(From entry for 'normal'): Of, relating to, or intended for the training of teachers, esp. in Continental Europe and N. America. Chiefly in 'normal school'.
Example | Meaning |
Interviewer: Or- so what um- what sort of requirements were there when you started to be a teacher? Speaker: Well you had to teach in the elementary school, you had to have had one year in- to what was called then the normal school. Then you- if you wanted to teach in secondary-school you had to have a university degree and a teaching certificate from the Ontario-College-of-Education. That time there's only one Ontario-College-of-Education in Toronto. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
Well it would take you, the same as it does now, three years for a general Arts degree, four years for an Honours degree, plus one year at a college-of-Ed or if you taught elementary school, ah grade-thirteen and one year at normal school. Now grade-thirteen gave you a better teaching certificate for elementary purposes than if you only completed grade-twelve. It was called a first-class certificate. If you ah just had grade twelve and went to normal school for a year then you were on what was called a second-class certificate. Interviewer: Um, what subjects did you teach? Speaker: I taught History, and English and for the last eighteen, twenty years I guess I was in the guidance department. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Speaker: Some of them went to teachers, you-know, and went to- some of them went to, um, (inc)-School. If they had to go to (inc)-School in Renfrew they'd be out I think in- in six months there. But ah, for the normal school they'd have to go a whole year. And then be out the next year for a teacher, do-you-see. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Speaker: They'd be Ottawa-Valley girls, you-know. Interviewer: Mm-hm. But not the immediate neighbourhood. Speaker: No not. Interviewer: Where would those girls get their training? Speaker: Ottawa, the Normal- it was just called the Normal-School then. Interviewer: Mm-hm. There was some- a kind of school in Renfrew that trained teachers. Speaker: Yes, a model school. Interviewer: Yes, might some of- Speaker: That was a third-class teacher. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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... she started going to high-school just when a- when we started to go to school in twenty-seven and then she went to normal school in Peterborough and went- she- when she went to high-school in Fenelon, she had to go by train early in the morning- then she had to come back early in the afternoon. She had to get all her schooling in and she did real well- |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Well as it was, I did have a job and I finished the summer there. And that's when I decided to go to, as we called it in those days, normal-school, not teacher's-college. It was called normal-school. So I applied and I got in. Now, when I went to normal-school I was twenty-four years old. Anyhow it was a one-year course then, because you graduate from grade thirteen, it was a one-year course. And then they switched it a couple years later. Switched it, you could go from grade twelve but you had to take two years at normal-school. Anyhow so- and now it's become a teacher's-college. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
I ah, I ended up coaching hockey. Minor hockey. I ended up ah refereeing hockey. When I went to normal-school, I came back, you-know, during the Christmas holidays and so on and I always went to hockey games and everything else, but I had coached- I'd coached for about four or five years (coughs). |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
Example | Meaning |
Interviewer 1: So then you went to university? Speaker: No, I went to Normal-School then. Interviewer 1: Normal-School? Speaker: Normal-School, that's where they teach you to be a teacher. Interviewer 2: Oh. Interviewer 1: Oh. Speaker: And the building's still standing in North-Bay if you want to see where it is, it's North-Bay-Normal-School. ... But in those days, there was a special school, Normal-School, and nobody knows what normal means. Interviewer 2: (Laughs) Speaker: And in fact, we were talking about that the other day, we did not know where- what normal did means. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Speaker: And ah my mom came from Barrie to teach school. She ah- she and dad got together then. So ah- Interviewer: And where was your mum's family from, do you know? Like she was- she had- she- Speaker: She- Interviewer: Had gone to school in Barrie but that was where the normal school was, wasn't it? Speaker: She went to a normal school in Peterborough. Interviewer: Oh in Peterborough. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Interviewer: ... so you finished high-school and then where did you go to teacher's college then? Speaker: It was the last year, they called it normal-school and I went to Peterborough and ah boarded there for the year. If you had grade-thirteen, like your full c-- full year, you went one year to- to normal-school. And that was the year they changed their mind and started c-- the next year it was called teacher''s-college. Fifty-two, fifty-three was the last year it was called normal-school. Interviewer: Why was it called normal-school? Speaker: It was an old British term of some kind and I don't know exactly- Interviewer: Oh okay. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
... was a tour of Toronto and we did the museum you-know and the- and the- par-- and the Queen's-Park and whatnot and I don't know whether it was the Queen's-Park trip or the- the high-school trip were we went again ah, from the- the normal-school. And it was a Grey-Cup weekend and the Santa-Clause-Parade and we did the museum and we did this and we did everything else on the Friday and then everybody was free to do whatever they wanted on the Saturday and then- and ah, come home on the train again to Peterborough on Saturday night kind-of-thing. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
It was- it was an excursion to get us all out doing things. We did crazy little games on the train and I- I- I loved everything at the normal-school. I had a good time 'cause they had all these- these- a-- some of them were- that had come from the bigger schools and the bigger cities 'cause we had kids from all the from Kingston to Belleville and all that area that came to that normal school. If you didn't go to Ottawa, you came to Peterborough and um (sighs)- |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
Interviewer: Through that time, do- y-- you really enjoyed yourself was there- was there a particular event that stands out in your mind? Speaker: I remember them wanted me to go and play basketball from the normal-school because I was tall and-everything. Well I had never played basketball. I didn't know the rule. They said, "Oh you just bounce the ball and you do this and that." |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
... they had you doing these exercises and-everything, you-know up and down like this and- you-know and doing this-and-that and- and it was a good program. They had a real variety of things they did at the teacher's-college or at the normal-school. Um, I-- I-- |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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And there were Normal-Schools in Pete-- Peterborough, and Hamilton, and Toronto, and all throughout the province there was one. And you took a year's teacher training. And you got yourself a job. I was very fortunate and got a job in the city staff. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
And ah that I helped in the store and I was going to Normal-School in Toronto but I came home on weekends to help of course. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we knew each other in high-school so then I-don't-know, we just- Speaker: Fifty-nine years. That's a long time. Speaker 2: Just decided- just decided after- after you were ah- after you were in ah Normal-School I-guess. Speaker: Teachers-college, yeah. Interviewer: Normal-school? Speaker: Yeah, they called it Normal-School then. Speaker 2: Beaverton-Normal-school they called it then, it is teachers-college now. In Normal-School is where she got her education. About that time we decided we'd get together and I guess we went together for about five years before we got married. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
Example | Meaning |
Or you became a teacher, which required you to attend a Normal-School. And there were Normals- for one year. Interviewer: Okay. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |
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Speaker: Yeah, we knew each other in high-school so then I-don't-know, we just- Speaker 2: Fifty-nine years. That's a long time. Speaker: Just decided- just decided after- after you were ah- after you were in ah Normal-School I-guess. Speaker 2: Teachers-college, yeah. Interviewer: Normal-school? Speaker 2: Yeah, they called it Normal-School then. Speaker: Beaverton-Normal-school they called it then, it is teachers-college now. In Normal-School is where she got her education. About that time we decided we'd get together and I guess we went together for about five years before we got married. |
An institution for the training and education of aspiring teachers. |