Wisconsin Tribune

THE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE,
Held in Galena during the past week, considering the extremely unpleasant state of the weather, passed off very well. During the first three days it rained almost incessantly. Notwithstanding the unfavorable weather however, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota were represented in the Institute. The time was occupied during the forenoon and afternoon sessions with lectures, discussions and exercises in different methods of teaching. In the evening with addresses and discussions.
The superior advantages of oral instruction were illustrated by drilling the school children of the city, in geography, history, arithmetic, grammar, &c., on Friday afternoon. These exercises elicited the fact that the best cultivated minds are required for teaching even the youngest children. The idea that an uncultivated, an uninformed, a badly trained, or undisciplined mind is capable of supplying all the intellectual wants of little children, is preposterous. The youngest child is a little philosopher, thirsting for knowledge, and often diving to depths which none but a Newton ever fathomed.
Among the resolutions adopted was the following:
"Resolved, That we will teach orally as much as we can, and learn to teach orally as fast as we can."
Many of the teachers acknowledged that they had received information from these exercises, which would be of great value to themselves and their pupils.
On Friday evening an interesting lecture on Phonotypy and Phonography, was delivered by Dr. Asa Horr. of Dubuque, and a committee consisting of Rev. Geo. F. Magoun and E. S. Seymour, Esq., of Galena, and Prof. J. L. Pickard, of Platteville, were appointed to investigate the claims of the different systems of Phonography.
The Institute adjourned on Friday evening to meet at Dubuque, Iowa, on the first Tuesday evening in May next.---Galena Gazette.