Nebraska advertiser., 1869-04-08


n The elosin1 exercises OF the winter
term Offhe NoFmal School took place
on the 10Th. 8lh and 3lst Of March.
Owing TO tie fnelR1enev Of the
wehfhcr Rndthed ista1 ning
hub or Of sse board 81 eamnen
sv. baird vas preht, an4 thai
one Ont for d short tine, 50 ne fegu,
nlaT report cas- be made by the ooard
Of The cuia ef the ez2minatan
We think we can safely say, how
ever, that the students showed thai
work had been done in themselves
all the classes acquitted themselves
| well, and we believe those who engage
in 4eaching the present summer, viii
show the result Of the past terms
We do not wish to enter into a de-
tailed account Ofthe examinations and
other exercises, but villa simply state
/ the manner IN which our teachers are
trained f0rtheir work.
The methods Of the Normal School
are fhose that eause the stndenttO de-
pend IS far az possible on his own re-
sources.
The style Of oBesfion and answer is
avoided as much as possible, and a
subject or 'itOpicH is given, on which
the pupil Is expected to treat until the
topics thOroughly exhausted Instead
of asking q student "Nhaf is GeOgra-
ply" the teacher sends him TO the
blackboard with the direction 20 write
out the tt0pic in the lesson T; should
il be the first, the lesson viii be wit
ten somewhat like the following:
Observation-Disclosures, Uses and
Kinds.
KTEDs OF GEoGRAPHY-Phisical,
Mathematical, Descriptive and POliti-
cal.
DEFINITION OF PHYSICAL GE0GRA-
PHY--FOrm and size of the Earth.
DIVISIONS or PHYSICAL GEoGRA-
PHY-Land, Water and Atmosphere.
When the student has written out
q synopsis of the lesson in this style,
he shows at once that the subjects ere
classified in his mind, and it becomes
an easy matter for him to take up the
several topics mentioned and expand
them.
This il the course pursued in all
classes /; reading, photography, gram
mar, arithmetic, etc, etc.
n w ACA u l1AEIAk HIS AUAO wv 0AE
.Ecience in this manner, there is no
danger Of superficial knowledge, for
he positively must know his subject
before he can thus write it, at any
time when called on.
This method, with constant and
thorough reviews, is the leading fea-
ture of instruction in the Normal
School IN all its departments.
The Normal School proper meet
once a day i'm class, and either listen
TO a lecture on some subject connected
with teaching, OF give object lesson,
discuss somequestiOn or instruct some.
For instance a class just common
cling TO read is called in from the mod
die department, and one of the Nor
NAL students is called on TO instruct IL
in the presence ofthe others, anda after
the student has displayed his method,
the principal gives what Re considers
the best method, and thus the whole
class is benefited by a practical illus
tration.
Other subjects are treated in the
same manner, and as far as practical,
each Normal student is required to
engage in actual instruction for a
SlAOIb AlnCs -
The question has been asked-''Can
the improved methods of instruction
be successfully adopted in our com
mon schools"
A student in the Normal class asked
a teacher who had been engaged in
teaching school for the last two years.
at least, if the method of teaching a
child~to read by what is called the
"w0rd method could be used in com
Oh school successfully. His answer
was, sit might do very well for a high
School, but could not succeed in a dis
trict school,"
Now, Nh. Editor, inthe name of all
that claims the epithet of m
sense, what reason can be assigned
that a child can be taught any better
in a large building than in asmall one,
Why is il that after repeated trials Of
both methods in our Union Schools
and Normal Schools, all have agreed
that the old rOte method was a heath
enish way of compelling a child to
learn. Such twaddle is only bOsh.