The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-03-26
TEACH ERs' INSTITUTES.
Interesting and Instructive Ex-
erciSes.
e PedagOgues in Council
Three DAYS.


Teachers Institute convened in Pulls
e III last Thursday morning for the pu
= pose of comforting together. comparil
experiences and discussing general
= the maHner and method of teachin
I The sessiOnswere exceedinglyinterestI
each day, and were largely attended I
our people. Wednesday night al
t Thursday morning there was incessaI
rains, in consequence of which Il
teachers from the country could not I
present at the morning session.
great many came in by noon, howeve
and the afternoon and evening session
were largely attended. The followin
is a synopsis of the exercises whic
commenced on
THURSDAY, MARCH 10TH.
The sessions were opened each daywit
prayer by Rev. w. II. Hughes.
The institute organized with Pres. "
/ R. Garrett in the chair, who appOinte
Mr.. Jno. G. Smi5hsOn Secretary, an
Rev. j. b. Anderson Post Master Twen
ty minutes were allowed each speake
upon any subject. The subjects for tn
morning session were Book Keeping an
/ History, both of which were discusses
at moderate length. Prof. LoventhaI, 9
! Kentucky, gave an Interesting puzzl
upon the blackboard, invcl ding the pc
culiarities of the figure 8, and left tn,
| solution for the afternoon.
On motion of ]. @. Smithson, all min
listers of the gospel in Giles county wer,
elected honorary members.
AFTERNOON.-Eng Grammar wa
the first subject for the afternoon, anC
! Col A. II. Alternately opened the dis
cussion with an able essay, following
which he took a class and drilled then
in the rudiments of grammar, setting
forth an admirable system OF instruction
Prof. Loventhal then took the class anC
demonstrated the advantages of teach
ing grammar to beginners by means o.
language suited to their comprehension
and by blackb board exercises. His meth
od engages the attention of the pupil
aud taking some object to work upon,
by a subtle mode of questioning he for
ces them to draw conclusions, not only
correct in themselves, but as simple as
they are correct, and being the child's
own conclusion it is ineradicable. He
does not favor the teaching in primary
departments altogether by books, but be-
lieYes in reducing the contents of text
DOVkE 10 OEdA lGSSOllSs AllOIt dHLEdCLlN6 TO
the pupil and within his comprehension.
Prof. McCOrkle, of CulleOka, said he
had found it interesting and profitable
to allow pupils to correct each other in
their language, and urged his fellow
teachers to try it. Compositions was
the next subject. Prof. LOyenthal again
called his class of little boys and girls
and drilled them upon composition. He
introduced a subject perfectly familiar
to the young pupil, and when practical
BILE had the object itself in the school
room. He led them to ask all manner
of questions concerning it, and then he
had them to answer the questions and
arrange them in such order as would
form a clear essay upon the subject.
His method is very ingenius and a de-
cided improvement upon old usages in
this matter. Prof. L. announced that
he would on Friday take class of boys
and girls who had never studied gram
mar and by twenty minutes drilling in
the morning and the same time in the
afternoon he would make them clearly
comprehend the Fudiments of that sci
ence. Col. Abernathy announced that
he would take the same class and teach
them analysis in the same time. Quer-
les for Thursday were, cat what age
should a pupil be declared switch free %
'fWhat is the difference between a Teach
ers' Institute and n Teachers Associa-
tion?" These were the only two dis
posed of before the evening hour expired.
The general opinion on the first seemed
to be that a boy should never be de-
clared switch-free as long as he needed
it. The other question will be explain
ed in the addresses of Friday evening.
EVENNG.-The subject of spelling
ov1 g.ao1inur from charts ahlu dis
cussed by the teachers, the discussion
being led by Prof. Loventhal. The eX-
ercises were exceedingly interesting,
and very large audience of ladies aad
gentlemen were in attendance, notwith-
standing a threatening cloud, which re-
suited in a severe rain and hail storm,
which came up soon in the evening.
Messrs. Ed. r. Cox and r. p. Yancy
stated that they had adopted this system
in their schools and found it to work adj
mirably, and that they considered it in
finitely superior to the common method
of importation.
FRIDAY, MARCH 10Th.
Prof Loventhal opened the exercises
with a class of little boys and girls who
had never studied grammar and pro-
ceeded to illustrate his method of inn
parting the rudiments of that science
by means of object teaching. He learned
the class to pick the nouns from a SEN
tence, tell their number, gender and
person, and also to pick out the adject-
ives. The subject of Geography was
next on programme. The duty OF
opening this discussion was placed upon
Mir. Ed. r. Cox, but he having been sick
and busily engaged in his school room
could not prepare himself for the task
Capt. Garrett then took a class OF boys
and demonstrated the advantages OF
his method, which embraces the use OF
outline maps and requiring the pupil to
draw them. His exposition was full, lu-
cid and apparently met the appreciation
of the Institute. Mr.. Cox said that he
had had considerable experience in
teaching geography by this method and
he considered it the best he knew of
Prof. w. X. Jones said that he had al
ways used outline maps, and as proof OF
their superiority he asserted that he had
learned more of the geography of the
world from casual observations of his
wall maps while in his school rooms
than he had from all other sources to-
gether. The Institute then took up the
queries of the morning and discussed
the use of the verb sit, without, hOwev-
er, arriving at any satisfactory results
before the morning hour expired.
AFTERN0ON.-Prof. LOVenthal lagain
took class in English Grammar to de-
monstrate the manner of teaching be-
ginners to pick out from a sentence the
different parts of speech. It partook Of
the same simplicity as his former eXer-
cises and the results of his few minutes
drilling upon the little children testified
to its efficiency. The subject of Arith-
metic was then announced, and Col, G.
@. Rogers proceeded to read an essay
and demonstrate his method of teaching
this science by means of class of boys
from Giles College. The essay was &
valuable paper, evineing much though
and learning in its preparation. Hi.
method of teaching arithmetic is K
make the pupil understand ,5hy any steI
is taken, and so drill HIM that lie car
not only work any given example, bu
is able to tell after he has completed i
/ the philosophy of the process. Hi
| scholars exhibited the rigid manner il
| which they were instructed by their APP
and quick responses and blackboard de
monstrations. DR.. W. a. Smith, of tn
/ Athenaum, Columbia, was invited an'
/ proceeded to deliver an essay upon His
1 tory. The Doctors process of teaching
/ his pupils how to retain what they hay
/ learned an history was unique and eyi
IDENTIFY efficient. All history, by hi
method, is divided into periods, and al
] a., gx-aI fF, ba mind In a1af3 D.