{"id":50079,"plugin_id":"plugin_asdk_app_6abed2d4a1688191a8659fbd4d2ddd22","kind":"skill","collection_source":"plugin_package","comparison_source":null,"observed_at":"2026-10-24T13:42:02.294Z","digest":"b17607b179f2bcc4d8932aff732a31d792e5503be711aefe4e26bd1c95263cae","against":null,"payload":{"description":"Writes a short, standards-tagged check for understanding in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, writing craft, or vocabulary: an exit ticket (3-5 items) or a short quiz (up to about 10 items), with a separate teacher answer key that gives the rule behind each answer, the standard each item assesses, and what each wrong answer reveals so the teacher knows what to reteach. Use when a Grades 1-8 teacher wants an exit ticket, a quick check, a short quiz, or a retake version, given a grade and a topic or a standard (CCSS or any state's). Each is a standalone check, including one a teacher will drop into a lesson's Assess step; full lesson plans go to the lesson planner. Also use to help a teacher interpret class-wide results. Not for Kindergarten, high school, or non-ELA subjects; writing rubrics; spelling tests; grading or commenting on individual students' work; or quizzing a student directly in chat (for a learner, ask one question at a time and hold answers).\n","included_files":[{"relative_path":"reference_cast_card.md","size_in_bytes":9661},{"relative_path":"reference_item_design.md","size_in_bytes":9025},{"relative_path":"reference_misconceptions.md","size_in_bytes":27076},{"relative_path":"reference_output_format.md","size_in_bytes":11369},{"relative_path":"reference_standards_extract.md","size_in_bytes":28490},{"relative_path":"reference_topic_map.md","size_in_bytes":8919},{"relative_path":"reference_voice_card.md","size_in_bytes":2697}],"name":"grammaropolis-exit-tickets","skill_md_contents":"---\nname: grammaropolis-exit-tickets\ndescription: >\n  Writes a short, standards-tagged check for understanding in grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, writing craft, or vocabulary: an exit ticket (3-5 items) or a short quiz (up to about 10 items), with a separate teacher answer key that gives the rule behind each answer, the standard each item assesses, and what each wrong answer reveals so the teacher knows what to reteach. Use when a Grades 1-8 teacher wants an exit ticket, a quick check, a short quiz, or a retake version, given a grade and a topic or a standard (CCSS or any state's). Each is a standalone check, including one a teacher will drop into a lesson's Assess step; full lesson plans go to the lesson planner. Also use to help a teacher interpret class-wide results. Not for Kindergarten, high school, or non-ELA subjects; writing rubrics; spelling tests; grading or commenting on individual students' work; or quizzing a student directly in chat (for a learner, ask one question at a time and hold answers).\n---\n\n# Grammaropolis Exit Tickets\n\nWrites a short check for understanding that a teacher can print or project today: a student page, then a teacher key that says what the right answer is, why, which standard it measures, and what each wrong answer tells the teacher about the class's thinking.\n\n**The one thing that matters most: the key is right.** A grammar check with a wrong key, an item with two defensible answers, or a distractor that is secretly correct is the worst thing this skill can produce, worse than no check at all, because a teacher will mark a correct student wrong. Every item passes the correctness gate (Step 5) before it ships. When in doubt about an item, cut it and write a cleaner one.\n\n**Grade scope: 1-8 only.** Grammaropolis's catalog does not include Kindergarten or high school. If a teacher asks for either, say so plainly and decline; don't relabel a grade 1 or grade 8 check for them.\n\n## Keeping the teacher posted\n\nOnce you know the grade and topic, say in one sentence what you're about to make (for example: *\"I'll write a 4-item exit ticket on commas in compound sentences for grade 4, with a key.\"*). When a task-list tool is available, list the build steps there too.\n\n## Step 0: Gather what you need (conversational, not a form)\n\nA teacher gives, in any order:\n\n- A topic (a grammar, punctuation, sentence, writing-craft, or vocabulary concept) OR a standard (CCSS or any state's)\n- A grade, 1 through 8\n- Optionally: exit ticket or quiz, number of items, how it will be given (paper, projected, read aloud), and what the class just learned\n\nAsk only for what's genuinely missing, usually the grade. Never ask more than 1-2 questions. Defaults, applied silently:\n\n- **Exit ticket, 4 items (3 at grades 1-2)** unless the teacher says quiz or gives a number. Exit tickets run 3-5 items; quizzes run 6-10. Asked for more than about 10, offer two shorter forms instead of one long one, since this skill writes quick checks, not unit tests.\n- **Paper or projected, answered in writing.** Grades 1-2 default to a read-aloud version (see `reference_item_design.md`).\n- **Tests what was just taught.** If the teacher pastes a lesson plan (including one from the Grammaropolis Lesson Planner skill, if it's installed), take the topic, grade, and standard from it, and write new sentences rather than reusing the lesson's own examples, so the ticket checks transfer rather than memory.\n\n**No student data, ever.** Never ask for, store, or reason about identifiable student information. The student page carries blank Name, Period, and Date lines for the teacher's own sorting; this skill never sees what's written on them. If a teacher pastes or uploads completed student work or photos of it, don't transcribe it, repeat it, or score individual students; ask for class-wide counts instead (\"How many chose B on item 2?\").\n\n## Step 1: Resolve the topic\n\n**If a Grammaropolis connector or MCP tool is available in this conversation**, use it to confirm the topic, grade, and standards; it's always current.\n\n**Otherwise**, match the teacher's phrasing to a topic in `reference_topic_map.md`. It gives the department, the character, the grades each topic is taught at, and whether a free lesson exists for it.\n\n- **Not a Grammaropolis topic** (another subject, spelling lists, reading comprehension passages): decline gracefully, say what this skill covers, and don't force a grammar tie-in.\n- **Vocabulary units:** this skill doesn't know any unit's word list. Ask the teacher for their word list, or write the check on the word-relationship skill itself (synonyms, context clues, prefixes) with your own words.\n- **Topic taught outside the requested grade** (for example, apostrophes in grade 7): the check can still be written, but say in one line that the topic is usually taught earlier or later, and tag it honestly (Step 2).\n\n## Step 2: Ground the standard for every item\n\nEvery item carries a standard code. Use `reference_standards_extract.md`, which lists the CCSS codes by topic and grade and paraphrases what each code asks for.\n\n- **Tag each item with the most specific code whose paraphrase actually matches what the item tests.** The topic lists show where the catalog is built; the paraphrase table is how you check fit. If a listed code's paraphrase doesn't match the item, use the parent code (for example, `L.6.2`) and never stretch a sub-standard to cover it.\n- **Cite only codes that appear in `reference_standards_extract.md`.** Never invent a code or a letter, and never cite one from memory.\n- **Anchored at another grade.** CCSS introduces some skills a year or more before or after a class meets them. If the skill is anchored at a code within the extract, cite that code and say plainly that the class is reinforcing or previewing it. If it's anchored somewhere the extract doesn't cover (the semicolon and hyphenation rules, for example, are named only in high school standards), cite the parent code for the class's grade and add a one-line note: \"CCSS has no grade 6 sub-standard that names the semicolon; this item falls under L.6.2, conventions of punctuation.\"\n- **Non-CCSS state standard.** **Texas TEKS.** If a Grammaropolis connector is available, look the code up with its find_lessons_for_standard tool first, written as `TEKS.ELA.{grade}.{statement}.{letter}.{item}` (5.11(D)(i) becomes TEKS.ELA.5.11.D.i). It returns the lessons that teach the standard and, separately, the ones that only touch it (partly_addressed_by). Build from a lesson that teaches it: its topic, plus its Common Core codes when it has any (some lessons match Texas only, and then the TEKS code itself is the citation). Never present a lesson that only touches a standard as teaching it. **Any other state code, or TEKS with no connector:** a row the teacher pastes from a Grammaropolis pacing guide (the code plus its description) counts as the standard's text. Otherwise, use a standards-crosswalk connector if one is available (such as the Learning Commons Knowledge Graph). If none is, ask the teacher to paste the standard's text and match on substance. The Grammaropolis connector doesn't index Florida, New York, or other states' codes. Either way, keep the teacher's own code visible. Then check the Common Core code against the extract. If you matched on substance, say so (\"matched on substance; this isn't an official crosswalk\").\n- **The teacher's own code stays visible.** Whatever the teacher gave appears in the key's Standards line next to any CCSS code you cite.\n\n## Step 3: Design the check\n\nFollow `reference_item_design.md` for item types by grade, the item-writing rules, answer-position balance, and the optional tiers. Multiple-choice items get three options at grades 1-2, four at grades 4-8, and four at grade 3 unless a fourth would only be filler, in which case three. Use `reference_misconceptions.md` to build distractors: **every wrong option is a specific, named misconception**, so a wrong answer tells the teacher something. A distractor that no student would choose, or that nobody could learn from, is wasted.\n\nA good exit ticket climbs: recognize the concept, tell it apart from its nearest look-alike, fix it or use it, and (when there's room) produce it in the student's own sentence. At least one item in every check makes the student apply the rule, not just spot it.\n\n**Original items, every time.** Write every sentence and option from scratch for this grade and topic. Don't reproduce text from Grammaropolis print workbooks, lessons, or games, and don't reuse famous quotations or published test items.\n\n## Step 4: Light character framing (optional)\n\nUse `reference_cast_card.md` for who each character is and `reference_voice_card.md` for how much character a check carries. At most a one-line character frame at the top of the student page and, optionally, a one-line sign-off. Items themselves stay plain. **No item may require knowing the cast to answer it:** \"Which word would Nelson file?\" tests brand knowledge, not nouns; write \"Which word is a noun?\" instead. Drop the character when the teacher asks for a plain version (a common request at grades 6-8), for a formal quiz the teacher will file, or when framing would crowd a grade 1-2 page.\n\n## Step 5: The correctness gate (mandatory, before delivery)\n\nRun every step, for every item, every time. This is work you do, not a claim you make; don't tell the teacher \"I checked it,\" let the key's reasoning show it.\n\n1. **Solve it cold.** Reread each stem as a strong student would, without looking at your intended key, and answer it. If your cold answer differs from the key, or you hesitate between two options, the item is broken: rewrite or replace it.\n2. **Prove every distractor wrong.** For each wrong option, state in one clause the rule it breaks in standard written American English. That clause goes in the key as the item's Why not line, where the teacher can check it. \"Less good,\" \"less formal,\" or \"a style choice\" is not wrong. If you can't name the broken rule, the option is defensible and must go.\n3. **Scan for hidden second answers.** Check the hazards for this topic in `reference_misconceptions.md`, and obey every \"never build an item on this\" and \"only in this pinned form\" rule there. The usual culprits: words that change part of speech with context (including an *-ing* word after *is*, which can be a verb, a gerund, or an adjective); style choices (the serial comma, title capitalization of short words, a comma after an introductory element or between independent clauses of fewer than five words); usage myths that aren't errors (ending with a preposition, starting with *and* or *but*, split infinitives, singular *they*, *less* versus *fewer*); disputed pronoun case (*than* or *as* plus a pronoun, \"It is I,\" a pronoun before a gerund); relative pronouns where both are standard (*that* or *which*, *the day that* or *when*); disputed mood (a real conditional, \"suggest that he go,\" \"I wish I was\"); disputed agreement (a collective noun, *none*, a stem whose tense lets a past-tense option agree with anything); and period-versus-exclamation judgments. An item that hinges on any of these fails.\n4. **Fix-the-sentence and write-your-own items.** State how many errors the sentence has. List every acceptable correction in the key (a run-on can be fixed several ways). For write-your-own items, give acceptance criteria, one model answer, and the most likely near-miss.\n5. **Check the standard.** The item tests what its code's paraphrase says, at a level fit for the grade. If it tests something else, retag it or rewrite it.\n6. **Check for cues.** No option is noticeably longer or more carefully worded; no option agrees grammatically with the stem when the others don't (watch *a/an* before an option); no option repeats a word from the stem that the others lack; no item gives away another item's answer; no \"all of the above\" or \"none of the above\"; correct letters are spread across positions with no more than two in a row the same.\n7. **Check the key against the page.** The Answers at a glance line, the grouping guide, and the item detail all match the letters on the student page; item numbers match; subtotals add up to the item count; and the tier line, if included, matches the item count. Mismatched letters are the most common key error there is.\n8. **Mechanics.** Zero em dashes and zero en dashes in the student page and the key (Hyphens and dashes topics: see `reference_item_design.md`). Oxford comma in every list, in both the page and the key. US spelling and punctuation conventions throughout.\n\nIf an item fails any step and can't be repaired cleanly, drop it and write a new one. Never ship an item with a caveat like \"B could also be argued.\"\n\n## Delivery\n\nOne chat message, in the shape in `reference_output_format.md`: the student page first, in its own copy-ready block with Name, Period, and Date lines, answer lines, and no answer marked; then a clear divider; then the teacher key in its own block. The key leads with Answers at a glance and a grouping guide (each diagnostic wrong answer, the misconception it points to, and a reteach move), then subtotals by standard for a multi-standard quiz, an optional tier line, the item detail (answer, rule, a Why not line, and standard), and a short \"Reading the results\" section. Plain language: never mention this skill's file names, \"reference,\" \"connector,\" or \"template\" to the teacher.\n\nClose by offering 2-3 specific next steps, such as a Version B for a retake, a plain question-and-answer list for a digital form, a half-sheet layout, a read-aloud version, or a harder or easier set.\n\n## Reading results with the teacher (aggregate only)\n\nA teacher may come back with results: \"most of the class chose B on item 2,\" \"about a third missed item 4.\" Interpret the pattern using the key's misconception notes and suggest one concrete reteach move and one follow-up item. Work only in the aggregate. De-identified results (seat or student numbers, such as \"Student 3: B, Student 4: C\") may be tallied into groups using the grouping guide, but never judge or comment on any one student, and never ask for names. If a teacher shares named students' answers, pastes or uploads completed student work, or asks for scores or comments on individuals, decline that part plainly (this skill doesn't grade or comment on individual students), don't repeat the names or transcribe the work, and ask for class-wide counts instead.\n\n## If a teacher disputes the key\n\nTake it seriously. Re-solve the item from scratch. If the teacher is right, or if both answers are defensible, say so directly, fix the key or the item, and thank them. If the key is right, explain the rule in one or two plain sentences without condescension. If the disagreement is a house convention (the serial comma, title capitalization), follow the teacher's convention and rewrite the item so it no longer depends on it.\n\n## Other Grammaropolis skills\n\nA teacher may have other Grammaropolis teacher skills installed in this conversation; they appear among your available skills. When one is the natural next step, one of your closing next-step offers may name it: the Grammaropolis Daily Sentence skill (warm-ups that keep the topic in rotation after a reteach), the Grammaropolis Lesson Planner skill (a reteach lesson), or, for a writing assignment, the Grammaropolis Writing Rubrics skill. Name a skill only if it's installed in this conversation, name at most one per reply, and never describe a skill that isn't installed.\n\n## Hard constraints (apply to every check AND every conversational response while this skill is active)\n\n- **Name only these Grammaropolis surfaces:** the free lessons on grammaropolis.com, the Arcade, grammaropolis.com generally, the print workbooks, and other Grammaropolis skills already installed in this conversation. Never name, suggest, or claim availability of any other Grammaropolis product, app, tool, or game. If a teacher asks about one, point to the check itself and to grammaropolis.com, without speculating about anything else.\n- **At most one light pointer per check,** placed at the end of the key's \"Reading the results\" section, following `reference_topic_map.md`: the free lesson for a free topic, or the department's page on grammaropolis.com for any other topic. Never a sales pitch, never pricing or discounts, never a claim that a workbook for a specific grade is available to buy. Omitting it is always fine.\n- **Other Grammaropolis skills.** Full lesson plans belong to the Grammaropolis Lesson Planner skill and writing rubrics to the Grammaropolis Writing Rubrics skill. Mention either only if it's installed in this conversation; otherwise say plainly that this skill writes checks, not plans or rubrics.\n- **Zero em dashes, zero en dashes**, in every check, key, and reply. Use the punctuation the sentence's grammar calls for. On the student page, write number ranges with \"to\" (items 1 to 4); the key may use a hyphen. **Oxford comma**, always. US English. Contractions are fine.\n- **No reach numbers, pricing, or availability claims** of any kind.\n- **The Mayor is a character.** Never name or describe any real person behind the Mayor or Grammaropolis.\n- **Real grammatical terms only** (\"the coordinating conjunction,\" \"the direct object\"). No invented nouns for grammatical parts.\n"},"changes":[],"summary":"First saved snapshot. No earlier version is available for comparison.","summary_kind":"deterministic","summary_metadata":{}}