International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Volume 2, Number 2, July 2008

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Book Review

Excerpt

The Way of the Teacher
J. M. Haile
(Macatea Productions, June 2005)

One of the tangible benefits of the increased attention given to teaching and learning in recent years has been the increased number of books published in this area. Many of these books are focused on specific topics such as collaborative learning, assessment, teaching first-year students, service learning, or teaching in specific disciplines. But very few books focus on what the anthropologist and systems thinker Gregory Bateson described in Mind and Nature as “the patterns which connect” teaching and learning. It is exactly those patterns that The Way of the Teacher focuses on, which makes reading this book a very unique experience.

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Bio

Review by
Matt Fisher
Saint Vincent College
Latrobe, Pennsylvania, USA
matt.fisher@email.stvincent.edu

I have both a B.A. (Temple University) and a Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison) in biochemistry. Currently I am associate professor and chair of the chemistry department at Saint Vincent College. I teach general chemistry, several courses for nonscience majors that fulfill general education requirements, and upper level biochemistry courses. My research interests are focused on proteomic analysis of T. fusca when it degrades plastic (biochemistry) and the scholarship of teaching and learning in undergraduate science courses, particularly those for science majors. In the latter area, I am particularly interested in exploring the results of including integrative learning opportunities into the courses that majors are taking. I am a 2005 Carnegie Scholar and a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement.
Website: http://www.stvincent.edu/academics/chemistry/matt_fisher

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