I am usually one of the first people to walk into a classroom on the first day of class. This allows to to 'people watch' as everyone enters and scans the room, chooses a place to sit, and get ready for class to begin. My practice of doing this for most of my classes made it easy for me to visualize Markwell and Courtney's observations and the stereotypes that are associated with this first observation. These same observational stereotyping crossed-over to the other reading, which included those that are racial, cultural, or sexist. So, the first take-home message is to not let appearance or first impressions determine the understanding that your student may have or their interest. I also appreciated that the Science Teaching Reconsidered chapter included several suggestions for getting to know your students, including tips to learn their names and how to make sure that you are using inclusive language.
The second issue that I found interesting was how Markwell and Courtney point out how teaching styles should change as the student is undergoing constant cognitive development. Many teachers, lecturers, professors, etc. use many of the same techniques, no matter what level the course may be. Most students are content with this, as the course would mainly consist of a lecture that was taught in black and white, true or false, point of view. So the typical memorize, take the test, and dump previous information would continue.
Overall, these two issues can be resolved the same way. If I would really get to know my students, I would find out why they are taking the course, where they are in cognitive development, and how to make them get the most out of it.
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