isua-isnscatalog-1888-1889-034

Description:	INDIANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 33school-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 department of Methods and a system of Training or Practice schools. Both of these are under the supervision and direction of the teacher of methods. 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 instruction, since in the lower grades the foundations of knowledge are laid, and the im¬ mature 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 instruc¬ tion in methods, and, in the later stages of the course of instruc¬ tion, 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.The State Normal School, then, undertakes to fulfill the pur¬ pose of its organization by (1) leading the student to acquire a thorough knowledge of the branches required to be taught, the professional aspects of the subject receiving attention during this study (2) giving a comprehensive knowledge of mind (3) the study of the history and science of education, and (4) a sys¬ tem of instruction in methods, and an extended period of obser¬ vation and actual teaching in the training schools connected with the Institution.
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/33011
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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