The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-10-22
For Baraga County Held in the
High School Building in
Baraga This Week.
PROFITABLE SESSION,
And One of the Most Interesting
Ever Held in This
County.

The state teachers institute for
J Baraga county was held in the high
school building in Baraga this week
! commencing Monday morning at
10 O'Clock, and closing yesterday
afternoon at 3 o'clock, and was
one of the most interesting and in
structive meetings for those in at
tendance, ever held in this county
The session opened Monday morn
ing with Hon. Henry r. Pattengill
as conductor, and Mrs. Flora Beadle
Renkes as instructor.
Mr. Pattengill obtained express
sions from the teachers as to what
they considered the object of an in
stitute, and what they most needed,
after which work was commenced.
Mrs. Renkes gave general talk,
outlining her work for the week.
Following, Mr.. Pattengill gave a
very interesting an instructive talk.
Monday afternoon the e"Big Four"
or the Elements of a Successful
Teacher" was discussed by Mr.. Pat
tengill. They are: U knowledge
q, the what; (2) knowledge of the
how; (3) Gumption and (4 Gimp.
"The knowledge of the what he said,
"enables the teacher to know what
to teach and where to find it; by
the knowledge of the how he is able
to impart this knowledge; gumption
is the philosophy of common sense,
and teaches us when thrown into the
air to land on our feet; gimp is
spirit, enthusiasm, pluck.
Mrs. Renkes said in her address
Monday afternoon that elementary
science teaches observation the
power to record and power to clas
sify. 1t develops all the powers of
the mind and for this reason should
be taught in every school in the
state.
In the evening reception was
given at the school house, at which
all had an enjoyable time.
Tuesday morning the meeting
was opened by singing several
rousing songs, followed by Mr..
Pattengill delivering an excellent
talk on primary reading. He mention
ed the several methods of teaching
reading; the alphabet, the word,
the sentence, and the phonic method,
made emphatic that "a union of
all, the eclectic system was the
best.
Mrs. Renkes gave talk on COM
mercial geography that was not
only interesting, but gave the
teachers an insight into the teach
ing of geography that will tell in
the schools this year. The three
different points brought out in
teaching commercial geography were
W Mans struggle for subsistence"
(2) "Man S struggle for transporta-
tion;" (3) "Man's Rewards.
In the afternoon Mrs. Renkes
discussed the "Course of Study"
Many teachers do not pay the at
tention to the course of study that
they ought. The new manual
has the course nicely outlined so
that the teachers in the district
schools of Michigan may know what
ought to be taught and directions
for tesfhing it.
Mr.. Pattengil began his work in
Masterpiece Study" He prefaced
his remarks by showing the progress
that has been made in the use of the
English language. At the time
that Chaucer, our first great Eng :
lish writer, wrote, there were only
three million English people. At
the time of Shakespeare, our great
est writer, there were seven million
At the beginning of the Nineteenth.
century there were 20 millions of
English, 81 millions Of French and
80 millions OF German. Now there
are 126 million English speaking
people, 30 million French and 81
million Germans. He then set the
teachers to the study Of Whittier s
poem "Among the Hills" The
facts made plain to the teachers