One of the most common types of assessments used in the AFL classroom is the Exit Slip. AFL teachers find this type of feedback helpful as they assess how successful their lessons are, as they gather data for differentiation purposes, and as they seek to better meet student needs.
The following picture is one used by a teacher at Salem High School. She actually found it on Pinterest - one of the world's great educational resource depositories for sure! Take a look at the exit slip and then scroll down to see more about how it is used.
Notice how this exit slip gives students very direct guidance as to what feedback they should leave. Typically, this will lead to more productive and useful information than an open-ended question will. Also, notice the Standards Based component of this specific exit slip. Students are asked to rate/evaluate themselves on what is essentially a 1-4 scale. This is helpful for moving students away from purely looking at progress in terms of the accumulation of points for the numerator and instead to thinking in terms of mastery. However, you will need to train them on what the terms mean. Below are descriptions of novice, apprentice, practitioner, and expert that need to be taught to students. Once taught these terms, it would make sense for students to be asked to use them for many types of assessments.
Finally, here's an idea for how you could collect the Exit Slips. Take a look at the picture below. By having students place their Exit Slip into the appropriate folder, the teacher saves time gathering data on how the class as a whole is doing.
Note: The terms used on the Board below are different from those used on the Exit Slip above. The pictures did not come from the same source. However, the concepts align well.
So what do you think? How could you apply these concepts and ideas to your classroom? Are you already doing something similar? What have you found works well or doesn't work well? Have you made modifications to improve the practice?
