Fort Wayne Normal School - Annual Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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OUR Y ESTERDAYS 7 building is now only a memory, as the School Board sold the property and a recent lire began the work of destruction, VVhen re-established, the school was located at its present site on the corner of Rivermet avenue and Oneida street. The name was changed in 1907 to the Fort VVayne Normal School. The grade school in which the students take their observation and practice teaching is now known as the Normal Training School. PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS The Normal School of greatest influence in the Middle West in 1867 was the Oswego Training School, established in 1861 at Oswego, New York. Two graduates of this school were employed in the new school at Fort Wayne. The principal was Mary H. Swan. The Fifth Annual Report of the Board of Education in 1868 gives the name of Lena S. Funelle as critic teacher while the report of Miss Swan in the same volume gives the name of Mary L. Hamilton. According to Mrs. Jay Moderwell, who, as Martha Jones, was a member of the class, Miss Hamilton held the position the First year. She later became Mrs. Norman Hoisirrgton. Mrs. Moderwell also contributes the following: Miss Swan, our principal and teacher of methods, was young, a graduate of Oswego Normal in 1867, and charming in every way, bright, dignihed, and pretty. As I told you, ue enjoyed immensely the frequent visits of the Superintendent whose interest in his pet scheme and its attractive head never ceased. His sight was poor but he appreciated the bright eyes of Miss Swan. Miss Swan resigned in 1869 to become Mrs. James H. Smart, the wife of the superintendent of schools. Critic teachers of the early history were Lena S. Funnelle, 1868-715 Jennie Snively, 1871-'73, Mary Elizabeth Simmons, 1873-'74, Fannie S. Hassler, 1874-'76, Martha jones, 1876-'81, and Sarah Updegraf, 1881-'86. Miss Snively died in 1873. Miss Funnelle was later known as Mrs. VVilliam W. Rope, and Miss Updegraf as Mrs. jason McVay of Co- lumbus, Ohio. Miss Julia A. Werner was principal 1869-'70, She was succeeded by Leonora I. Drake, 1870-'76, Miss Werner became Mrs. joseph M. Lanson and Miss Drake, Mrs. Roger But- terfield of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mrs. Butterfield died during the summer of 1920. Ada E. Remmel was principal, 1876-'81, She is now Mrs. G. E. Benson. Miss Martha jones, a graduate of the class of 1868 and later a graduate of Mt. Holyoke, was employed as principal from 1881 to 1886, after which she became Mrs. Jay Moderwell. Mrs. Moderwell has since mingled with the teachers of Fort VVayne and given her assistance in the work of the public schools. We appreciate having a personal message from her in another part of this book. Jessie L. Montgomery became principal of the school in 1897. Miss Montgomery was a graduate of the Indiana State Normal School and had been a critic teacher in the State Normal College at Ypsilanti, Michigan. After five years of service in the Normal School here, she resigned on account of her mother's ill health. Later she specialized in dramatic literature and taught in the Alberti School of Pantomine in New York. She is now in charge of the Junior High School department of the Normal Training School at VVinona, Minnesota. Since 1902, Miss Flora Vtlilber has been principal of the Normal and Training School. Her fine qualifications together with her untiring devotion to her work have all contributed to the high standard which the Fort VVayne Normal School has maintained. She has grad- uated from the Michigan State Normal College with the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Pedagogies, also from the Oswego State Normal with a special diploma for critic teaching. She has taken the degrees of B. S. and A. M. in Education from Columbia University. This excellent training has been rounded hy a year of study and travel abroad and summer work in various universities. Miss Wilber taught in the Michigan State Normal College be- fore coming to Fort Wayne. Many bits of literature in the archives of the school express the loyalty of the students who cherish the memories of the pranks for which they were rebuked and the achievements for which they were praised by one who had their interests very closely at heart. The great irifiuence that the Oswego Normal and Training School extended thvough- out the West in the training of teachers is well illustrated in Fort Wayne. Not only was the school organized by Oswego graduates, but several of its teachers in the following years, Miss Funnelle, Miss Werner, Miss Simmons and Miss Wilber, were graduates of the same institution. In the city schools Miss Sarah I. Pyne, later Mrs. D. N. Foster, and Miss Annie E. Klingensmith, primary supervisor for several years, were graduates of the Oswego Normal. The present faculty of the Normal School consists of twelve members. This includes four city supervisors, Members of the faculty also act as critic teachers in the Training School. There are two advantages in this arrangement. The first is the close welding of theory and practice which results when the Normal teachers have classroom work with children. The second is that when each teacher gives only a part of her time to each school, the work can be divided in such a manner that specialists may be secured in each subject, and a common difficulty of small schools is avoided, that of giving a variety of courses to each teacher whether she is fitted to teach them or not.

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JVSTIN N. STVDY Sll1VCI'1l'lTCl'ldCl1t uf Schools, 1886-IQI7

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S OUR YESTERDAYS COURSE OF STUDY The original normal course was one year in length. The students taught as practice teachers half of each day and received instruction the other half. The report of Miss Swan in 1868 regarding the course of study is an interesting bit of history as it reveals the educational ideals of that time: Methods have been given in Number, Language, Form, Color, Objects, Geography, Animals, Size, Weight, Sound and Moral Instruction. Natural History and Geography have been studied preparatory to the discussion of the methods. The addition of Vocal Music and Drawing was recommended. Pestalozzi's doctrine of basing instruction upon objects was just beginning to get a foot- hold in this country. Although Miss Swan advocated it, she was very careful to guard against a misunderstanding of Object Teaching. She says, It is by no means necessary that an object be the theme of every lesson, but pupils are taught Reading, Arithmetic and Writing, as in other schools. VVe do not require children to commit to memory sentences they do not understand, but rather endeavor to lead them by questioning, explanation, and illustration, to a perfect understanding of the subject. Then, and not till then, are they to memorize. In 1902 the course was lengthened to one and one-half years and in 1910 to two years. The school is now on the list of accredited schools which train teachers for provisional and life certilicates to teach in the elementary schools of Indiana. Its credits are recognized by the schools of education in the leading universities of the country. Graduates may secure the Bachelor's degree without loss of time. PRESENT STATUS OF GRADUATES The school has never been large. The recommendation of the first principal and the expressed intention of the school board at that time that the school furnish teachers not only for the city, but for the neighboring counties of the state has never been carried out excepting in the summer session of IQZI, A total of four hundred thirty-one have grad- uated from the school since 1867, one hundred seventy-four from the first organization and two hundred seventy-six from the second. Of those graduating since 1397, thirty-eight completed a one year course, one hundred two a one and one-half year course, and one hundred thirty-six a two year course. The school has given an opportunity for those who have graduated from short courses to re-graduate from the two year course and thus be entitled to the state provisional and life licenses granted by the State Teachers' Training Board to graduates of approved schools. Nineteen have already taken advantage of this opportunity, eight others will re-graduate this june, and by September, IQ22, when the school oilicially closes, eight more will have received diplomas from the longer course. Thus prac- tically every graduate who has not finished the two year course and who is still teaching in the city schools will have done so before the school is discontinued. Since the passage of the law of 1919, graduates of two year courses approved by the State Teachers' Training Board are granted provisional licenses by that board. These licenses are exchangeable for life licenses after two years of successful teaching. Accord- ingly, provisional licenses have been granted to all graduating since 1916, ninety-three up to the present time. Those teaching who graduated from approved two year courses prior to 1916 were granted life licenses. These number thirty-three. VVith one or two exceptions, every graduate has taught in the city school. One hundred twenty-nine are still teaching, eight from the first organization and the remainder from the second organization, Fifteen have been or are now principals: Margaret S. Cochrane ................... Washington School ,Iennie Snively. ......... .... H anna School Frank Hamilton ........ .... I Ioagland School Clara Phelps. ............. .... H armar School Margaret M. McPhail... .... Bloomingdale School Susan S, Sinclair ...... ..... F ranklin School Mary A. Abel ...... . ..... South Wayne School Sarah E, McKean .... ..... N ebraska School Emma L. Armstrong.. .. ..... Washington School Mary E. Freeman ...... ..... L akeside School Martha E. Wohlfort .... ..... F ranklin School Alice M. Habeckeiz... ..... Hanna School Margaret Saylor. .... ...Franklin School Mary B. Seaton ................ ........ H amilton School Gladys H. Williams ...................... Franklin School Some have left us to go to other places, sometimes into other work. One is a mis- sionary teacher in far away Persia, one is in Hawaii, others may be found scattered throughout the various states. Two were Red Cross workers in France during the war, two taught in government schools, one was Wisconsin State Chairman of the Women's Liberty Loan Committee. During the war, when Fort Wayne experienced a dearth of