How can we learn about our students as people?

Our students are obviously unique, and in order to best promote their development, we need to know about their unique personality characteristics. We can make formal efforts to learn about our students with simple QUESTIONAIRRES that ask about their favourite foods, hobbies, sports, and other aspects of their lives. Doing so communicates that we're interested in them as human beings and promotes a positive relationship with them. Also, as we INTERACT with students, we will learn a great deal about who is extraverted, open, agreeable, shy, and other personality traits, and we can adapt our instructions accordingly. For example, giving students with low extraversion more reassurance and personal space to answer questions, and over time, they can at least partially overcome their shyness. Or instead of solving the problem, ask students to DESCRIBE something about the problem first.