their understanding. As Michael himself said in an interview, listening to what
students are thinking is an essential ingredient of assessment. Looking at student
work, although also critical, is not sufficient.
When I’m looking at the student work afterward, that’s helpful. But a lot of times I
miss the critical thing because the student work is the product, kind of what hap-
pened at the end. And although they sometimes will explain their thinking, and I
can figure out what they’ve done on paper, I get more information from the process
by being there in the moment.What Michael found out from this careful questioning during this interaction in-
formed what he planned to do next with these two students and most likely with
the class as a whole.
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