The Sons of Bridgewater

摘要

Effective teacher training and preparation is widely recognized as key in raising student achievement. This historical study examined the influence of the normal school movement, one of the first concrete approaches to the preparation and training of public school teachers in the nineteenth century in the United States. Specifically, this study investigated the influence of the vision of teaching and learning of Nicholas Tillinghast, the first principal of Bridgewater State Normal School between 1840 and 1853, and of the "sons of Bridgewater," the students of Tillinghast who became normal school principals across the United States. Primary source and archived documents such as personal correspondence, diaries, conference records, and newsletters, and photographs were used to conduct this study. As a result of this study, normal schools, which were regionally impacted as they were established across the United States, emerged as an unrecognized, yet significant factor in the evolution of teacher training programs. The work of Nicholas Tillinghast and the sons of Bridgewater during the nineteenth century made a significant impact on the spread and evolution of the normal school movement and played an important role in the professionalization of teaching.