The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-03-06
Maury County Teaoher.' Institute.

9 Maury County Teacher Institut.
In pursuance of call made by til
! County Superintendent for a Teachers
Institute to be held on the 10Th, 9th, 2St
of February, the teachers met In the Ms
! sonic Hall in Columbia, Tenn, with tn
following results:
THURSDAY.
DIR. VIM. A. Smith, President Of tn
Maury County Teachers Association
called the meeting to order and DIR,
@. Mitchell offered prayer for the sue
cess of the Institute, praying earnestl.
that education might spread Throughout
the land. Hon. Ed. Kuhn, Mayor @
Columbia, delivered an, address of wei
come. Prof. A. 8. Loyenthal then ex
planned the objects of Teachers 1nsti
tutes; saying that they were for The
benefit of the teachers and were some
what in the nature of Normal schools
and vet did not take the place of Nor.
NAL schools, for those very States which
had an efficient system of Normal
schools established by law, are the very
States which have the best Institutes
He said that the Institutes were for the
purpose of teaching teachers how to
teach. Prof. L. then suggested perma-
nent organization by the election of the
following officers, viz President, Secre-
tary and Post Master. Supt. H.. T.
Gordon was thereupon chosen Presi-
dent, Mr.. VIM. Anderson, Secretary and
Prof. J, S. Beecher, Post Master. The
President ordered, upon the suggestion
of Prof. Loventhal, that the name and
| post-office address of the members be
| enrolled, which are as follows: Prof. A.
S. Loventhal, Louisville, KY; Isaac
Roose, DIR. r. n. Whitfield, Nashville,
Tenn; James A. Creighton, A. q; Hill,
JAS. III. Wilkes, Miss Nora Powell, Miss
Lizzie Hudspeth, DIR. VIM. A. Smith, J..
S. Beecher, n. T. Gordon, r. D. Smith,
Mrs. S. B. Mack, j. X. p. Allen, W. r.
McKepnon, Columbia, Tenn; d. A. Nc
Knight, Buford's Station, Tenn; Mrs.
G. Awhile, Campbell Station, Tenn;
VIM. Anderson, Carter's Creek Station,
Tenn. James S. Perry, Bigbyville,
Tenn; j. K. p. Timmons, River Sta
ton, Tenn; J. G. Redman, Spring Hill,
Tenn; Rev. W. T. Ussery, Hampshire,
Tenn; Thomas White, Fountain Greek,
Tenn; Supt. w. r. Garrett, Pulaski,
Tenn; j. B. Smith, Bigbyville, Tenn;
W. r. Webb, John M. Webb, A. 8. Me-
Corkle, Culleoka, Tenn. The morning
being now far spent, Prof. Loventhal
gave short exercise in Mental Arith-
metic. He selected a class of little boys
and girls from one of the public schools
which was in attendance and gave his
method of "onductings recitatiOn,-hew
he would commence to teach Arlthme-
tic. His method was so simple and
plain and so interesting TO the children
that they clapped their little hands in
very delight when he would lead them
to some conclusion and call them smart.
Immediately upon the conclusion of this
demonstration, Supt. Gordon, according
to the pre-arranged programme, made
a few remarks upon Elementary Sounds,
showing the importance OF the study.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
fAn III, 1nH of ~
p. NJ. Prof. Beecher read an excellent
essay on English Grammar. He then
called for class and gave them states
and pencils and showed his method of
teaching, which is undoubtedly good
way. Prof. Loventhal followed him in
Language Lesson, and showed his
method Of teaching Primary Grammar.
He selected a class of little girls who
had never studied English Grammar,
and in short time had them so famil-
lar with the "name words" that they
could select the names FROM almost any
sentence. VIM. Anderson read paper
on Written Arithmetic, with method OF
teaching, which showed that he knew
how to teach. Prof. A. @. Hill was next |
called upon for paper on Geography, |
which he read to the editication of all |
present. He thought Geography an inn |
portant branch and that its study was |
often delayed too long-he thought that |
as soon as child could read tolerably |
we'll he should begin the study of Geog~ |
raphy. DIR. VIM. A. Smith next read |
paper on History, which was very in |
structive and interesting. He thought |
that History ought to be divided into |
two periods, Ancient and Modern. An
eient History embracing all that trans
piIed up to the birth of Christ and Mod
ern History all since that time. He |
showed that to study history successs
fully one must have system--that it is |
not an easy study as some suppose, but |
very difficult. He presented a system
by which dates could be remembered,
the mind the most important events
that happened in every 500 years. He
said that no matter how little men knew
about other things, that if they were
good historians and knew the past they
were considered wise men. He earnest
ly urged the study of history. The In
stitute then adjourned to meet next day,
Friday, at 81 A. NJ.
FRIDAY MORNING.
The Institute met pursuant to adjourn
ment. Exercises commenced with
prayer, by Rev. J. p. McFerrin. Prof.
Beecher was then called upon for pa
per on Orthography; in which paper he
spoke of the importance of the study
and showed that formerly teachers were
selected for their muscular strength, but
now for their mental ability. BE spoke
of preixes and suffixes and showed that
with classical education it would be
much easier for one to spell correctly |
than without, as many of the English
words were derived from the Latin and
Greek. Prot, Loventhal then gave an
exercise in English Composition, which
was one of the most interesting of the
session. He commended that il was easy
enough for child to be taught to COM
pose if you would only commence right
with him. He would commence by Civ
ing the pupil some familiar object to
write about, then he would ask the pu~
pill questions about this subject--thus
leading him TO tell all be knew about it,
" hich reduced to writing would be
and continue this till the
pupil had learned to ask tho questions
&c. Prof. Creighton then read
a very interesting paper on Mental
showing his method of
teaching. lie thought that much impOr>
lance should be attached to Mental
Arithmetic, consideringit one of the best
Of mental exercises. Prof. Redman next
read most interesting and instructive
paper on Etymology, demonstrating
clearly the importance of its study. lie
was followed by Prof. Loventhal in an
exercise in Notation and Enumeration
and in connection Herewith of Decimal
each notation and Enumeration TO begin
ners, Prot l.. said it was just as easy to
each Decimals riE here as at any other
place in the book, and that it was all fol-
y to wait till pupil had studied Com
non Fractions before he could study De-
Integers increased from
tight to LETT ten-fold and that Decimals
from left to right in the same
ratio, and that as United States money
was based upon Decimals it was impos-
sible to understand the former without
l knowledge of the latter.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Exercise in the Extraction of Roots by
Prof. Loventhal was very interesting
md satisfactory. He shortened the old
method greatly. He then gave an exer-
Use on the Word Method, showing how
ne would teach children to spell and read
md at the same time teach them Pho
lics. This was one of the most impor-
ant exercises of the meeting. Mr.. ALI
Burnett being in the room was introduce
I'd and gave some very appropria te re-
marks upon the subject just discussed
Oy Prof L.; after which he gave some of
MS inimitable readings and recitations,
he former touching and beautiful and
he latter very amusing and humorous.
Prof. Timmons next read a paper on
Fractions, in which he set forth his
method of teaching. The Institute was