First+Normal+Schools

__The First Normal Schools __ Sophie Biechler

Site of the first public normal school in the United States: Lexington Massachusetts

One of the biggest questions for many future teachers “Is how did past generations determine who was good enough to be a teacher?” Well, in Paris France in the 1600s a man by the name of John Baptist had the idea of Normal Schools. These schools were specially built to train the future educators at the time. Eventually, this trend of Normal Schools became so popular in France and other parts of Europe that in the 1800s it came to America where it also quickly became a facet in educational training. However, the spread of Normal Schools to America is not really the point here, but rather what their effect was on teaching. When the use of Normal Schools began it change how my further as well as current teachers at the time taught. Before Normal Schools, teachers mainly relied the teaching method of strict memorization. It wasn't until the beginnings of Normal Schools that this idea began to change. It was within these schools that teachers were first encourage use critical thinking mixed with the arts, as the main teaching methods,rather than just having students regurgitate large amounts of information, which is still something the educational system today struggles with. [|http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-normal-school.htm] [|Interesting New York Times article on Normal Schools]