Benjamin Wellenreiter

Assistant Professor

Teaching and Learning

Office

Degarmo Hall - DEG 226

Office Hours

by arrangement

Office Phone

(309) 438-7532office
phone

brwelle@ilstu.eduemail

About
Education
Awards & Honors
Research

Biography

Ben teaches courses in middle-level social studies pedagogy, content-area literacy, middle school teaching methods, and classroom management. He is active in the Illinois Council for the Social Studies, serving as its President in 2019. He is the co-editor for the practitioner- based ICSS Quarterly. He has publications in The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, Teaching Social Studies, Middle School Journal, Middle Level Learner, and has numerous edited book chapters.

Current Courses

395.001Issues And Strategies In Middle Level Teaching

352.001Social Studies Methods For The Middle School

233.001Teaching And Learning in Middle Level Education

Teaching Interests & Areas

Interdisciplinary experiences
Spatial Learning
Student voice

Research Interests & Areas

Patriotism Education
Adolescent social development
Social studies pedagogy

EDD Teacher Education

Illinois State University

Normal, Illinois

MA School Counseling

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois

BS History-Social Science Education, Secondary and Middle Level

Illinois State University

Normal, Illinois

Master Potter Excellence in Education Award

Morton Community Unit School District 709

2017

College of Education and Health Sciences Exemplary Alumni Award for Scholarship

Bradley University, Peoria, IL

2011

Book, Chapter

Wellenreiter, B., & Lucey, T. Confronting Mr. Smith: Providing students opportunity to resist authority.. J. Hubbard & J. Harshman (EDs), Extending the Ground of Public Confidence: Teaching Civil Liberties in K-16 Social Studies Education. Information Age Publishing (2019)

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2017). Context is everything: Increasing the relevance of preservice teachers’ experiences in classroom management. In C. Crawford, & S. Hardy, (Eds.). Redefining Teacher Preparation: Learning from Experience in Educator Development. (pp. 23-39). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2012). Garbage trucks and deposit slips: The disconnect between life experiences and the economics curriculum of South Africa. In Lucey, T. A., & Laney, J. D. (Eds.) Re-framing financial literacy: Exploring the value of social currency. (pp. 27-45). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Conference Proceeding

Altenburger, E., & Wellenreiter, B. School Climates at Country and Prairie High: The Spaces-In-Between at Two Rural High schools. American Educational Research Association

Journal Article

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2021). Where the action is: Exploring adolescents’ perspectives of middle school social venues. Middle School Journal, 52(2), 5-13. Doi: 10.1080/00940771.2020.1868056

Wellenreiter, B., & Noraian, M. Preservice teachers’ perceptions of the “Public Displays of History” Debate.. The Counselor: A Journal of the Social Studies 81.2 (2020)

Wellenreiter, B.R., Henning, M.B., & Lucey, T. A. (2020). On the other side, it did not say nothin’: Patriotic art, music and how it promotes economic loyalty. Oregon Journal for the Social Studies 8(1), 91-104.

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2019). No perfect patriotism: Encouraging students to view patriotic processes from multiple perspectives. Teaching Social Studies, 19(2), 59-65.

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2020). When students refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance: Preservice teachers’ responses. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 93(1), 1-8. doi: 10.1080/00098655.2019.1690418