The St. Cloud journal., 1872-09-19


TnACHERs' MsTITuTn.
| An Institute Of the teachers Of stearns
and Benton counties began on Tuesday fore
noon last, at the Union School building,
whore oil necessary preparations had been
made BY Prof: sprague, who has shown
throughout much interest In tho meeting.
Tho institute has been conducted by su.
perintendent Niles, Of 0lmstead county, a.
sisted by Prof. Cook, Of Rochester. Super.
lntendent Pirz, ofstearns, and supt. Hall,
Of Benton county, have been present. -
State Superintendent Wilson arrived to-day.
Atths opening On, Monday forenoon Attesn
teachers were present, in tho afternoon be-
tween Afty and dxty. The lnitituts ~
opened on ~ g 80 ~, -
BY supt. Niles, who spoke Of the nec,s-
sity Of punotuality at Institutes ~ In
schools He then spoke Of tho need Of
more thoroughnsss in primary tesohing,
and more care both 81 to matter and meth
d, after which he savs. lssson In primary
reading 70 class Of presumed little girls,
showing hsw hs would combine tho word,
phonetic, and alphabetio method. Supt.
Hall, Of sauk Rapids, spoke of the need
Of primary" teachers being thoroughly IT.
ted for their work, and Of the growing
feeling in his county in favor Of such
teachers. After . ehort recess les
son in penmanship was given by Prof.
Cook, Of Rochester. A committee was then
appointed, consisting Of Supt. Niles, Prof.
Moore, Supt. Hall, and Misses Dam and
McGaughey, to select topic for the even
ing's discussion. The evening was spent in
discussing the adoption Of q course Of
study for the district schools.
TUESDAY.
The proceedings were Of the same char
acter as on the day before.
In the evening Superintendent Niles, Of
Rochester, delivered an address at the Con-
gregational Church on ''The Growth and
Condition of the Teacher He impressed
upon teachers the idea that before going
into school to teach others they should
appreciate the necessity Of being taught
themselves. He pointed out the manner
in which teachers could Improve them
selves, and dweH especially on the proper
use Of leisure hours. He also advised their
keeping posted on national affairs aud cur
rent events, and imparting this information
to their scholars in some easy CONVERSE
tional way. He complimentsd the Norm .
School teachers Of this place, whom he had
found to enter heartily into this work.
Tho lecture was practical and interesting
throughout. Several appropriate pieces
were we'll sung by the Congregational
choir.
Exercises opened with an attendance Of
fourteen teachers. Roll call ;then read.
ing exercise conducted by supt. Niles,
particular attention being paid to smpha-
sis. An exercise in grammar, conducted
BY Prof. Cook, consisting Of . drill in wri-
ting sentences, using . number Of quality
words in the first part Of tho sentenee.-
Recess Of fifteen minutes, after which Prof:
Cock continued the programme for place
lessons commenced tho day previous, draw.
ing from the class ideas Of need Of some
standard Of direction, giving terms North,
South, East, West &c.; idea Of block, town,
(uatufal fsaturss) ~ lake and parts, river
aud parts, &c.; country. county, State, sur
face, climate, soil, productions, occupations
and people, their manners and customs.-
Exercise conducted by Mr.. Mullenmeister,
giving methods Of teaching children to
make straight columns Of figures in adding.
subtracting and dividing, and showing
tho mistakes often made by business mon
In sdding to be owing to NO other reason
than their carelessness learned at school.
In the afternoon session, music v % fol-
loved BY an exercise in phonetic spelling
and reading BY supt. Niles. He spoke Of
many teachers debating exercises in SPELL.
ing and pronouuoiug perhsps half the words
incorrectly, the pupils through this aequir-
Ing ths'sams< habit. This can be remedied
by teachers giving the sounds a. indicated
by the markings in the text books used, in
case dictionaries are not provided-the
text books being better authority in pronun-
citation than. each individuals taste. Mem
bers Of the Institute were called upon to
read separately and in concert, when criti-
cisms ani remarks were called for. In q
primary grammar lesson Prof. Cook de-
veloped the idea, term and definition of an
idea, thought, sentence, parts of sen.
tence, &c. Although he was subjected to
frequent questions by members of the In
stitute, the lesson was clear and concise,
many new and valuable hints being given.
A lesson in primary reading was conduct.
ed by Miss Jennie Owen, in which she
demonstrated her method of teaching this
OE0ncA. AAe IesSOu WdS IuIA OI 4no anu
variety. Mr.. Mullenmeister gave less on
to show his ideas of condensing the vowel
sounds. Adjourned until half past. seven.
In the evening at the Church report
Of the proceedings of the Institute on Mon
day was read by Miss Hartmann, and OF
Tuesday evenings exercises by MIR: Gray.
.supt Niles; introduced Prof. Moore who
delivered lecture. on '.Moods." We are
unable to give anything like synopsis Of
this lecture which would do it justice. It
was an able production, closely linked
throughout, and was listened to with inter-
est and appreciation. Supt. Niles appoint
ed Miss. Fanny MeGaughey to report tho
exercises Of the evening at the church this
evening, and announced State superintend-
ent Wilson - the lecturer for tonight. -
a: duet ':1talian Boat song;" was sung by
Mr.. Burbank and Mrs. BY, ani quar-
| tot, ''Protect me through the coming
night" by Mrs. Burbank: Mrs. BY, Mr..
Montgomery and; Mr.. weary-Miss Ada
Dam at the organ. -
| The Institute is in session to-day, with
IN attendance Of sixty, and will continue