I. THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
By Franklin Thomas Baker, A.M.
I. Historical View of the Subject
1. The Choice of Reading Matter.
1. The school reader an expression of social ideals.
2. German primers and readers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
3. The “moral tales” of the eighteenth century.
4. The New England Primer.
5. The oratorical and patriotic selections of the early nineteenth century.
6. The school readers of to-day; their general characteristics.
2. Method.
1. The alphabetic method in use until modern times.
2. New ideas in the sixteenth century and later. Work of Ickelsamer, Basedow, Pestalozzi, Comenius, and Jacotot.
3. Gradual ascendency of the analytic over the alphabetic (or synthetic) method.
4. Recognition of the importance of phonetics, of association of ideas, etc.
References: Kehr, Geschichte des Lese-Unterrichts in der Volksschule, Gotha, 1889. Fechner, Geschichte des Volksschullesebuches, Gotha, 1889. Ford, The New England Primer, New York, 1897. Reeder, Historical Development of the School Reader, New York, 1900. Hall, How to Teach Reading, New York, 1886. American Journal of Education, Vol. V., Hartford and London, 1858. Russell, German Higher Schools, New York, 1900. Carpenter, Baker, and Scott, The Teaching of English, New York, 1903. Huey, Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, New York, 1908.
II. First Steps in Instruction
1. Material.
1. Material should be (1) interesting, (2) literary, so far as possible, (3) adapted to the capacities and tastes of children, (4) of enough difficulty and sufficiently above their own ordinary thoughts to have value as instruction.
2. The best material (1) folk stuff, such as the classic fairy tales, Mother Goose, etc., (2) tales of heroism and sacrifice, (3) poetry of the simpler type, like that of Stevenson and Christina Rossetti.
3. Much of the language work should be free conversation between the teacher and the children about their ordinary experiences.
2. Method.
1. During the first years much of the literary material must be given orally by the teacher. Oral work is to be held of great importance.
2. Children to be encouraged to commit good things to memory.
3. All reading aloud by the pupils to be done as naturally as possible. Importance of reading by phrases and sentences, rather than word by word.
4. Value of the dramatic element in early work.
5. The conflict between the “word method” and the “sentence method” over. Modern teaching eclectic in method. If any name can be given to the best way, it might be, perhaps, “thought method.”
6. Use of script and print: advantages of each as a first form. Value of printed cards and other devices for drill.
7. Form of type for beginners’ books: not too large; letters to have all differentiating marks distinct. Importance of right kind of paper, width of columns, etc. Kinds of pictures most serviceable.
8. When shall writing begin? In general not to be forced on the child in the first year. Arguments for and against this arrangement. Should there be any fixed standard of accomplishment for the first year?
9. Phonetic drill. How many words must be known before it begins? Various plans equally successful. The main thing, perhaps, is to have drill enough to give the pupils certainty in their work, but to keep the drill subordinated to their interest in reading.
10. The order of such drill. “Normal words,” chosen for their meaning, their frequency of occurrence, and their similarity in form to other words either at their beginning or at their end. Many words, however, must be learned without relation to such a scheme.
11. “Normal sentences” those that partially help the reader to the recognition of words; as, “The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west.” For young children, sentences involving the use of repetitive phrases must also be regarded as normal, as in “The House that Jack Built.”
12. In general, both analysis and synthesis to be used in word drill.
13. Importance of securing good habits as to intelligent reading, correct spelling, etc., in the early years. Children can usually do better than they or their elders think they can.
14. Emphasis to be placed upon reading many of the good things over and over, until they are known in whole and in part.
References: Bryant, How to tell Stories to Children. Carpenter, Baker, and Scott, The Teaching of English. Chubb, The Teaching of English. Colby, Literature in Life and in School. Hall, How to teach Reading. Hinsdale, Teaching the Language Art. Huey, Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. Arnold, Reading, How to teach it. Laurie, Language and Linguistic Method. Dewey, “The Primary Education Fetich,” in The Forum, May, 1898. Dewey, The School and Society. Dye, Story-Teller’s Art.
III. The Teaching of Literature
1. General Problems.
1. Can literature be taught? Or can pupils “be taught through literature”? Examples of such educational use of literature.
2. Present aims in teaching literature: entertainment, portrayal of life, acquaintance with the world of thought and feeling as presented in books, cultivation of imagination and sense of beauty.
3. True interpretation implies grasping the central purpose, idea, or feeling of the piece.
4. Various types of literature demand various treatment. Necessity of adapting the treatment to the class.
5. Taste (sense of beauty) developed mainly by contact with good models. Instruction plays a minor part. The love of good reading fostered by judicious selection of material, and by example and influence.
6. How can the habit of good reading be cultivated?
2. Material.
1. The literature chosen must be suitable in its themes, its action, its feeling, its simplicity.
2. Literary histories and biographies: their limited value in elementary work.
3. Scientific and historical material in literature. Literary use of such material not to be confounded with science and history.
4. Pictures and other illustrative material: Sometimes give intuitive basis for desired concepts; sometimes interfere with the imagination.
3. Method.
1. Reading aloud: its value. Means of securing good results; interest, sense of reality, consciousness of an audience.
2. Analytic study, of content, form, and general literary effects.
a. Must be adapted to the pupil’s interest and his stage of development.
b. Must yield results of value appreciable by the pupil.
c. Effects of too much or too little such study.
3. Correlation of literature with other work possible in limited degree. A matter of class treatment rather than of the general arrangement of the course of study. A problem for the teacher rather than the principal.
4. Treatment of allusions, historical, literary, etc. The need of judicious selection.
5. Treatment of figures of speech, verse forms, new words, etc.
6. Lesson plans: their function and value.
a. An outline should control and direct the work, yet be flexible enough to allow freedom on the part of teacher and pupil.
b. Introductions: their nature and function. When necessary.
References: Carpenter, Baker, and Scott, Laurie, Chubb, Hinsdale, Arnold and Hall, as cited. Scudder, Literature in Schools. C. A. McMurry, Special Method in Reading. Bates, Talks on the Study of Literature. Colby, Literature in Life and in School. Adler, Moral Instruction of Children.
IV. Study of Certain Typical Books
1. Nursery Rhymes (as Mother Goose, Stevenson’s Child’s Garden of Verses).
a. The nature of their appeal to children in sound, imagery, and ideas.
b. Their value in training the ear, the powers of speech, etc.
2. Grimm’ “Fairy Tales.”
a. Their source and relation to other folklore.
b. The marvelous, and its effect on children.
c. Action, logical sequence, local color.
d. Various types of myth.
e. The ideal element, poetic justice, etc. Need the harsher elements be omitted?
f. Typical lessons.
3. “Alice in Wonderland.”
a. Its origin and its place in literature.
b. The nature of its reality: based upon things in the child’s world of imagination.
c. Its value as humor, as a means of quickening the power of thought.
d. What preparation is needed for the appreciation of it?
e. Typical lessons.
4. “Robinson Crusoe.”
a. Its origin and place in literature.
b. Fundamental characteristics as a piece of fiction.
c. Elements in it that appeal to children, or fail so to appeal.
d. Justification of the abridged editions.
e. Its relation (1) to the world of romance, (2) to real life.
f. How best presented. Typical lessons.
5. Longfellow’s “Hiawatha.”
a. Its origin, form, popularity.
b. Its qualities, epic and romantic.
c. Its treatment of the myth.
d. Its value as school reading; parts best suited for this.
e. General value of reading about primitive life.
f. Relation to handwork, etc.
6. Hawthorne’s “Wonder Book” and “Tanglewood Tales.”
a. Their origin and general literary qualities.
b. Romantic coloring given to classic stories; compare Kingsley’s The Heroes, and Bulfinch’s Age of Fable, and other versions of the myths.
c. Different types of myth and fairy story represented.
d. Artistic qualities of Hawthorne’s versions; how far can these be shown in the school?
e. The ethical element: how treated?
f. Typical lessons.
7. Whittier’s “Snow Bound.”
a. Its historical value as a presentation of a type of civilization: occupation, pleasures, interests, types of character.
b. Its literary value as an ideal treatment of its theme.
c. The point of view that of an old man’s retrospect. How far is this appreciable by children?
d. The study of this poem involves also attention to structure, diction, allusions, poetic descriptions, and metrical form.
e. Typical passages treated in lessons.
8. Longfellow’s “Evangeline.”
a. The poet’s departure from historical fact; its justification.
b. The idyllic element; the descriptions.
c. The central theme, and its treatment in the first and second parts of the poem.
d. The different quality of the two parts; predominance of description and the meditative element in the second.
e. Metrical structure.
f. What things in the poem can be made especially interesting to young people?
9. Scott’s “Ivanhoe.”
a. Its free treatment of historical fact. The difference between historic and poetic truth.
b. The historical novel: its general relations to history; to be regarded primarily as literature, not as history.
c. The portrayal of ideals and customs of a past age: types of characters; structure (plot) of the book built in accordance with this purpose.
d. Difficulties of language, allusions, etc.
e. Means of arousing interest in romantic literature. Comparisons with other books commonly read by children.
10. Shakspere’s “Julius Cæsar.”
a. Historical basis, anachronisms, etc.
b. The nature of its appeal to young readers.
c. Treatment of verbal difficulties and of the dramatic form.
d. The action, the characters, the dramatic motives and situations.
V. Composition
1. Object of Teaching Composition.
1. Shall it be “literary,” or aim merely at adequate expression?
2. Elements involved in the Problem: Form and Subject Matter.
1. Importance of subject matter in giving motive and interest, and in determining form.
2. Subjects for composition to include topics from school work and from daily life: to be made real, as far as possible. Reality dependent upon interest and the consciousness of an audience.
3. Preparation for the work. Importance of oral treatment, of the gathering and ordering of facts and ideas. Originality not to be expected.
4. Composition units: necessity of training in both sentence and paragraph. Value of outlines, and of drill in sentences.
5. Criticism of written work.
a. General aims.
b. Means of making criticism effective.
c. The object to make pupils self-critical without checking spontaneity.
References: Laurie, Hinsdale, Chubb and Carpenter, Baker and Scott as cited above.
VI. Grammar
1. Historical Review.
1. Historical changes in the idea of English grammar.
2. Attempt, in the Renaissance period, to Latinize the grammar of English. Persistence of this point of view.
3. Recent changes due to philological study.
4. What now constitutes English grammar?
5. What problems remain unsolved?
2. Objects of Teaching Grammar.
1. Various theories: for correctness of expression and for discipline.
2. Modern notions of authority in usage, and of the province of grammar.
3. Amount of Grammar to be Taught.
1. How much grammar shall be taught in the schools?
2. What things are of most value?
3. Importance of syntax; of study of forms.
4. The Order of Treatment.
1. Syntax or etymology first?
2. A study of the methods of development adopted by some of the representative textbooks.
References: Laurie, Hinsdale, Carpenter, Baker and Scott, and Chubb. Liddell, “English Historical Grammar,” Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXXXII. Sweet, New English Grammar, Part II. Barbour, The Teaching of English Grammar; Goold Brown, Grammar of Grammars (Introduction). Krapp, Syllabus of English Language and Grammar (Columbia University Extension Syllabi, Series A, No. 5).