Master Teachers: Making a Difference on the Edge of Chaos

(Paperback)

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The No Child Left Behind legislation, by legitimizing a stark, one-size-fits-all, industrial model of education, has denied the inherent complexity and richness of what teachers do. Discussing teaching in terms of Chaos Theory, Chapin explains that while excellent teaching may occur at the edge of chaos, it is not chaotic. There are patterns common to master teachers that connect the components of effective teaching to give meaning and stability to the classroom, allowing master teachers to get up morning after morning, and make a genuine, positive difference in students' lives. Master Teachers presents teaching as a complex, adaptive exercise undertaken at the edge of chaos where creativity and invention are maximized.

Reviews

Dexter Chapin has authored a fascinating and important book on the dynamics of teaching. In a collection of short essays he guides readers through his mental model for understanding and improving classroom teaching and learning-a mental model that is couched in systems and chaos theory. As he guides readers through the intricacies of his mental model we are exposed to the characteristics of teachers, the development of new teachers, classrooms that are designed to seize advantages associated with systems thinking, essential student attributes, classroom culture, and other fascinating and important topics that characterize his view of the dynamics of teaching. In an era where the Industrial-Age model of teaching and learning has hit its performance ceiling a new paradigm for teaching and learning is needed. Chapin's book offers a glimpse at what that new paradigm might look like. -- Francis M. Duffy
Do you remember the best teachers you ever had The teachers who, more than any others, allowed you to grow, take risks, and succeed beyond your wildest hopes This book is about those teachers: who they are, and how they do it. This is not a book of recipes. Really good teaching happens at the edge of chaos where creativity and invention thrive, which is not the stuff of recipes. Some will be uncomfortable with this book because it demands more from policy-makers than sinking to the lowest denominator. From teachers, it demands much, including a high degree of courage. Others, including those of us in the global business marketplace, will say, 'Yes, that is exactly right; that is the only way we can hold our own." This is a book worth reading. -- Paul Newton, senior operational concept analyst of Phantom Works and The Boeing Company of Seattle
I knew that Dexter Chapin was a master teacher because I have seen him teach. I did not know that he is a master writer about teaching, but this book proves that he is. He avoids the glittering generalities that ruin most conversations about teaching; instead he talks clearly, concretely, and compellingly about the craft of teaching. In so doing, he provides an invaluable tool to teachers who wish to master their craft and transcend its limitations to create the art that can only be found in the classroom of a master teacher. -- Joe Puggelli, assistant director and head of the Upper School at the Seattle Academy

Author Bio

Dexter Chapin has been teaching Biology and Anthropology for 35 years. He has been a student-teacher and superintendent Along the way, he has had extraordinary teachers, each of whom changed his life. However, his greatest
debt is to his fellow teachers, and his students, each of whom opened a door to a new world; a world often beautiful, and always complex, uncertain, and on the edge of chaos. How to create a classroom that serves those worlds is the challenge at the core of the teaching profession, and the question to which Chapin has dedicated his career.