Parking Lots can be used in a variety of ways to help gauge the understanding within a group of students. Teachers can place posters or markers, or even papers on a desk around the room. These can have questions, problems to solve, or even allowing students to rank their comfort with an idea. By reviewing student responses, which can be written, placed via Post-It Notes, or using colour, teachers can quickly get an idea of where students sit with a particular topic.

Parking Lots can help teachers:

• Gain a very quick understanding check

• Get students to move around

• By being used as a reflection tool with your class

• get honest responses by creating 'secret parking lots' by allowing students to hide their responses

• Parking Lots can be made anonymous by having students write on the back of Post-It Notes so when stuck to the wall, there is no answer visible

• Provide students with content to post at different stations around the room with ideas, questions, etc.

• Have students create pre-lesson parking lots to be evaluated or adjusted at the end of the lesson

• Provide coloured Post-It notes in Red, Yellow, and Green. Students can use these to rank their understanding of ideas/concepts you have posted around the classroom