Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1878-07-30
THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Recapitulation of the Work of the
.5ilf Session.
PowELL's STATION, july 26.

that the work or this school ma
live in the minds of the people, W
desire to recapitulate, in part, to
work that has been done here, an
also some things in regard to wha
brought it about.
The first decisive action taken i
view of normal school for til
training of teachers, was at tn
East Knox County Institute, he'll,
at Adair's Greek Church in No
vember, 1877. The matter was in
cidentally brought before the Insti
tute by a question being placed il
the question box to this effect
elbow can we make our schools
more eficient?'
The county Superintendent was
called upon to answer the question,
which he did substantially as fol.
lows: --...
"Our schools can only be inn
proved by improving our teachers
not only in aOhat to teach but hoaU
to teach. HA
''That thereby a proper interest
would be aroused first in the pupils
and second in the patrons of the
schools, and this interest would per-
meate the entire community"
"The consequence would be that
none but competent teachers would
be chosen" v -. 9
He then concluded his remarks
by stating in substance that he
knew of no way whereby the eff
cheney of teachers could be increased
except by a normal school, to be
opened and held for that purpose,
and requested the Institution, if they
agreed with him, to take such steps
in the premises as. they thought
best. - Ri
The Institute by motion raised a
committee whose duty it was to re
port the sense of the Institute.
We can not now recollect those
who composed said committee,
but in their report, after stating
their full concurrence in the above
remarks, they suggested the ap-
pOintment of a committee or board
of assistants to aid the County
Superintendent in working up a
normal school, whcreupon the fol-
lowing gentlemen were appointed ::
Rev. j. M. Brown, Powell's Station;
J. j. Thompson, Walnut Grove;
John W. Boyd, Concord; W. D.
Brown, Thorn Grove, and A. G.
French, Hopewell.
The said board, together with
the County Superintendent, held
two meetings in the city of Knox
Vile. In those meetings they care
fully surveyed the fold, and a field
it was; one thoroughly environed
with grave difficulties. But after
full consultation it was finally deter
mined to appeal to the school
boards of the various districts to
raise the necessary funds. They
were requested to appropriate
sum equal to | ] cent. per capita of
their scholastic population.
After sufficient number of the
districts had agreed to grant the
request it was thought best to Sc
cure the services of a competent /
instructor. After much perplexity
and large amount of correspond
ence the services of Prof. III. Pres
nell, of Jonesboro', were secured,
and PowelPs Station was selected
as the place to hold the school, and
the time for opening was July the
first, 1873. In the meantime the
services of Prof. Henry Perkins, of
Powells Station, were secured as
assistant. a.. -s. b.. a|-a3dBqsa
The appointed day came, and
with it an assembling Of the teach
ers of Knox county. yoY =nt5
Fifty were enrolled the first day,
and during the term which has
been four weeks, that number has
been increased to one hundred and
with an average attend
ance of one hundred. neit
We now come to speak of the work
that has been done, taking it up,
item bY item. ..' .srs
This branch has been taught by
having the pupils to write the words
thus: The teacher would prohounce
the word, have the pupils to repeat
it. then write it in their books !; af- !
ter the lesson of twenty five words
had thus been disposed of, the
teacher would have the words
spelled orally by the pupils, (the1
teacher seeing that the words were.
spelled correctly and the erEers
marked. The books were
then collected by the pupil
who sat on the right,
and in the rear of each black, of
desks brought to the front desk
where the teacher took them, and
after school he examined the work,
each pupil, returning the
books at the next recitation in spell
ing. the grade of each being