# Check for understanding strategies: 40 for every student

> Check for understanding strategies that show every student, not just the hands that go up: 40 quick classroom checks, sorted by when you use them.

URL: https://learnworkly.com/blog/check-for-understanding-strategies · Published 2026-11-13 · Tags: Formative assessment

“Any questions?” is the most common check for understanding in any classroom, and the least useful. The students who answer are the ones who already understand. The ones who are lost stay quiet, and you find out at the end of the unit.

Good check for understanding strategies have one thing in common: every student answers, and you can see the answers. This list collects 40 of them, sorted by the moment in the lesson where they work best. Most need nothing more than paper, a show of fingers or a screen each. Pick two or three, use them every lesson, and they become routine for you and your class.

## What makes a check for understanding work

Before the list, three tests that separate a real check from a ritual:

- **Everyone answers.** If only volunteers respond, you are sampling the confident. Use methods where every student commits to an answer at the same time.
- **You can see the thinking, not just the result.** “B” tells you less than “B, because the forces are balanced”. Ask for a reason or a line of working when it matters.
- **You act on it.** A check is only formative if it changes what you do next: reteach, move on, or group students differently. Dylan Wiliam calls these moments [hinge points](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1507211/1/Wiliam2008Improvingchapter1.pdf): the lesson goes one way or the other depending on the answers.

If you want the bigger picture behind these ideas, our guide to [what formative assessment is](/blog/what-is-formative-assessment-tutors) covers it in more detail.

## At the start of the lesson (1–10)

1. **Three-question retrieval starter.** One question on last lesson, one from last month, one from last term.
2. **Odd one out.** Four items, one doesn’t belong. Students write which and why.
3. **True or false, all at once.** Read five statements; students show thumbs up or down on each, eyes closed if you want honesty.
4. **Brain dump.** Two minutes to write everything they remember about yesterday’s topic.
5. **Correct the mistake.** Show a worked answer with one error. Students find and fix it.
6. **Vocabulary match.** Five key words, five definitions, matched on paper or screen.
7. **Fill the gap.** One sentence summarising last lesson with the key word missing.
8. **Rate your confidence, then prove it.** Students rate themselves 1–3, then answer one question. Compare the two.
9. **Quick sort.** Sort six examples into two groups (for example, physical and chemical change).
10. **What changed?** Show yesterday’s diagram with one part altered; students spot it.

## While you teach (11–25)

11. **Mini whiteboards.** Everyone writes, everyone holds up on “three, two, one”.
12. **Hinge question.** One multiple-choice question where each wrong option reveals a specific misconception.
13. **Finger voting.** Students show 1, 2, 3 or 4 fingers against their chest for options A–D.
14. **Cold call after think time.** Ask, pause, then name a student. Never name first.
15. **Show me your working.** Not the answer: the first line of working.
16. **Explain it to your partner.** Then you listen to two or three pairs.
17. **Whole-class response on screens.** Every answer appears live, so you see the spread instantly.
18. **Traffic-light cups or cards.** Green: fine. Amber: unsure. Red: stuck. Check the ambers first.
19. **Which step comes next?** Show the first steps of a method; students write the next one.
20. **Spot the pattern.** Show three examples and ask for the rule.
21. **Two-minute paragraph.** Explain the idea in two sentences in your own words.
22. **Predict, then test.** Students commit to a prediction before a demonstration.
23. **Agree or disagree, with a reason.** Show a student-style claim; students vote and justify.
24. **Number line or scale.** Students place a value or estimate on a line drawn on paper or screen.
25. **One question, no talking.** A silent minute where everyone answers alone before any discussion.

## When students practise (26–33)

26. **Circulate with a purpose.** Look at the same question in every book, not random ones.
27. **Live marking.** Mark one key question while students work, and give a one-word code to act on.
28. **Self-check against a model.** Show a worked answer after the third question, not the tenth.
29. **Stop and swap.** Pairs swap books for one minute and check a single answer.
30. **“Which one are you sure about?”** Students star the answer they are most confident in; you check that one.
31. **Error hunt.** Tell students there is one mistake in their last five answers. They find it.
32. **Show the hardest question you tried.** Reveals who stretched themselves.
33. **Live view of every answer.** On individual devices, watch answers and working arrive question by question.

## At the end of the lesson (34–40)

34. **Exit ticket.** Two or three questions answered alone in the last three minutes. Our guide to [checking understanding in online lessons](/blog/check-for-understanding-online-tutoring) adapts it for teaching on a video call.
35. **3-2-1.** Three things learned, two questions, one thing to practise.
36. **The muddiest point.** “What is still unclear?” in one line.
37. **Teach it back.** A student explains the method to the class; others correct.
38. **Before and after.** Repeat the starter question and compare.
39. **Headline.** Summarise the lesson as a newspaper headline.
40. **Sort tomorrow’s groups.** Use the exit ticket to decide who starts with extension work and who starts with you.

## How to see every student without a pile of marking

The strategies above work on paper. The limit is time: with 30 students, reading every mini whiteboard or exit ticket properly is hard, and the evidence disappears when the boards are wiped.

That is where a screen per student helps. When every student answers on a laptop, tablet or phone, the answers arrive on your screen as they are written: auto-marked questions turn green or red, and drawings or photos of handwritten working appear as they are made. You can hide names before you put the answers on the board, so students can discuss a wrong answer without embarrassment.

*[Image: A live gradebook for a Year 8 science exit ticket with 28 students: each student’s mark for five questions in green or red, some students still working and two not started]*

The [live view in LearnWorkly](/features/live-view) is built for exactly this: a class code on the board, students type their name, and you see every answer from every student, question by question. Results stay in the gradebook, so the exit ticket that told you who needs help today is still there when you plan next week. If you teach in school, the [page for school teachers](/for/teachers) shows how a whole lesson looks.

## Choosing your first three

Do not try all 40. Pick one from each part of the lesson:

- **Start:** a three-question retrieval starter, every lesson.
- **Middle:** a hinge question before the practice begins.
- **End:** a two-question exit ticket that decides the next lesson.

Use the same three for a month. Students learn the routine, the checks get faster, and you build a record of what each student understands, which is the whole point of checking in the first place. Barak Rosenshine’s [Principles of Instruction](https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/Rosenshine.pdf) puts it simply: the most effective teachers check for understanding of all students, frequently, and adjust.