The high school course in English

by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer

Although most of the themes will be prepared by the pupils before coming to the class room, it is desirable to have some of them written during the recitation period in order to give the pupils practice in thinking and writing rapidly. At the beginning of the course the subject may be assigned at the preceding recitation so that the pupils may consider it carefully and come prepared to write. After the pupils have gained some fluency of expression, impromptu themes will prove interesting and valuable class room exercises. Considerable importance should be attached to these impromptu themes and exercises as tests of the pupils’ ability to write rapidly and accurately.

2. Correction of Themes

Of equal importance to the writing of themes is the prompt and careful correction of them by the teacher, and the revision or rewriting by the pupil. While doubtless the pupil will gain some facility in expression by writing frequently, he is not likely to learn how to write clear, accurate, forcible English unless his work is carefully corrected and returned to him promptly so that it may be revised or rewritten. In correcting themes the purpose should be to indicate to the pupil the errors and weaknesses of his style, in order that he may correct these faults. The teacher, therefore, should not correct the pupil’s errors, but should use some sign or abbreviation to indicate the character of the fault. Much if not all of the benefit derived by the pupil from the teacher’s correction is lost if he does not have the opportunity to correct his own errors in revising or rewriting the composition. Not only is this correction of the pupil’s mistakes by the teacher bad pedagogically, but it takes a needless amount of the teacher’s time. It is desirable to have a simple but complete system of signs and abbreviations indicating the exact character of the error. In this connection attention may be called to the value of having each school adopt some system of correction signs and abbreviations, so that the same marks may be used not only by all of the teachers of English, but by the teachers of all other subjects in correcting note-books, topics, examination papers, and all other written exercises. It is only by insisting that high school pupils be as careful of their English in all written work as in compositions prepared for English classes that the best results can be accomplished.

The following sign and abbreviations used in the English department of the University of Wisconsin for the correction of themes may serve to indicate the character and scope of a system of correction marks:

amb	ambiguous.
ant	antecedent.
bal	make elements balance.
ch	coherence.
cst	construction.
∥cst.	parallel construction.
D	see dictionary.
E	poor English.
emp	emphasis.
F. W.	fine writing.
fig	figure of speech.
gr	grammar.
H	hackneyed.
K	awkward.
L	loose.
MS	manuscript.
p	punctuation.
pc	comma fault.
per	make periodic.
rep	repetition.
red	redundant.
S	sentence.
sp	spelling
Th	theme.
tr	transpose.
U	unity.
V	vague.
W	weak.
W. W.	wrong word.
¶	paragraph.
[ ]	omit.
>[	indention.
x	obvious error.
│	divide.
╱	small letter.
≡	capital letter.
⁐	unite.

Besides indicating all the errors in every theme, the teacher should write a concise comment on each, pointing out the faults and merits of the theme. He should aim to make these comments as stimulating and suggestive as possible for judicious criticism must be constructive, encouraging the pupil in that which is praiseworthy in his efforts, as well as aiding him to eliminate that which is undesirable. These comments to be most helpful should be based on the teacher’s knowledge of the pupil’s personality and of the character of his other themes, for each piece of written work must be regarded as a step in the individual pupil’s progress toward the more effective expression of his thoughts. The teacher should also remember that firm insistence from the beginning to the end of the course on correctness in the fundamentals of expression such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, is quite as necessary as the stimulating criticism that aims at developing more original and spontaneous thought and expression.

In order that the pupil may get the greatest benefit from the teacher’s correction of his themes, these should be returned for revision or rewriting as soon as possible. If the pupil does not receive his theme until a week or more after he has written it, the corrections and the revision and rewriting are much less interesting and valuable than if it is returned to him promptly. It is also easier for the teacher to correct themes as soon as they are received rather than to allow them to accumulate until their number makes the correction of them an exhausting task.

In addition to the careful correction of compositions by the teacher, other methods may be used to call attention to the merits and faults of the pupils’ themes. The teacher may have the pupils copy on the blackboard the themes which they have prepared before coming to class, and the recitation period may be devoted to the criticism of these compositions by teacher and pupils. The pupils may occasionally be required to correct each other’s written work, either in or out of the class room. A recitation period can sometimes be used to advantage for the rewriting by the pupils of themes corrected by the teacher, who by passing from one pupil to another during this exercise can assist each in correcting and improving his work. While these methods often prove interesting and valuable, they should not be regarded as an adequate substitute for the prompt and accurate correction of themes by the teacher.

3. Filing of Themes

After themes have been either rewritten or revised by pupils, they should be returned to the teacher, who must glance over them to be sure that the pupils have made the necessary changes. If the themes are rewritten, the original as well as the rewritten form should be returned to the teacher for the purpose of this comparison. It is also desirable to have some method of filing themes after they have been returned to the teacher. A simple method of keeping them is to use looseleaf note-books similar to the laboratory note-books in science. With this system the themes are first handed in on separate sheets of uniform size, and, after they have been corrected by the teacher and revised or rewritten by the pupil, are fastened in the note-book. If the themes are rewritten or corrected on the blank page of the note-book facing the original copy, the teacher can readily compare the two forms and can determine the character of the revision. Another plan adopted by a number of schools is to have a large filing case with a compartment for the themes of each pupil in the school. All the themes should be preserved until the end of the year, when they may be returned to the pupils.