isa-normaladvance-1909-00236

Description:	236THE NORMAL ADVANCEpersons is very limited and seems not to be increasing.My first question, then, is, What should bethe character of the normal school course designed for students of mature years that wishto prepare for teaching in the rural and gradeschools, such persons not being high schoolgraduates ?My opinion is that this course should cover aperiod of not less than three years, and betterfour, and that it should include these fields ofstudy: first,—such restudy of the commonschool branches as may be necessary for acquiring a thorough, working, teachers knowledge ofthem. These are the subjects which this classof students are preparing to teach, and nothingcan be offered as a substitute for a systematic,thorough, pedagogical knowledge of the subject-matter itself. Large experience with thisclass of students, however, has shown me thatmany of them, particularly those that have hadsome experience as teachers, have a very substantial and valid knowledge of these elementary branches, and therefore, do not need the detailed and exhaustive study which should be required of the average graduate of the highschool. If one or two of these branches arethoroughly restudied and viewed at every stagefrom the teachers standpoint, it is sufficient togive the pedagogical insight required fora scientific handling of them all in the schoolroom.Second. I should require these students topursue a substantial line of purely pedagogicalwork that should occupy at least one-fourth ofthe entire time of the course. This should embrace the fundamental facts, truths, and principles of educational psychology, not includingthe larger field of abstract, general, metaphysical, speculative psychological doctrine, whichcan have little direct bearing on the concretework of teaching. The work should be confinedmainly to such aspects of the subject as underliethe processes and methods of the school. Withthis foundation well laid, the strictly pedagogical instruction may take up questions ofmethod in general and proceed to the consideration of method in connection with each of thevarious subjects to be taught. Here again it isimpracticable in a normal school course to enterinto a detailed study of the procedure applicable to every subject and to its relation to everystage of the childs unfolding. Nor is this necessary. An intelligent student who has acquireda good, thorough mastery of the subject, who iswell grounded in the leading facts and principles of mind activity, and who has worked outa rational method for teaching one or two subjects, may safely be left to himself to determinehis methods of instruction in other subjects ofthe course.To these phases of pedagogical instructionshould be added courses in science, philosophyand history of education, and in practice teaching under intelligent, helpful supervision in thegraded and country schools. In the course under consideration, the work described would occupy probably two-thirds of the time. The remaining time would be well given to the studyof such high school subjects in the fields ofmathematics, science, language, art and historyas would best reinforce, clarify and enlarge thestudents knowledge of the specific subjects heis preparing to teach.At this point I wish to express in a sentenceor two a thought in regard to the practice workwhich, in my opinion, would be applicable tothis phase of the teachers preparation, withoutregard to the subjects taught or the grade inwhich the work is done. In addition to theusual course in teaching under the direct supervision of the critic teacher, every practiceteacher should be given the opportunity to doconsiderable teaching under conditions as nearly like those he will encounter when he becomes an actual teacher as it is possible to supply. For a pupil teacher to be surrounded bya score or two of his fellow-students and acritic teacher whenever he teaches a class, allwith note books and pencils in hand, and setting down every possible subject of favorable orunfavorable comment for the general discussionand analysis of the lesson to follow, does have
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/34266
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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