Murphy, Gertrude parts 1/2 (tape #9 sides a/b (Oral History)

Murphy, Gertrude parts 1/2 (tape #9 sides a/b

Friel, Jack -- interviewer

Tape stock length: 60 min
Running Time: 60 min

Running Time: 60 min

Ms. Murphy begins with a very detailed account of what the curriculum looked like for the Danbury Normal School at the turn of the century, giving detailed accounts of what types of classes and what their focus was. She also talks about life as a teacher around the turn of the century and how an increasing number of men affected the school.

Label Contents: 09/30/1976

1976

Danbury (Conn.)--History

Friel, Jack

Murphy, Gertrude

Running Time: 60 min

0-10 Min: Danbury Normal School graduate in 1912; returned as a teacher and finally retired in 1958; no dorms during her time there so all students were commuters; there were teachers in her class that had not achieved a degree already; the school focused on preparing students to teach grades 1-8; there was a focus on English composition; were 8 full-time teachers; and 16 model teachers which the students would study under in primary classrooms; several penmanship classes, with a focus on blackboard writing; music education consisted of teaching these women children's songs that they could then use in their future classrooms; gym class consisted of calisthenics, marching and simple activities they could then utilize in their future classrooms; the library was not lacking in material on the subject of teaching but all other areas were lacking; the second year of the program had a focus on learning by doing and placed the teachers in training in various schools throughout the city such as Locust Avenue and Roberts Avenue schools; throughout the second year the students alternated between teaching in these model schools and classroom work at WCSU;
10-20 Min: a student teacher's day started at 8:30, and the student was required to write reports on her observations of the classes she was assisting in; then teaching a few classes each day; after the school day had ended the student teachers were required to write out lesson plans for the following day; her entire class had secured jobs before they had even graduated from WCSU;
20-30 Min: does not remember buying her own books, feels that the books were provided by WCSU; Old Main was referred to as simply the Danbury Normal School because that one building comprised the entire school;
30-40 Min: day began at 9:00 A.M.; social life at WCSU;
40-50 Min: discuss the sole man that graduated with Ms. Murphy; the influx of men after WWII;
50-60 Min: the perspective that the returning G. I.'s offered to the profession of teaching; how they broadened the average primary school students' world view;