| From
the Aug 26, 2005, edition of 'Northwest News' Newsletter.
by Dana Ternus
As college students return to Northwest
this fall, so too does a younger generation of learners eager
to attend classes at the University’s Horace Mann Laboratory
School.
Housed in Everett W. Brown Education Hall,
Horace Mann provides first-rate instruction to children in preschool
through sixth grade. The veteran teaching staff is assisted by
Northwest education majors, who are themselves preparing for classroom
and administrative careers.
The lab school opened on June 13, 1906,
the same day as the Fifth District Normal School that eventually
became Northwest. Then called the Training School, Horace Mann,
as it still does, provided a place for future teachers to observe
and instruct under faculty supervision. Such opportunities were
already seen as vital to a teacher’s professional education.
During its first year the Training School
served children in kindergarten through third grade. Fourth grade
was added in 1907. In 1910, the school moved into the newly completed
Administration Building, and soon special subjects like art, domestic
science, physical education and music allowed teachers-in-training
to specialize.
In 1913, the Normal School became the first
in Missouri to organize its education curriculum with a major
focus on the student teaching experience. In their final semester,
education majors taught in the classroom under the watchful eyes
of experienced teachers and assumed increasing responsibility
as the term passed.
In addition, the lab school adopted the “problem
method” of instruction. A central study topic, such as sugar
or trees, was chosen, and pupils performed activities requiring
a broad range of learning to explore that main theme.
In 1922, the Training School went on hiatus
but was re-established in 1924. About that time, a hot lunch program
was introduced with the children doing some of their own cooking.
The college also worked out arrangements with several rural schools
that shared the cost of employing teachers and training education
majors.
University President Uel W. Lamkin proposed
a complete reorganization of the lab school program in 1938, and
Horace Mann soon expanded to include a preschool and all 12 grades.
It also moved into its own building, now known as Brown Hall.
Subsequent developments included a separate
Horace Mann budget and the granting of full faculty standing to
supervising teachers. By 1957, the school had 300 students.
Evolving public education policy brought
changes to Horace Mann over the following decade. The high school
closed in 1961, and the junior high school in 1968. But after
a century of development and change, the school continues to fulfill
its primary mission of preparing tomorrow’s master teachers.
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