Wisdom on the Walls

I remember attending an in-service day and listening to a gentleman say that we should do more to decorate the walls of our classrooms.

He suggested that we hang up family pictures and diplomas and I could see his point immediately. I have always enjoyed a good quote and started printing them out on little posters and sticking them up all around.

My favorite, and the touchstone of my entire history class was this:

Some quotes I included for the humor—since humor never hurts when dealing with teens. One came from Shakespeare: “You are not worth the dust the rude wind blows in your face.” I liked the comedy of the insult and added it to my collection. One day, I was walking through the lunch room when Josh Parton, one of my funniest students, called out from the distance:

“Mr. Viall! You are not worth the dust the rude wind blows in your face.” We both had a good laugh and I was glad a little of the Bard’s wisdom resonated with at least one student.

Here are a sampling, a few of my favorite quotes out of several hundred, turned into posters for a history classroom:

Humor.

A reminder for teachers and students:

Character Education:

Understanding others:

Understanding ourselves:

A plug for reading:

We all understand this:

The Tao of Forest Gump:

Something for everyone to remember when arguing:

Attitudes are a key to success in any endeavor:

Positve reinforcement is probably overused:

How teen peer groups form:  

Useful when discussing any war:

This one is for teachers:

Why do we study history?

The people in the past are like us.

I used to be a lazy student myself:

Never trust anyone who wants to make you hate:

Not that students will ever lie to get out of trouble!

The saddest question:

Lincoln explains his philosphy in a few words:

Truman explains his philosophy in even fewer:

A classic political put-down:

For World History, a warning about tyranny:

We did a great deal of writing in my class. I tried to impress this idea on students:

Not bad advice for living:

Send me an email if you are interested in seeing more of these.

vilejjv@yahoo.com