There are several different ways to assess students, but how a teacher uses those assessments to help inform how they will proceed in a lesson is vital in being an effective teacher. Many teachers can use a variety of assessments from formal to informal assessments and use more daily assessments to check for understanding. How a teacher uses these assessments to determine next steps in the classroom is important to maximize student understanding. Using data from tests, small assignments and other assessments to help make decisions about students is something I will have to work on throughout my career. I have tried to incorporate more types of assessment in my lessons and feel I have done a good job but feel I could still do better. I have been able to use some ticket out the doors to help group students for different activities and in lab groups. I have used them to group students into strengths as well as separate so that some students can help other students understand the content. A lot of my assessment uses have been for remediation after tests. I have also used data from quizzes and other assessments to help me understand what topics I should review more with the students, and which topics I can provide enrichment for the students. I feel that I can do better in this area. I would like to be able to use more informal assessments to help me plan for instruction. I do not do the best job of including constant informal assessments, but if I can do this, I could use the data I gather from them to help me in next steps for lessons and even for individual students.