James Quinlan
2001 Inductee
School: | Vernon Township High School | |
Location: | Vernon, New Jersey | |
Subject(s) taught: | Industrial Arts/Special Education | |
Total years in current position: | 24 | |
Total years as a classroom teacher: | 24 | |
Education
1976 | Kean College of New Jersey, Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Arts |
1986 | Jersey City State College, Master of Arts in Urban Education |
Career Experience
1976-present | 9th-12th grades, Industrial Arts |
1989-present | Private Pilot Ground School Instructor |
Honors/Awards
2002 | Time Magazine, Chevy Malibu Teaching Excellence Award |
2001 | Leavy Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education |
1999-2000 | Sussex County Teacher of the Year |
1999- 2000 | Vernon Township Teacher of the Year |
1999 | Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar, Japan-U.S. Educational Commission |
1998 | Earthwatch Educational Award recipient,Grizzly Bear DNA Survey |
1997 | National Foundation for the Humanities Fellow,Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition |
"He is more than a teacher. He helps students to search for and then to build on their individual strengths." --Daniel Muller, |
Career Highlights
- James Quinlan is a facilitator for Project Quest, an adventure-based counseling program with its origins in Outward Bound, for students in need of a personal growth experience.
- To meet the challenge of teaching neurologically impaired students, Quinlan created the Roaring Lion Chair Company, a student operated enterprise that manufactures Adirondack chairs and markets them throughout the tri-state area. Emphasis is placed upon developing marketable work skills and attitudes including staying on task, safety, appropriate behavior, and responsibility.
- About the stereotype of "vocational education, Quinlan states, "Yes, of course they'reusingtheir hands, but they're working with their minds."
"Mr. Quinlan's awesome success as a teacher, both in and out of the classroom, is enhanced by his indisputable respect for students as human beings and his ability to expose students to a myriad of possibilities."
--Anthony J. Macerino, Superintendent,
Vernon Township Public Schools
From the National Teachers Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2001 Inductees press release.... |
Resentful of authority; capable of better work; likely to fail; doesn't apply himself, indolent. This is how his high school teachers described James Quinlan nearly 30 years ago. "Who better than one who had once found school unchallenging, boring, and irrelevant would be more likely to seek out alternative approaches to students who are less than enamored with learning?" asked Quinlan. The industrial arts teacher strives to make learning cool for his students by teaching the culture of the Northwest Indian as students carve a full-sized replica of a Haida totem pole, explore the science of sound as they fine tune an Aztec drum or steam bend oak strips for a toboggan or set of snowshoes. This industrial arts teacher says, "Of course students are using their hands, but they are working with their minds." Quinlan created the Roaring Lion Chair Company, an enterprise operated by neurologically impaired students, that manufactures Adirondack chairs and markets them throughout the a tri-state area. A large pavilion built by his students used for outdoor concerts, ceremonies and other civic events sits in the town's center. Alternative education students have grown into human beings with purpose, now anxiously awaiting the maiden voyage this summer of a 19-foot plywood and fiberglass sailboat built from scratch in their classroom. |
"We discovered that learning isn't about memorizing facts or choosing the right answer from a list. It's about discovering for yourself that what you know isn't as important as what you can find out, if you're willing to make the effort."
--Cheryl Hastie, Student