Overhead Quotes

"People cannot learn by having information pressed into their brains. Knowledge has to be sucked into the brain, not pushed in. First, one must create a state of mind that craves knowledge, interest and wonder. You can teach only by creating an urge to know." Victor Weisskopf, Physics Professor

"For most students academic learning is too abstract. They need to see, touch and smell what they read and write about." John Goodland

Left brain characteristics: Focused, speech, reason, time ordered, logic, ordering, analytic, isolating, selectivity, explanation.

Right brain characteristics: Open, song, experience, whole picture, time independent, facial expression, harmonizing, holistic, relating, involvement, inspiration.

Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning

5% - 15% Verbal or Written

10% - 20% Visual

40% - 50% Visual and Verbal

60% - 70% Discussion

90% of what you experience

Dr. Nancy Tobler 194 meta-analysis of 143 school based curriculum

"Much of the learning in traditional systems of imposed instruction is for the purpose of passing the next test. Information is put into the brain’s "closed file" as soon as the test is over because it has already served its purpose." Lynn Stoddard, Redesigning Education

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer, Educational Psychologist

"Students whose teachers emphasize higher-order thinking skills and hands-on learning activities outperform their peers significantly. Students who engage in hands-on learning on a weekly basis outperform those who engage in this manner of instruction on a monthly basis. Students whose teachers conduct hands-on learning activities outperform their peers by 72% of a grade level in math and 40% of a grade level in science. This study indicates that the most effective classroom practices involve conveying higher order thinking skills and engaging in hands-on learning activities."  Educational Testing Service 2001

Three T’s: Thinking, Technology and Teamwork

"The number one reason people lose their first real job is not a lack of technical skills, it is because they can’t get along with other people." National Job Service

"Lectures put participants in a position of sustained, passive listening. Learning, unfortunately is not an automatic consequence of pouring information into another person’s head. It requires the person’s own mental processing. Therefore, lecturing by itself will never lead to real learning." Dr. Mel Silberman, a professor at Temple University

"No matter how creative, colorful or exciting a lesson is, if the teacher's brain is the only one interacting with the material, the teacher's brain - not the student's brain - is the only brain forming dendrites."  Pat Wolfe, "The Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Behavior.

"Our schools may be built with the bricks of English, math, and science, but character education certainly is the mortar." Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, from Teacher Magazine May 2001

"Prevention programs are most effective when they focus on life skills such as goal setting, decision making, friendship making, critical thinking and others." Gilbert Botvin, Cornell University Medical College’s Institute for Prevention Research

"Developing life skills is one effective strategy that all prevention programs for youth - including substance abuse prevention, pregnancy prevention, suicide prevention and school dropout preventino - agree is crucial."  Nan Henderson, M.S.W. The Prevention Researcher, February 2003

"51% of employers said their employees did not work well with others." USA Today - March 15, 1999

"Communication skills and working in a team were listed as abilities that were missing in newly graduated students." National Alliance of Business

"Only 13% of employers felt students just out of high school could work in diverse groups and they believed that only 6% to 9% of the students were able to communicate effectively." USA Today, June 26, 1997

"Employers very consistently cite the following as important.  Good communication skills are first, both verbal and written.  Honesty and integrity are second, teamwork skills are third, interpersonal skills fourth and a strong work ethic fifth.  Employers are looking for people who can work together, which is one reason communication is the top skill, year in and year out.  They look for all the getting-along skills." National Association of Colleges and Employers as reported in the New York Times on 8-4-02

"The truth is that all companies will come to depend increasingly on a workforce equipped with critical thinking, problem solving and team working skills." Margo Barnes, a senior vice president of Bayer Corporation, USA Today, July 1997

"75% of surveyed companies said they wanted to see improvement in the interpersonal skills of their employees." USA Today

"After studying how a host of companies do their hiring, they conclude that memorizing spelling lists and math tables doesn’t make a young person employable. When it comes to succeeding on the job, initiative, flexibility and teamwork belong right up there with reading , writing and math. By pushing the "hard" skills alone, many of today’s schools continue to educate children for an economy that no longer exits." Teaching the New Basic Skills from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education

"The most important single ingredient in the formula for success is knowing how to get along with people." Theodore Roosevelt

"I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun." John D. Rockefeller

"Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts." A sign that hung in Albert Einstein’s office

"Fun isn’t always educational and education isn’t always fun, but when the two come together - it just doesn’t get any better." Tom Jackson, Conducting Group Discussions With Kids

"Much of what students produce in school has no purpose, no reason for existence beyond satisfying a teacher. Most students get good at these exercises, figuring out that filling blanks with words or phrases copied from the text is all they need to do." George Wood, author and education professor

"Primary reliance on traditional teaching methodologies all too often leads to student boredom and apathy toward learning, accompanied by poor academic performance, greater behavioral problems and an increased drop out rate. However, research has demonstrated precisely the opposite regarding student-centered learning. Kids enjoy school more because they are actively involved in their education, overall test scores improve, and behavioral and dropout problems decline." Richard J. Parker, executive director, Partners in Education USA Today

"For many students the test has become much more important than what is learned." William Glasser, The Quality School Teacher

"Academic success is related, in part, to student’s social competence and their ability to adapt to different environments. Thus, the more equipped young people are to navigate life, the more they are likely to achieve in school. One of the important ways that assets work is that they help young people be resilient in the face of difficulties." Search Institute

"Students don’t need training for today’s realities as much as they need education for tomorrow’s possibilities." Dr. Morton Owen Schapiro The Dean of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at the University of Southern California

"Many schools with successful character education programs have observed students who are more connected to school, have fewer disciplinary referrals, have improved school attendance, and have higher performance scores on standardized achievement tests." Wynne and Ryan 1997

"Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them." Abigail Adams told her son John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States

"What does employment in the 90’s and beyond mean? If you have an education and skills and you work very hard, there’s no guarantee you’ll have your job tomorrow." In a report on CBS television

"What’s happening in today’s economy is a shift from companies taking care of employees to companies expecting more from the individual. 71% of the Fortune 100 executives say workers must "add value" to their jobs to stay employed." USA Today

"Surveys of employers put work ethic, communications, information gathering and people skills at the top of the list, followed by analytical and problem solving skills.  These capabilities apply across all fields."  Syracuse University

"Corporate-recruiting managers confirm that students may have technical skills, but they tend not to have "soft skills".  Students tend to think a high GPA and a degree will guarantee career success, but anyone in the work world knows that only skills and character ensure success."  Michigan University

"Students in technical fields, such as engineering or the physical sciences, or those destined for graduate programs, such as law or an MBA, need to pay particular attention to communication and group work.  Graduate-school recommendations as more questions about attitude, commitment and people capabilities than intelligence and analytical ability.  They may weigh standardized test most, but soft skills matter."  USA Today, June 10, 2004

"Wisconsin parents, educators and legislators invested great time and energy in developing academic standards that define what our young people need to know and be able to do if they are to succeed in school and beyond. Of equal importance are, "Standards of the Heart," those character traits that define how young people should conduct themselves at school and in the broader community. Cultivating the hearts of all of our children is as fundamental a responsibility of educators as cultivating their minds." Past Wisconsin State Superintendent

"Currently, talk about virtue, values, morals and character has emerged in the forefront of the movement for social change. However, it is important to understand that these traits must be taught rather than talked." Barbara Unell and Jerry Wyckoff in their book 20 Teachable Virtues

Values definition: Something you subjectively judge worth having, doing or being.

"We should teach values to our children because it is the most significant and effective thing we can do for their happiness." Linda and Richard Eyre authors of the book "Teaching Your Children Values"

"Kids don’t need more things to do, they need more adults to do things with." Verne Larsen, Utah State Office of Education

"Whatever you would have your children become, strive to exhibit in your own lives and conversation." Lydia H. Sigourney

"Your parents instill your values. If not, you would not know what to believe, and you would believe in anything." Jennifer, 17 year old student

"I got my values and morals from my parents, and I interpret the outside influences from that base." Michelle, 17 year old student