Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1869-12-09
TEACHERS INSTITUTE.

Pursuant 10 q call OF the Marshall ccuu-
ty school examiner, the teachers OF said
county met in convention at the seminary,
in Plymouth, November odd, 1869. The
convention was called 10 order by the
school examiner, Mr. Thomas Mcdonald.
and organized by cIecting the following
office:s: president, Thomas Mcdonald.
vice, d. d. Luke; secretary. VIM. Jack
son; assistant secretary, Miss Mary Dick
BOZ; critic, Miss Voi, Chamberlair. The
institute being organized, the president APP
pointed ID. ID. Luke superintendent. The
objects of the convention were briefly
stated by the SUPERINTENDENT After
which several teachers from various parts
of the county gave their methods of teach
ing, and briefly stated in what thsy sue
eeded and in what they failed. The af
teruoon session was called To- order 10y the
Pres, after wdic,i Vim. Jackson gave
lesson IN penma nship. IL embraced, LIST.
Position OF the b1dy: ID Maj ner OF hold
ing the pen; Sd The movements lie
thought writing very important. and that
il might be made success in our schools
and teachers ought To become interested
lie recommended the Spencerian sys EN-,
and thought every teacher should have
set Of Spencer writing charts; that if the
t-ach1r was not good penrhsn himself
he could teach it efiectually from the
charts.
Mr. Beilcr gave lesson in arithmetic,
and explained his method Of organizing
aud conducting classes in the same; said
he found ,reaI difficulty iD classifying pu-
plls-lhat he always had to have four or
ave classes in the same book. At the
close of bis remarks il was suggested that
so many classes can be avoided by an in
crease of labor on the part OF Tue teacher
in assisting tue backward pupils the more,
and by exercising good judgment in as
signing the lessons.
Mr.. ID. ID. Luke gave a lesson in prima-
~ orinography. He presented his subject
under the following heads:
/, MATTER SELEcTED.-lst. sosnds-2d,
characterized, eiocutiOn.
IL, MATTER PREsESTED.-lst special
exercises I'd, general exercises.
He SAID that he would Commence his
instruction by selecting word and de-
velop the idea represented by II with an
object and then proceed to the element
AIRY sounds contained in the word, and
then the letters forming the word
lie thought that children learn words
that are names of objects sooner than
they can learn letter; because The sub
ject is then presented In It's natural order.
as they learn To- name the objects be fore
they learn the word. Therefore, the
pbilosopy is TO proceed from the whole 10
the paris. BY SD doing. we teach things
that have meaning, but by commencing
with letter first. we reach the arbitrary
character which cannot be interesting 10
the pupil as no idea caa be attached 10 it
that the pupil can comprehend He said
adults soon forget arbitrary principles or
rules while they have no difficulty in re-
membering facts based on philosophical
principles. So with a child, therefore. IL
requires long time to teach children
their alphabet bv commencing with a, b,
c, etc.
Mr. Owes announced to the institute
that Mr.. Smith, of Logansport, and Mr.
Charles, OF Chicago. would be present on
ruespay, after which, the institute adj
joured to meet at seven o'clock, p. m.
The evening session Was called To order
by the vice president. The subject Ia be
considered was that of school govern
ment Nearly all the teachers took
part in The discussion, and many different
methods were presented. The use of the
rod In the schoo'room found few support
eis- The institute adjourned till Q g. m.
TUESDAY, Nov. %,
The institute was called to ordes by the
president ard opened with music-Miss
Ella Lewis, organist. The programme
being arranged by the superintendent.
MIR. VIM Shaw gave his method of teaca-
ing arithmetic. lie said be would
pursue the objective plan in developing
the idea of number.
| Mr.. jackson gave lesson in primary
physiology which was very INTEREST," ne
and very beneficial.
Mr.. Smith gave lesson In primary
reading. He considered the subject under
the following heads:
| /. OBJECT OR IDEA.
III. SPOKEN WoRD.-lst, As q ,phole,.
I'd. By sound.
III. wRITTES WORD. LIST, As q
sChote; I'd. By sonnd;; Cd. By letter.
he said that he would proceed from the
whole to the paris and develop the idea
upon the objective principles, and II he
was developing the long or short vowels
he would select words containing those
sounds only that he wond spell By sound
frst and then by letter; that If you see a
/ picture, talk and write about, you can
thus interest pupils so that they will be
glad to come to school. that he would
teach composition in this way, not by
rules but bv deduction. a
Mr. Thomas Charles Demonstrated his
method of teaching decimal fractions.
This lesson was very interesting and duly
appreciated by all.
| Mr. Jackson continued his lessons on
penmanship, he gave his method of devel-