Guidance for Teachers: A Review of Facets of an Academic’s Life: A Memoir

Abstract

Introduction This paper reviews Facets of an Academic’s Life: A Memoir by Michael Wertheimer, with an eye toward practical guidance for teachers of psychology. Teaching Implications Wertheimer provides a rich review of his experiences, intermixed with important lessons for teachers of psychology alongside the foundational scientific and pedagogical values of curiosity, skepticism, and humility. Practical lessons include recommendations for shaping the teaching of psychology through service and leadership as well as through scholarship and teaching. Additionally, Wertheimer’s detailed descriptions of people and events can provide otherwise-inaccessible content for teachers who examine the history of psychology or who incorporate the historical foundations of psychology into their topical classes. Conclusions Wertheimer’s memoir has much to offer teachers of psychology. He provides practical recommendations as well as guidance about the foundations of science and teaching. The most important recommendations come from his rich life alongside academia and the balance between his wide-ranging professional and personal lives, particularly the importance of relationships, too often ignored in academic biographies.

Obituary for Michael Wertheimer

“…His foundations also include compassion for one's community, including his family and personal community and the larger professional community. His balance of work and life, remaining productive while sharing the wilderness with his children, grandchildren, and others, inspirationally demonstrates the ways to live well while contributing to the science and teaching of psychology (Woody, 2023).…”