Learning as observable?

This is an interesting question as one of our paramount roles as teachers is being able to assess and evaluate student's learning. Ideally we plan our lessons with our individual students' learning strengths and interests. Differentiated learning is the route into the ultimate goal of student engagement and self empowerment. I believe that students learn best when they are given control of their learning and hence become intrisically motivated through their own sense of self discovery. Many aspects or characteristics of learning can be observed: student's body language, participation in discussions, depth of written insights, even follow up "I am wondering" questions that occur much later. However after reading Mamchur's type theory I can see how open to subjectivity a teachers observation can be. Initially we all view our classroom experiences through the lense of our own personal orientation. There is a natural human tendency to give credence and value to the way we see the world.

Learning I feel is inherently individual, incremental, and cumulative. I feel that we need to teach to and for children, and let them see us as learners along side of them. Creating a welcoming community of learners is the first step towards the goal joint exploration and engagement. Self evaluation strategies such as portfolios are a vital way to have students assess their cumulative work and see the progression of their ideas and efforts. I believe that as teachers we evaluate the products of learning that our students produce but we need to make sure that we honor their own individual learning styles. Education is not a one size fits all garment. The teacher is the tailor who fits the suit in a custom manner for each student to wear out on their personal journey of knowledge.