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

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Th U 111 dex tions are among those who regard preparing for a certiticate rather than learning to teach as the chief end of man during his residence in Normal. Composition and elementary science, especially as bearing upon agriculture, are required in our state course of studv, but they are not demanded for a teacher's certificate. Hence they are regarded as incidental and useless branches, always to be omitted unless the student has plenty of leisure to waste upon non-essentials. With students limited to four studies and more instructors provided in the faculty. more classes and smaller classes have become possible. As a rule, the classes in the subject are not mere sections of the same classg they stand for different preparation and advance at unequal rates of speed. The new organization of the practice school has brought the Model School and the Nor- mal faculty into closer touch. The head teachers in geography, reading and other branches have general oversight of the matter to be taught in their respective lines, and visit the classes frequently. The professor of the science and art of instruction is supervisor of prac- tice. The president arranges the practical school program, and assigns teachers to the vari- ous classes. A critic teacher in each room to lay out the work from week to week, to examine the daily plans of the student-teacher. to do part of the teaching themselves, and to be present nearly all the time with sympathetic and helpful criticism makes possible a better practice school than we have ever known. The lack of children to teach has been for several years a serious drawback in the prac- tice school. For next year there has been arranged a union with the public school system. Five hundred and forty children in the first eight school years will be distributed among twelve rooms. eight of which will be practice schools, each in charge of a critic teacher. Normal students preparing for high school positions. will have opportunity for training in that field. The preparatory class will be retained in the Normal building: the rest of the high school department of the Model School will be abandoned. The large attendance in the summer of 1900 has induced the State Board of Education to arrange for a summer term as a permanent feature of the school calendar. While

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The Index ' RECENT CHANGES. AAAA J mm' HE chief development of the Normal School during the past year, has been in the ' inauguration of the new course of study and in the reorganization of the prac- tice school along the lines laid down by President Tompkins. The new course 'U,,L,wW,U. , is justifying all its promises. Students of superior preparation from our best citv high schools, graduates of village schools, and promising boys and girls fresh from the Ucentrals and finals of the county superintendent-all find lines of work pre- pared for their particular needs. They recite in separate classes in nearly all subjects, even in the senior year. These different forms of the course require two. three and four years respectively. for their completiong they all contain substantially the same subjects: they differ only in the time required in these subjects. All graduates are supposed to reach about the same level in professional skill and knowledge, so far as the normal school can bring this to pass. While each of these three lines is planned for a specific type of ability and preparation, not all of our students conform to any of the three. To secure a measure of flexibility by which each student may satisfy his special needs, it is provided that the individual curricu- lum need not lie wholly in any one of these three forms of the course. He may require two or three terms to get a credit in one branch, and only a single term in another branch of no less importance. Students are thus completing their courses at various dates in the school year. Ten students not enrolled this term will receive their diplomas on May 31. Others are filling up the year with extra studies. The course seems to accord with the wishes of the students. The only apparent excep-

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The Ind ex primarily established for teachers not formerly enrolled, it is largely attended by regular students who wish to take extra branches or make up deficiences, and by former students, now teaching, who may thus advance in their course. One of the most fortunate results is the increasing number of such people that are induced to press forward to graduation. It is never entirely safe to promise much with regard to the future. If the legislature deals as generously with us as now seems probable. the present snmmer will witness sub- stantial improvements in buildings and grounds, a large addition to our library, additional equipment of laboratories, of the department of art, and a variety of new appointments that will beautify our halls and class rooms. The department of music will be reinstated, and singing will occupy in the daily program the space that it merits. Other departments and additional instructors are planned. The prospects for a continued development are bright. Normal training for teachers is constantly growing in public favor. The heavy expenditure in building and equipping three new institutions may at times give the taxpayer pause, yet no burden is so cheerfully borne as the cost of the public schools. The normal school is essen- tial to their highest efficiency. The hundreds of devoted teachers from this institution are daily demonstrating the value of its work, and are the sure guaranty of its perpetuity. DAVID FELMLEY. Mr. Tompkins' cut could not be secured. thus he was left out. President in 1899-1900.