Henry Wend

Background

About Henry Wend

I am committed to student centered learning in the classroom and beyond. I am a firm believer that one should never let school get in the way of education. To this end, I have worked with students at my school to get out into the community as part of the Global Studies program and the Challenge 20/20 competition. Challenge 20/20 allows students to organize projects in tandem with schools abroad. These projects allow students to explore 20 global problems in 20 years. I have also helped to organize and lead student trips to China and Central Europe. Most recently, I chaperoned a trip to Central Europe for students and parents from our school, during which we visited Vienna, Munich, Nuremberg, Dresden, Berlin and Leipzig, with a home stay at our sister school in Borna. Our themes included the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, memorialization of the Nazism and the Holocaust, the Cold War in Europe, and European life in the 21st Century. I returned to full time teaching in fall 2012 and the Directorship of the Global Studies program at University School. I adapted my courses to new technology, especially going beyond the text book to develop my own digital content and courses. I am also pushing my classrooms to embody the best of 21st century learning, especially student centered approaches to teaching, use of technology, critical thinking skills, and problem solving. This year, I have developed curriculum that allows students to identify a problem, research solutions, present their work to a variety of audiences, and work towards implementing a solution.I will never be fully qualified for this job. Therefore, I push myself continually to develop as a professional. Towards that end, I continue to keep my plate full including earning a certification in Global Competence offered by Columbia University's Teacher's College. This certification program included field work Uganda during the summer of 2015.