Staff Profile | College of Education

About
Education
Awards & Honors
Research

Biography

Informed by 19 years of experience in the middle school classroom, Ben teaches courses in middle-level social studies pedagogy, content-area literacy, middle school teaching methods, and classroom management. Ben also serves as the Executive Director of the Illinois Council for the Social Studies, an affiliate of the National Council for the Social Studies.
Ben is co-author of Teaching Middle Level Social Studies: A Practical Guide for 4th-8th Grade (3rd Edition) (2021) Information Age Publishing. He has publications in Social Studies Research and Practice; The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas; Teaching Social Studies; Middle School Journal; Middle Level Learner; Children, Youth and Environments; and has numerous edited book chapters.
As a middle school teacher, Ben taught geography and US History and served as co-chair of his school district's teacher evaluation process committee, was twice a lead for certified staff contract negotiations, and served on various curriculum and other school district committees.

Current Courses

499.001Independent Research For The Master's Thesis

296.001Middle Level Education Clinical I

233.001Teaching And Learning in Middle Level Education

233.002Teaching And Learning in Middle Level Education

104.001Introduction To Education In The United States

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

Outstanding College of Education Service Award

College of Education, Illinois State University

2023

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 Review

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2021). [Review of the book Civic education in the age of mass migration: Implications for theory and practice, by A. M. Banks]. Teachers College Record. ID Number: 23879

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. R. (2020). School Climates at Country and Prairie High: The Spaces-In-Between at Two Rural High. American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Journal Article

Wellenreiter, B., Zhao, X., & Lucey, T. Preservice teachers and the patriotism of the 1619 and 1776 history narratives. Social Studies Research and Practice (2024)

Wellenreiter, B. R. (2023). Pictures Alone Don’t Do It Justice: Using Spatial Learning in Middle Level Classrooms. Middle Level Learning, 78, 10-15.

Wellenreiter, B. R., Zhao, X., Angleton, C. (2023) P is for Patriotism: Messaging of Patriotic Symbols and Rituals in Picturebooks. Social Studies Teaching and Learning.4(1).

Wellenreiter, B. R. & Lucey, T. A. (2022). The influence of loyalty on historical truth and the entanglement of teacher education. Critical Issues in Teacher Education, (CITE), 29, 40-51.

Altenburger, E., & Wellenreiter, B. R. (2021). Where to Hang Out: Interplay between School Building Characteristics, Authority Structures, and School Micro-Climates. Children, Youth and Environments, 31(2), 1-33. https://doi.org/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.31.2.0001

Textbook, Revised

Roberts, S. L., Wellenreiter, B. R., Strachan, S. L., and Palmer, K. L. (2022). Teaching Middle Level Social Studies: A Practical Guide for 4^th-8^th Grades, 3rd Ed. Charlotte: North Carolina. Information Age Publishing.

Dr. Benjamin Wellenreiter