been saying about my exit tickets:

Well there you have it! Teachers all around the world are loving seeing their students getting all excited about self assessment with my engaging exit tickets! I hope you get on well with self assessment in your classroom, and feel free to try out any of my exit tickets to engage your students in their journey of self reflection! Oh, and I do have a free pirate emoji exit ticket in the VIP area which you are welcome to download and use!

How do you currently self assess in your classroom? Let's chat in the comments below - I respond to every comment :)