In ELA, it's easy to assume students understood a reading because the discussion went well. Usually five students carried that discussion. An exit ticket tells you about the other twenty.
Ask for evidence, not summary
"What happened in the chapter?" gets a plot recap. "Pick one line that shows how the character changed and explain it" shows you whether students can find and use evidence.
Keep the writing short
One to three sentences is plenty. You're checking a skill, not collecting an essay.
Prompts that work
What's the most important word in today's passage? Why?
Write one sentence using today's vocabulary word correctly.
What question would you ask the author?
Rewrite this weak sentence to make it stronger.
Predict what happens next and point to a clue.
Sort, don't score
Read through and make two piles: got the skill, needs another look. Start tomorrow with the most common gap. A bell ringer from Grammar Bell Ringers is a quick way to reteach a writing mistake you saw across the stack.
Use them for discussion
Pull two or three strong answers, remove names, and put them on the board the next day. Students learn a lot from seeing what a good answer looks like from a classmate.
More prompts
Find more in ELA Exit Tickets and Exit Ticket Ideas at DailyBellringers.org.
Want it ready to print?
Everything above is free. If you’d rather skip the prep, my TPT store, Teacher Emergency Toolkit, has ready-to-use resources for grades 6–12. Start with Reading & Writing or Bell Ringers & Warm-Ups, and check the Free Resources section first.