Page:A history of the Michigan state normal school (now Normal college) at Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1849-1899 (IA historyofmichiga00putniala).pdf/78



Professional Instruction.

Professional Instruction given in the Normal School, consists of: Methods of teaching Spelling and Reading; methods of teaching Arithmetic, Geography, Grammar, and generaliy whatever subject is taught in classes is given with reference to the best methods of teaching it together with the pedagogic axioms.applicable to each step, by which to test the correctness of the methods, as, ¢. g:

The Educational principle relating—

To a Thorough knowledge of the Subject;

To presentation in Logical order;

To the Pupils’ degree of Maturity;

To the Pupils’ Self Activity.

To the Pupils’ Progress from the Known to the Unknown;

To the Pupils’ Progress from the Easy to the Difficult;

To the Pupils’ Progress from the Simple to the Complex;

To the Pupils’ Progress from the Single to the Combined;

To the Pupils’ Progress from the Concrete to the Abstract;

To the I’upils’ Progress from the Empirical to the Rational, etc,

Differing in this respect from mere Academic Instruction, the chief aim of which is attainment of knowledge concerning the subject of study only with an incidental, often uncertain aim at what is called ‘'Mental discipline," We cannot well dispense with a curriculum having the Form of the ‘‘Academic."’ Where is there a Normal School without it? In this Country? In Europe? In Eutopia? The Idea may grasp it. It ig not yet in the reach of the practical. Cousider the material out of which Teachers are to be developed, and is it not evident to the judicious that each step of progress through any branch of study is an occasion for impressing a method or applying a pedagogic axiom, not so surely within the attainment of the pupil, when the occasion is but memory? Our method enables us to begin this kind of professional training with our earliest classes and continue it through the entire course."’

Special Professional Instruction.

For convenience, we designate our classes by letters:

(A and-B) are Preparatory. The (C) class pursue studies belonging to the First Year. The (D) class those of the Second Year. The (E) those of the third Year, and the (F) those of the Fourth Year.

Special Training begins with the (C) class, second term, according to the following ontline:

(A.) ELeuents OF Puysica, Epucation.—Value of the Body—intportance of its development and training. The bones—muscles—nervous system—Digestive apparatus—Circulatory apparatus—Apparatus for Breathing— The Skin and its appendages.

The uses of each of these divisions of the hody, and the means