isua-isnscatalog-1885-1886-015

Description: 14 INDIANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.their actual work, by an extended study of the history and sci¬
ence of education, and by the method of performing the daily
class-work in all the departments.IV. If in a fair degree fitted by natural aptitude for the
work of instructing and managing a school, a person trained in
a thorough knowledge of the subjects he is to teach, possessing a
theoretical knowledge of mental activities and laws, and grounded
in a correct theory of education, will ultimately succeed in the
school-room. The problem now is how to reduce the period of
actual experiment to the minimum. The person who has made
the three-fold preparation indicated is prepared for two phases of
work which should precede his taking charge of a school, namely,
(1) the study of methods of instruction, and (2) a period of
actual practice, under competent direction, in instructing and
governing schools. To these two lines of work the Normal
School gives great prominence. It has a departmeut of Methods
and a system of Training or Practice schools. Both of these
are under the supervision and direction of the teacher of meth¬
ods. In the first sufficient instruction is given to enable the
student to employ his knowledge of the subject and of mind in
determining a rational method of procedure for teaching the
subject. Special attention is given to methods of primary in¬
struction, since in the lower grades the foundations of knowledge
are laid, and the immature mind has less power to seize and
assimilate knowledge not skillfully presented. The schools for
observation and practice include all grades below the High
School. They are in charge of competent critic teachers, and
the instruction given in them is in harmony with the theories of
education taught in the Normal School. Students are required
to observe and interpret the work of the practice schools during
the time they are receiving instruction in methods, and, in the
later stages of the course of instruction, they are required to
spend a considerable period in actual teaching in each of these
schools, under the criticism of both the regular critic teacher
and the teacher of methods. They are thus enabled to leave
the school possessing a fair degree of skill in the instruction and
management of classes, attained by actual experience.
Source: http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/32808
Collection: Indiana State University Archives

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