Shaker+11

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 * Shaker Name:** Rick Wormeli (section 14 group 1)


 * Basic Work:** Rick is a middle grades teacher in Virginia. He has taught all the major subjects from history, math, science, english and humanities. He is also an educational consultant to National Public Radio, //USA Today//, and the Smithsonian Institute. Rick has presented at the White House, has appeared on //Good Morning America//, and has worked with school districts all across the country. He is also the author of //Meet Me in the Middle, Day One & Beyond,// and //Fair Isn't Always Equal.// He is a nationally board certified teacher and has been teaching for 23 years. Rick works on assessment in the middle school level and differentiated instruction for different pace learners. He gives speeches on how to grade, why grade, what to grade, how to change grades to reflect a student's body of knowledge, and how to grade students individually based on their own learning style (AEI SPeakers Bureau 2007).


 * Key Work:** Rick's main focus is on differentiating and assesements. He speaks all over the country at schools districts and also at national or regional conferences about his ideas. His body of work on assessments consists of being able to assess students at different learning levels. He believes in giving kids different assessments based on their own learning style and pace. Just because a student doesn't get a topic right the first time does mean that he should not get a chance to learn it at all. He believes in multiple testing and retesting. He practices these things in his classrooms and preaches this to other teachers. Rick does not believe that homework should be given unless the topic has already been talked about in class. His books explain that homework should not be a graded or count for any part of the grading procedure...it should just be reinforcement of lessons already taught. The assessment model he discusses is one of multiple methods of assessment including oral tests and drawings or pictures, even vignettes as assessment. The child who is an excellent drawer should be able to show his learning in a picture whereas the child who is an excellent writer should be able to be assessed in an essay. This is his basis of differentiated lessons and assessments. Rick also works on grading over time and not isolated events. If a child is showing that he is learning and is competent at a subject at the end of the year then his grade should be changed to reflect that in the earlier quarters because his level of understanding is much higher at the end then the beginning. Some of his books include "Fair Isn't Always Equal"; "Summarization in any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning"; "Day One and Beyond: Practical Matters for New Middle Level Teachers"; "Meet Me in the Middle"; "Meet Me in the Middle: Becoming an Acocmplished Middle Level Teacher"; "Because You Teach"; "Reading Response that Really Matters to Middle Schoolers"; "Differentiation: from Planning to Practices 6-12".


 * Key Personnel:** Rick Wormeli is the key person in his body of work, but he also attributes much of what he has learned and practices currently to the many books he has read. He is always reading a book on education reform or methods of teaching so he can weigh in and decide where his stance is on that subject. He reads books by parents, teachers and scholars alike and takes views from all sides to use as the basis for his books and discourses. He has been asked to present in 49 states and D.C., Canada, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, the Middle East. He is involved in international webcasts, and was honored as Disney's American Teacher Awards 1996 Outstanding English Teacher of the Nation. He has been a consultant Court TV, and the Smithsonian Institution's Natural Partners Program and their search for the Giant Squid. He is currently working on his first young adult fiction novel and a new education book on formative assessment.


 * Why/How a shaker?** Rick is a shaker because he is going against YEARS of conventional wisdom, not only about assessment and grading practices but also against the value of homework and his approach to the differentiated learner. He gives kids so many opportunities to earn an A in his class that it is so hard not to. He believes that EVERY student should be getting an A and if they get anything less than a C average in class they are not learning. He will go back and change students grades in their first or second quarter average if by the 3rd quarter or 4th quarter they are showing that they are finally getting material that was covered in the early quarters. He believes that this is fair. He believes that these students are just learning at a different pace and it is the duty and job of the teacher to teach these students on a level and pace that they learn best at. In the day of state tests being so important and pacing being everything due to all the curriculum teachers need to cover, Rick says that teachers need to cover their required content, but need to keep revisiting old curriculum so students constantly have a chance to learn all the material for the year. Rick also shows all of his students the tests before he gives it to them. He gives them the test at the beginning of each unit so they know what they have to learn and will be assessed on. Rick says that many of his collegues in his school in Roanoke, Virginia were very skeptical about his practices but many of them have adopted his philosophies. If a collegue of his does not adopt this philosophy he will go and talk to them and try to convince them of why letting kids know what lies ahead of them is good for them and more beneficial than just giving kids F's. Because he has spoken at so many schools and is a Nationally certified teacher he has definitly impacted many schools across the nation. No one school that we found has completely adopted his philosophy, however many teachers have. These are the teachers that give kids mulitple attempts at mastering curriculum and differentiate according the personnel in the class. They may not know they are adpting his philosophy, but it is what he preaches and speaks about. Superintendents have brought him into their districts to give his speech to the teachers in the middle schools so they could possibly adopt his philosophy. He also has a question and answer session after every speech and welcomes teachers to email him or call him at home. He is more than happy to email chapters of his books to teachers who show the interest and want to implement his style of teaching into their own classroom. RIck has not caused change on any national level or even state level, but his practices of differentiating are in line with No Child Left Behand standards set forth. Rick Wormeli gives his kids a copy of each and every test 2 weeks before they have to take it and then give them multiple chances to retake it if they do not get an A. This man is shaking up assessing learners as we know it.


 * Links: http://www.aeispeakers.com/speakerbio.php?SpeakerID=1100

http://www.lib.msu.edu/corby/reviews/posted/wormeli.htm

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/5679?theme=print**