Build Pedagogy

My plan of study to grow my pedagogical understanding is to start with the books by Rick Wormeli, beginning with the second edition of the book Fair Isn't Always Equal. In my research for my homestead garden, I am focusing on the red wigglers for my compost bins. I see the connection to the author's name, so this is where I will start. Interestingly enough, this author is focused on grading in the differentiated classroom. This is one of my weaknesses, so this is my goal to learn as much as I can from this teacher of pedagogy.

Stenhouse provides study guides for this book, so I see myself going through these, but possibly not alone. Possibly, there are teachers who want to study this book with me. God willing, I will study this book with others. For those of you who would like to participate, please download the study guide below, print the thirty pages, hole punch, and put them in a study binder.

Begin study with articles by Robert Wormeli:

Failure Preferred, Actually

Late Work: A Constructive Response

Staying Focused on Formative Assessment

Study Guides for Rick Wormeli's Fair isn't Always Equal, Second Edition

Rick has written two extensive study guides (each more than 30 pages long) taking readers through the guiding principles of successful assessment and grading in the differentiated classroom. One of the guides is written for classroom teachers and guides participants in creating their own personal grading philosophy statements that reflect their growing perspectives on differentiated assessment and grading.

The facilitator’s guide is intended for use in faculty or team meetings, book study groups, university courses, and workshops. The assumption is that facilitators and school leaders will use this resource to guide professional development for faculty and staff.

Guide for facilitators

Guide for classroom teachers

Rick Wormeli

One of the first Nationally Board Certified teachers in America, Rick brings innovation, energy, and validity to his writing, presentations, and his instructional practice, which includes 38 years teaching math, science, English, physical education, health, history, and coaching teachers and principals. Rick’s work has been reported in numerous media, including ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” National Geographic and Good Housekeeping magazines, What Matters Most: Teaching for the 21st Century, and the Washington Post. He is a columnist for AMLE Magazine, and a frequent contributor to ASCD’s Educational Leadership magazine. He is the author of the award-winning book, Meet Me in the Middle, as well as the best-selling book, Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom, Revised Edition, and Differentiation: From Planning to Practice, Day One and Beyond, Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching any Subject.

With his substantive presentations, sense of humor, and unconventional approaches, he’s been asked to present to educators in all 50 states, Canada, China, Europe, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Australia, the Middle East, and at the White House. In 1996, Rick was Disney’s American Teacher Awards Outstanding English Teacher of the Nation. In 2008, he won the James P. Garvin award from the New England League of Middle Schools for Teaching Excellence, Service, and Leadership, and in 2017, he wrote and directed, “The Declaration of Middle Level Independence” performed at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Rick has been a consultant for National Public Radio, USA Today, Court TV, and the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural Partners Program and their search for the Giant Squid. Rick and his wife, Kelly, have two, adult-aged children and they live in Herndon, Virginia. He is currently working on a new book on how to change a school and community culture for standards-based grading.

Every so often while working with educators, Rick gets philosophical about what he does. When asked by Stenhouse to describe what motivated him to be a teacher, Rick replied:

“I teach to dispel the dark and remind the universe that we are not inconsequential. I teach because it’s infinitely compelling to watch dynamic souls punch through their not so elastic cocoons of childhood, daring the community to accept their forward motion. Brushing complacency’s dust from every day ideas and objects by viewing them through children’s eyes opens our own, and it connects us to that golden, “What if…?” superhero in our earlier selves. I teach because setting a constructive example for my students generates a greater ethic in me than I can achieve without their example or provocation. I teach because I am deeply, unrepentantly grateful for life, and the most potent way I know to express that gratitude is to build a world worthy of the next generation, then give them the tools to make it their own.”

This, and breakfast burritos, strong-flavored teas, a passionate interest in science, a good sense of humor, and bike touring get him through the day.

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