Ticket out the Door + Monday morning review

If you are reading a novel with your students and want a short review on a Monday morning after students haven't seen the text for 2 days, or any morning for that matter, here is a quick review that your students can make for you.

Student sketches for review and ticket out the door

During the last 3-5 minutes of class, (they won't need more time so don't waste time by extending it), give the students a piece of 8 1/2 x 11" copy paper. They should fold it hamburger style and tear it into two pieces.  Then tell them to sketch two things that happened in the chapter that are important to know.  Before they leave, they hand their two sketches to you and, if you need a ticket-out-the-door idea, they can say one sentence about one of the sketches they drew. ba-da-ba-da-BING! A review and a ticket-out-the-door, all rolled up in one!

Trust me, even if it is a short chapter, there will still be many different sketches because each one has their own idea of what was important in that chapter.  Also, some students that aren't artistic may choose something easy to draw instead of the important events of the chapter. No problem. A large variety of sketches is good.

On Monday morning, put the sketches under the document camera for all the students to see (or fax them to your computer and project the file onto the board), and ask the students to come up with sentences that describe the sketches.  The sketches will keep their attention because they love looking at their own sketches or those of their friends. 

There are other activities you could do with the sketches, but this one requires very little of your time and it is a good way to remind the students of the events in the previous chapter before continuing with the next chapter.