Illinois State Normal University - Index Yearbook (Normal, IL)

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,gx THE PRACTICE SCHOOL

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Ubc ilnocg 9 student activity. Not that these elements were not already in the life of the institution -but they have received a fresh emphasis, the stimulation ofa mighty impulse from a new and original source. There have come. too. Professor Wilkinson. fresh from the practice school of Dr. Rein at Jenaq Mr. Bogardus with his shining morning face and genial pres- ence: Mrs. Gove to beget in us her own rare skill and devotion to song: Miss Blanchard from the University of Michigan with the high ideals and scholarly spirit that for two generations have given tone and purpose to the student life in that great institution. With the new reginzf' has come growth. Growth is not mere increase in bulkg it involves internal change to meet new conditions. ln this sense the growth of an insti- tution is not uniform and continuous. It rather grows like a crustacean that periodically sheds its skin that it may expand in tl1e freedom of a larger life. Whenever an institu- tion comes to regard itself as the best of its kind, and puts in its time compiacentiy viewing its own perfections. growth stops. lt becomes encrusted in its habits of thought and activity. and fails to respond to new demands. Possibly no year in the history of the Normal School has witnessed more radical changes. A new course of study has been adopted. By slow additions of new lines of work the old normal course had swelled, until in some terms students were due in thirty-one regular exercises per week. Little time was left for study or recreation. The student's energies were distracted and dis- sipated by the multiplicity of subjects. In the revised course each student is impera- tively limited to four lines only, and in each of these he will have an exercise every day. The recitation periods have been lengthened twenty per cent. iVith this concentration must come better scholarship. There has come. too, more freedom in the school life.-less pressure. more spon- taneity. Attendance is demanded only in the class-rooms, and at the devotional and general exercises of the noon hour. Spelling has ceased to vex the soul of the student whose sense of uniformity and whose abiding faith in the reign of law are constantly violated by the absurdities of the English tongue. The course has been made flexible

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Ubc ll nbcg I I to suit the varying needs of all grades of stndents that seek the Xormal School. lYhile it is expected that all will reach substantially the same level of academic and profes- sional knowledge. so far as the school can bring' it to pass, from six to twelve terms may be spent in reaching this level. More classes. smaller classes. and a closer gradation according to ability and preparation will enable all our students to worlc to the best advantage. In the course itself are some sweeping' changes. Natural science at last is treated as a common school study and given a prominent place in the tirst year. Economics and social science receive due recognition. The time devoted to general psychology and pedagogy is reduced one-third. The pedagogy of the branches of study will be taught in the 1'egular classes pursuing' those subjects. It is recognized that the method of a subject is the organization of that subject. It is wasteful and confusing' to attempt one organization in the history class. and another in the class in method. One or the other must dominate and control the thinking and teaching of the young' teacher. In the practice school the environment is to be made more natural. that is. more like the conditions prevailing' in ordinary schools where children study and recite alter- nately in the same room. At least three additional critic teachers will be provided, so that the student-teacher may be almost constantly under the eye of a competent super- visor. The summer school has come. and it has come this time to stay. This great plant worth more than a quarter million of dollars will no longer stand idle in the very months when its services are most imperatively needed by the schools. A term of six weeks with two daily recitations in all the major studies places the opportunities of the Xormal School within the reach of every teacher. It is planned that in ltloj and thereafter two such six-weeks terms shall be offered. The past year has seen a good deal of improvement in our physical conditions. The interior of the practice school has been retinishedz the great hall has been provided