The present article aims at examining manuals and tests taken by the students of Escola Normal in São Paulo during the years of 1870. This means asking which themes, contents and references were taught in the beginning of the teaching formation? And how was such knowledge read, interpreted, quoted, and ultimately, how was it assumed? The analyzed books and tests are perfect indications of what was taught and of what was learned from a course which was still under construction. The said books and tests were, in short, products and producers of an institutionalization as well as a formalization of knowledge in the beginning of teachership. It was coated with the expected themes to be studied at Escola Normal, with the way they were developed and with how the references of the course were selected and used as resources.
pedagogical manuals; normal school; school culture