Famous Educators, Notable Teachers, Posters & Prints “Pa...-”
educational posters for social studies classrooms, home schools, and theme decor for office.

Vivian Paley
b. 1-25-1929; Chicago, IL

Vivian Paley, a pre-school and kindergarten teacher as well as early childhood researcher, noted for her pioneering work on the use of storytelling in the classroom.

She is a recipient of a 1989 MacArthur Fellowship and recognized with numerous other awards.

Vivian Paley quotes ~
• “Homogeneity is fine in a bottle of milk, but in the classroom it diminishes the curiosity that ignites discovery.”
• “The trouble is, there is no dependable rule that protects everyone equally from the slings and arrows of boss rule.”

Parker Palmer
b. 1939; Chicago, IL

Author and activist Parker Palmer focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change.

He founded and oversees the “Courage to Teach” program for K-12 educators and parallel programs for people in other professions, including medicine, law, ministry and philanthropy.

Parker Palmer quotes ~
• “Education is the attempt to “lead out” from within the self a core of wisdom that has the power to resist falsehood and live in the light of truth, not by external norms but by reasoned and reflective self-determination.”
• “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.”
• “Authority is granted to people who are perceived as authoring their own words, their own actions, their own lives, rather than playing a scripted role at great remove from their own hearts. When teachers depend on the coercive powers of law or technique, they have no authority at all.”
• “Our inner world has a reality and a power that can keep us from being victims of circumstance and compel us to take responsibility for our own lives.”

Francis Wayland Parker
b. 10-9-1837; Bedford, NH
d. 3-2-1902; Mississippi

Called the “Father of Progressive Education” by John Dewey, Francis Wayland Parker worked to create a curriculum centered on the whole child and a strong language background.

Parker was against standardization, isolated drill and rote learning.

Quote from Notes of Talks on Teaching ~
“I shall try in these lessons to help you learn more of the great art of teaching. We have come from widely different sections, and are, or the most part, strangers to each other, and may find it a little difficult at first to draw together. But a common interest will unite us in the bonds of sympathy and good-fellowship. We have all seen teachers who were so self-satisfied that they seemed –to their own minds– to have rounded the circle of teaching, made the circuit of knowledge and skill complete, and closed their minds against the entrance of all further impressions. Such can never learn till the barriers of conceit behind which they have intrenched themselves are broken down. There are others, the opposite of those just described, who stand like empty pitchers waiting to be filled; they accept any and all methods which are popular, or have some show of authority. Such teachers are imitators merely, and will change when any novelty is brought to their notice. No one was ever great by imitation; imitative power never leads up to creative power. Just here let me say that I shall object quite as strongly to your taking the methods which I may present, unquestioned, as I should to your acceptance of other in which I do not believe.”

Angelo Patri, Historic Print

Angelo Patri
b. 11-26-1877; Salerno
d. 1965

Educator and author Angelo Patri was the first Italian born American to become a school principal in the US.

Patri, who used ‘learn by doing’ techniques, was influenced by John Dewey. Among the students Patri influenced was actor John Garfield. Patri also wrote a syndicated column on child psychology, Our Children, which ran in newspapers and magazines.

Angelo Patri quote ~
• “The life of a soul on earth lasts longer than his departure. He lives on in your life and the life of all others who knew him.”

• The Promise of Progressivism: Angelo Patri and Urban Education

Giuditta Pasta
b. 10-26-1797; Saronno, Italy
d. 4-1-1865; Italy

Soprano Giuditta Pasta is considered among the greatest of opera singers. Pasta was also a voice teacher, sharing her knowledge from a career where she created the title role in Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Amina in Vincenzo Bellini's La sonnambula and Norma.