# 68 - Rick Wormeli’s Journey of Excellence

How do you recognize your limitations and work toward developing these areas? What transformative moments have shaped your journey in education? What role does service to others play in your personal and professional life? How do you open yourself up to being a lifelong learner? How can we empower our own narratives in order to live a more fulfilled existence? In today’s episode, Rick Wormeli shares his insight and wisdom based on nearly 40 years of experience in the field of education. As an educational leader, author, teacher, speaker, and presenter, Rick brings a multitude of different perspectives into today’s discussion that resulted in opening up the dialogue related to what it means to be an educator. Rick has put loads of time and energy into developing himself as an educator in order to better understand the keys to success in regards to helping students to achieve their very best. Although my original intention in this discussion was to dive into the work he has done on sharing best practice related to formative and summative assessment, the conversation channelled off into the areas of service to others, teacher empowerment, the importance of unlearning and relearning, and how to create the best conditions possible for young people to thrive in the classroom. There are sure to be many gems of insight that can be extracted from this discussion with Rick Wormeli that can be applied to your own teaching practice. Rick’s Bio:One of the first Nationally Board Certified teachers in America, Rick brings innovation, energy, validity and high standards to both his presentations, and his instructional practice, which includes 38 years teaching math, science, English, physical education, health, and 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 Education Leadership magazine.  He is the author of the award-winning book, Meet Me in the Middle, as well as the best-selling books, Day One and Beyond, Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom, Differentiation: From Planning to Practice, Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching any Subject, all five from Stenhouse Publishers, as well as Summarization in any Subject, published by ASCD.  His book, The Collected Writings (So Far) of Rick Wormeli: Crazy Good Stuff I Learned about Teaching Along the Way, is a collection of his published articles, guest bloggings, and more through 2013.  His classroom practice is a showcase for ASCD’s best-selling series, “At Work in the Differentiated Classroom.”With his substantive presentations, sense of humor, and unconventional approaches, he’s been asked to present to teachers and administrators in all 50 states, Canada, China, Europe, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Australia, the Middle East, and at the White House.   He is a seasoned veteran of many international Web casts, and he is Disney’s American Teacher Awards 1996 Outstanding English Teacher of the Nation.  He won the 2008 James P. Garvin award from the New England League of Middle Schools for Teaching Excellence, Service, and Leadership, and he 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. In June 2012, Rick was the graduation commencement speaker for the highest performing, public high school in the Washington, D.C. area.  He lives in Herndon, Virginia with his wife, and both of them are now celebrating the post-college launch of their two children into the adult, working world.  Rick is c