By Jessie Todd Johnson
MSNHA graduate assistant
Welcome to the fourth and final part of my look at the Journal of Muscle Shoals History! If you have missed the first three parts, feel
free to go back & read about the history of the journal and two other article spotlights. This final article spotlight focuses on “Practice Teaching at State Normal College in the Early Twentieth Century ” in Volume XIV. Teachers have a special spot in my life: My best friend & my mother-in-law are both teachers, and the whole reason I applied to the University of North Alabama (and have written these blog posts) is because my 11th-grade English teacher pointed me this way. The history of the education department at UNA is fascinating, as many parts of the curriculum started in the early 20th century.
The State Normal College is one of seven names that UNA has had over the years. (“Normal” in the name of a college means that it’s a school for teachers.) The education curriculum was added to the college after the Civil War when Alabama took over running the institution. The model school, later Kilby Laboratory School, was founded in 1885. From the beginning, the model school held six grades with 10 children in each grade. This allowed the college’s “pupil-teachers” to have hands-on experience in a classroom before graduating & is still required for graduating education majors. However, seniors at the normal college were required to complete a full year of this internship while students today only complete a semester.
Each pupil-teacher was graded by faculty in a shared notebook. The notes left behind were not sugar-coated — remarks were made about the pupil-teachers lacking the ability to correctly manage a class or provide substance to lessons. One unfortunate pupil-teacher’s notebook noted that he left the fourth graders’ reading skills worse than he had found them! However, there were positive remarks as well, with one third-grade pupil-teacher successfully managing two well-known troublemakers.
The shared notebook not only outlined notes from lessons but included points deducted for tardiness or absences. One pupil-teacher ended the semester with a 60 for returning three days late from the Christmas holiday. Another received three points off for an illness. It is safe to say that the State Normal College took its role in educating future teachers seriously and wanted to produce the best & most professional candidates. If pupil-teachers met all expectations, then the president at the State Normal College guaranteed they would have a job after graduation. UNA’s long-standing history of educating teachers and Kilby Laboratory School’s history of revolutionizing education & fostering a love of learning for its students have contributed to the long legacy of UNA & its education department.
Thank you for following along on this journey of highlighting the Journal of Muscle Shoals History! Come back next week for blog posts about our recent study-abroad trip to Scotland.
Images: UNA Archive’s Digital Collection
