I frequently used formative assessment strategies to gauge students' comprehension of the material. I used strategies such as exit slips, thumbs up & down, or activities where students would go the whatever corner or side of the room represented their answer. A classroom favourite was doing "4 Corner Quizzes" where a multiple choice question was up on the board and I sat in the middle of the room, covered my eyes and counted down. The students would stand in the corner they thought was the answer. I then called out the correct answer and the students in that corner got a tally on the whiteboard at their desk. In the early days of this strategy I found that students were just following the mobs, so I introduced a "Reason at Random" where I would randomly draw a students name from that group and ask them why they chose that answer. If they are unsure they can "phone a friend" to help them out. This allowed students who may have a harder time with written answers to still participate and demonstrate their understanding and reviewing the information for students who may have stood in the wrong corner.