English problems in the solving, for the junior and senior high schools

Preface

This book grew out of a course of lectures on the teaching of EngUsh, delivered in the Summer Schools of Johns Hopkins University for the years 1918 and 1919. In response to the request from some of my students that our discussions of the problems confronting the English teacher should take on a more or less permanent form these lectures are now being published.

Certain additional chapters are included because of the pecuhar significance they hold for all teachers of English. It gives me great pleasure to state that they are the work of two of my Washington colleagues, Miss Emily F. Sleman and Miss Anne McColm, both teachers in the Central High School. I wish to express to them here not only my great indebtedness for allowing their contributions to appear in this volume, but also my sincere appreciation of their very material aid in the organization of this book.

My thanks are due to Mr. James Fleming Hosic, Mr. Samuel Thurber, and Mr. H. G. Paul for the privilege of quoting freely from their respective periodicals: The English Journal; The English Leaflet; and the Bulletin of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English.

Sarah E. Simons

Chapter I. Pbbliminaries page The Junior High School 7

Definition and Aims

I. Composition 11

II. Literature 15

Minimum Essentials for Junior High-School English 19

The Separation of Composition and Literature 22

The Problem of the Start 26

The Problem of the Assignment 34

The Problem of Correlation 37

Chaptkb II. Fundamentals

The Problem of Grammar 42

The Problem of Punctuation 48

The Problem of Spelling 56

The Problem of the Vocabulary 62

Chapteb III. Oral and Written Expression The Problem of Better Sf)eech

I. Oral English 71

II. Public Speaking 81

The Problem of Written Work .84

The Problem of the Letter 95

The Problem of Theme Correcting 104

Measurement of Results 109

Chapter IV. Interpretation of Literature

The Choice of Literature 112

The Teaching of Literature 117

The Problem of Reading 130

Imitation a Means of Appreciation 139

Dramatization a Means of Appreciation 148

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ^

Chapter V. Some Special Problems page

American Literature 161

The Magazine 167

The World War and the English Class 173

The History of Literature 176

The Teaching of Poetry

L In the Junior High School 180

II. In the Senior High School 189

The Drama 197

Chapter VI. The Teaching of Certain Classics

The Odyssey 202

Shakespeare 211

I. In the Junior High School. 212

II. In the Senior High School 213

Burke 221

Bibliographical Hints and General Bibliography

Bibhographical Hints 231

BibUography

General Method '.233

The Teaching of English Composition 234

The Teaching of Literature 234

Periodicals 235

Index 237

Chapter One

The Junior High School. Definition and Aims. Minimum Essentials for Junior High-School English. The Separation of Composition and Literature. The Problem of the Start. The Problem of the Assignment. The Problem of Correlation.

THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

The Junior High School is now an accepted fact in the organization of school systems all over the country. It has come into existence as a result of scientific study of the best means of adjusting the school to the physical and psychological development of the child.

For the most part, this new scheme of organization has stressed economy of time, better mastery of subject-matter through departmental teaching, early election, and subject promotion. In nearly every case in which the subject-matter of the junior high school has been discussed, little or nothing has been said under any of these heads regarding the teaching of English in the junior high school. Naturally enough, perhaps, in its beginnings the new school would be concerned with the two entirely new things which the system brought with it — the study of languages in the seventh and eighth grades and the introduction of vocational subjects. The fact that the teaching of English is continuous from the first grade through the senior high school has, perhaps, made it seem unnecessary to make any changes in method. But this new arrangement does mean and should mean a re-examination of method and of choice of subject-matter in the teaching of English in the junior high school.

Mr. Charles S. Pendleton says: "I believe that it (the junior high school) has come to stay, and I believe still further that it requires us to consider, not merely a new kind of teaching of English but two new kinds."^ Certainly, if the difference in the physical, mental, and psychological equipment of the child is so divergent in the pre-adolescent age from that of the adolescent as to necessitate a reorganization of the whole school system, some very definite account of those differences must be taken in planning and teaching the course in English. Those of us who have taught in the four-year high-school course have always noticed the essential difference in the attitude and interests of the first-year pupils as compared with those of the upper years. We have felt, too, the difl&culty in bridging over the gap between the grade-school preparation in English and the first year of high-school English. With the junior high school in operation we have the opportunity and the duty of planning more definitely to adapt the work in English to the particular needs of these three very important years in the junior high school.

Before formulating a definite course for these three years let us see in general what our aim should be, and what advantages this new scheme of organization will bring to the teaching of English. To take up the second point first, it ought to mean the possibility of setting a standard of achievement at the end of the junior high-school course which will make the entrance preparation for the senior high school much more

1. From "The New Teacher of English" in the English Joximal, Nov. 1917.

uniform than was possible under the old system where the eighth-grade teacher, heavily burdened with executive responsibilities, divided her teaching attention among many subjects. Then, too, in the old system of promotion on a general average it has often been the case that arithmetic or some other one subject has been a sort of criterion of passing, and pupils notably deficient in English have gone into the high school to become a drag upon the classes there. With subject promotion no student may enter the senior high school without passing in English. The junior high school might then, first of all, solve the problem of the senior high school by making it possible for the senior high school to work out its aims upon a basis of uniform and adequate preparation.

This is not, however, the only benefit which we may expect as a result of the successful working out of the junior high school nor the most important to be kept in mind; for the junior high school will be for many boys and girls the end of their formal school education. It therefore becomes a matter of the greatest importance that the pupil who leaves school as soon as he has passed the compulsory school age should be equipped to go out into life with as thorough training in English as it is possible to give him. The junior high school with its departmental teaching offers the opportunity of concentrating upon the training of the pupils in their use of the most important tool they will need — whether they go into the senior high school or into business — accurate and forceful English.

For the junior high school itself what shall be the aims, the methods, and the results to be achieved? In the first place, junior high-school teaching will need experts with an equipment not inferior to that of senior high-school teachers. It will demand, perhaps, even more in pedagogical skill. There is no age more difficult than that which the junior high school houses — neither fish, flesh, nor fowl.

In literature the work in the junior high school should be extensive rather than intensive. Much reading should be encouraged, and in the reading emphasis should be placed upon the pupil's own response to what he reads without much conscious reflection upon the subject-matter, either for analysis oj: criticism. It is largely a matter of exposing the pupil at a time of great absorbing faculty to much that is good in order that his tastes may be guided and set in the right direction. Literary criticism and history are of little importance. In the senior high school, where the mind of the student is interested in relations, the reading of literature should be associated with a study of types and with the history of the period.

The character of the literature should be largely narrative and biographical. Much supplementary reading should be done. The classes should constitute themselves into reading clubs, and if libraries are not easily accessible, the teacher should endeavor to get a loan collection of good books to have in the classroom for the use of pupils. Most of the classroom work in literature in the junior high school should be oral. Reading aloud, recitation of memorized portions, little dramatizations should constitute the work in literature. The pupil in the junior high school is finding himself in literature. He cannot do so without much experience, and since wide reading is the only method of providing this experience, the assignment and direction of supplementary reading become matters of paramount importance. Failing to do our duty in this respect, we shall leave the boys and girls a prey to the twenty-volume series of uninspired books that crowd the juvenile shelves.

In composition, on the contrary, the work should be intensive, with accuracy as the aim. The pupil's work in the sentence should be as definite and as painstaking as his excursions into literature are varied and care-free. For his future work in the senior high school he needs this fundamental basis. For his future life, if there is to be no senior high school for him, he needs still more to know how to use, orally and in writing, good, clear, forceful English so that he may communicate effectively with his fellow men.

Emily F. Sleman

Douglass, A. A. The Junior High School. Fifteenth Tear Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part III (contains bibliography).

Inglis, A. Principles of Secondary Education, Chapter VII. Library Leaflet:

Certain, C. C. No. 5, May, 1919 (exhaustive bibliography). Teachers' College Record:

Miles, W. R. "Comparison of Elementary and High Schools," May 1915.

DEFINITION AND AIMS

/. Composition The definition of language as "the vehicle of vocabulary for the conveyance of ideas" suggests, perhaps, the main aim in the teaching of composition. The function of language is communication. Mr. Leonard says that composition is not so much putting ideas together as it is "putting them across."^ The power to make one's wants and desires known to his fellows implies a knowledge of symbols that are in general use for the expression of thought. Hence the purpose of teaching composition is to give the student such a command over these symbols as will enable him to make his wants and desires known to his fellows, with the least waste of effort and the greatest economic gain. Now what does "the least waste of effort and the greatest economic gain" imply? What else than power to use language correctly and ability to express thought accurately? But we must not forget another function of language. It is a thought producer. Before we can communicate thoughts we must have formed thoughts to communicate. And language is a valuable aid in thought precipitation, in reducing ideas to a definite shape, nay, in actually producing ideas out of the vague nebula of our mental processes. Hence one of the aims in the study of the use of language, the study of composition, should be to stimulate thought getting, to crystallize thought.

The pupil should economize your time and his and the time of all with whom he wishes to communicate. This he can do by knowing exactly what he wants to say before he says it. A request that has to be interpreted falls flat; an exposition that needs to be explained is unconvincing. Accuracy, first in the formu-

1. The English Leaflet, April, 1918, p. 2.

lation of thought and next in the expression of that thought, is the great desideratum.

On this point a letter written by Adjutant General H. P. McCain to the President of the Pennsylvania Military College, August 28, 1917, relative to the causes for the rejection of candidates for reserve officers at the training camps, is pertinent. He ' says in part, *']Many men fail to measure up to the requirements set for our Officers Reserve because they have not been trained to appreciate the importance of accuracy in thinking. Too many schools are satisfied with an approximate answer to a question. Little or no incentive is given increased mental effort to coordinate one's ideas and present them clearly and unequivocally. Insistence upon decision in thought and expression should never be lost sight of. This requires eternal vigilance on the part of every teacher. It is next to impossible for military instructors to do much to counteract the negligence of schools in this regard. This again has cost many men their commissions at camp. Three months is too short a time in which to teach an incorrigible "beater-about-the-bush" that there is but one way to answer a question, oral or written, and that is positively, clearly, and accurately. The form of the oral answer in our schools should be made an important consideration of instruction."

We teachers must resist the temptation to supplement or interpret the pupil's answer. The pupil must be held responsible for what he says; he must learn to stand on his own feet, unsupported.

Since the main function of language is communication of thought, real situations and real people should offer the point of departure in language training. Self-expression, not re-expression of someone else's thought, should be the practice. Hence pupils should be led to talk and write to a real audience about things within their own experience with a definite purpose in mind to convince, to explain, to interest, or to amuse. Thus the letter becomes a very important item in the written composition course.

The point of view, then, in the teaching of English composition should be that of language as a tool, as a means to an end, the end being the intelligent and intelligible communication of thought by the employment of symbols that are in general use. The study of English composition should furnish the pupil with an effective instrument for intercourse with others whether that intercourse be oral or written. Hence the mechanics of oral speech for which we should strive are: (1) distinct and natural articulation, (2) correct pronunciation, and (3) a clear, well-managed voice ; and the mechanics of written speech upon which we should insist are: (1) legible handwriting, (2) correct spelling, (3) correct grammar and idiom (these to be required also in oral speech), and (4) intelligent punctuation.

May we not then sum up the aims of the high-school course in composition as follows:

1. To fix the habit of correct use of the English language in speaking and writing by cultivating the pupil's ear and eye so that he shall be sensitive to mistakes; by stressing the importance of correct English in social life ; and by emphasizing its market value in the business world.

2. To fix the habit of accurate expression of thought so that the pupil will say just what he means in the clearest possible way, by developing the power of concentration and the habit of thinking before speaking.

And will not such aims consistently adhered to throughout the course give the community what it desires: a high-school graduate who, in the words of Mr. Charles S. Pendleton^, "shall have learned, first, to stand on his feet and talk convincingly, conveying to other people effectively what he himself has thought and felt; second, to write his message, and by means of the written word to convey powerfully to his audience whatever he has to say."

For an admirable statement of aims in the teaching of English composition for both the junior and the senior high schools year by year see The Reorganization Bulletin, pages 30-38.

//. Literature

Now what aims shall we set before us in this task of teaching literature to high-school students? At what angle or angles shall we view literature for this purpose? Note Mr. Hosic's definition: "By literature we shall mean, then, that species of idealization of human experience which employs language as its medium — poetry, plays, novels, essays. We recognize it not as something apart from life but as the very consummation and fine-flowering of life. In a word, it is such an interpretation of life as enables us, through vicarious experience, to understand and appropriate

1. In his article in The English Journal for November, 1917, on "The New English Teacher."

the higher and richer aspects of living."^ We want the human, not the "booky," view as Mr. Chubb- puts it, so that we may interpret the literature of the past in terms of the life of the present, of the life about us. To quote Mr. Pendleton again, we should aim to develop in the pupil the power "in his leisure hours or other while to listen to the speech or read the writing of someone else, someone who is a master in the use of language, and to appreciate and enjoy what thus comes to him.""

For widening the experience of the child, for stimulating his imagination, for introducing him to far countries and strange peoples, and then again to things and people near and familiar — in a word, to reveal to him the human touch in what he reads — for these reasons we give our literature course, which in the junior high school resolves itself into a reading course.

The aims in giving literature courses to our boys and girls may be roughly sunamed up as follows. The immediate aims are: (1) to keep alive and foster the constructive imagination of the child; (2) to arouse an interest in words, mere words, so that his vocabulary is constantly increasing ("the words assassin and bedlam have been known to offer as much narrative interest as a short story," says Miss Morse, in The English Journal for June, 1919); (3) to give the pupil power to read silently, rapidly, and accurately; (4) to give him power to read aloud acceptably; (5) to create the desire to make use of reading as a tool for increasing knowledge. Ultimately it is hoped that

1. The English Leaflet, April, 1917. p. 9.

2. The Teaching of English, Chap. XX.

3. The English Journal, November, 1917.

the course will broaden the vision, lift the horizon, enable the pupil to travel far and see much vicariously of other lands and times, and through such experiences to learn to see the beauty in the common things about him, to appreciate the near and close at hand.

In the teaching of literature the avocational aim should be paramount. It is, indeed, of far greater importance than the vocational aim. Today, when the whole work-a-day world is rapidly coming to be planned on the eight-hour basis, it is imperative that we teach our children how to use their leisure time. And here the teacher of literature can do more than the teacher of any other subject. The pupil who leaves the junior high school with the power to take real pleasure in the reading of a good book carries a weapon of defense against many of the so-called pleasures of youth, pleasures which are of occasional value, it is true, but whose habitual indulgence makes them, indeed, but "vanity of vanities."

May we not then summarize our aims as follows:

1. To teach the pupil how to get the thought from

the printed page; how to interpret the author's meaning in terms of his own experience; in a word, to read intelligently.

2. To develop the power to read aloud acceptably.

3. To create the reading habit.

4. To develop to a slight degree, at least, such an

appreciation of literary values as will enable the pupil to discriminate somewhat between the worth-while and the worthless in literature.

5. To create in the pupil the desire to use some of his leisure hours in the reading of good books.

1. Would you consider the vocational aims in the teaching of literature to high-school students? If so, what and why?

2. If an elective course is given in journalism or the writing of the short story, in the senior high school, show how the study of literature would help. Tell just what literature you would use in such courses.

3. Should immediate rather than remote aims dominate the course?

Brown, Rollo. How the French Boy Learns to Write.

Denny, J. V. Johnston's High-School Education, "English," Chap. XI.

Leonard, S. A. English Composition As a Social Problem.

Reorganization of English in Secondary Schools, pp. 30-38, Bulletin 1917, No. 2, Bureau of Education. (See also Bibliography on page 160 of Bulletin.)

The English Leaflet:

Leonard, A. W. "Themes for a Reading Public," April,

1918.

Ward, C. H. "Defending Camelot," October, 1916.

Mclntyre, Mrs. H. I. "Giving a Purpose to Students of

High-School EngUsh," October, 1917. Osgood, C. G. "The Artistic Teaching of English," January,

1918.

Pendleton, C. S. "The New English Teacher," November,

1917.

Rapeer, L. W. "The Outside of the Cup," June, 1916. Thompson, Margaret. "The Task of the English Teacher,"

The Round Table, September, 1916.

Waldo, Dorothy. "English for Peter," June, 1917. Ward, C. H. "We Must Not Be Enemies," The Round

Table, February, 1916.

MINIMUM ESSENTIALS FOR JUNIOR HIGH-SCHOOL ENGLISH

What should be the minimum essentials in English Composition for promotion into the senior high school? What should the junior high school give the pupil after three years of study of the English language? The answer is brief. A knowledge of the sentence. If the child brings with him a keen sentence sense, a real working knowledge of the sentence, he will bring enough.

"The sentence is the unit of most importance in all language teaching — in the teaching of grammar, of composition, and of literature," says RoUo Brown in his book. How the French Boy Learns to Write.

A Yale professor of literature was recently asked what the college would like most stress put upon in the schools. "The sentence" was his unqualified answer. The children, first, last, and all the time, must show an intelligent reaction to the sentence. So it is with the sentence that we must begin, and it is indeed often with the sentence that we should end. The sentence is the Alpha and Omega of all language work.

The pupil should know the sentence from the angle of grammar, as a complete statement in which every word plays a definite part.

He should know the sentence from the angle of composition, as a unit of thought used along with others of its kind to build up a larger thought than can be expressed by the small unit.

He should understand that thought compels structure ; that the kind of sentence used in any given case will depend upon the kind of thought that is to be expressed.

Hence the pupil should know the parts of speech as they function in the sentence, as they help along the thought of the sentence.

He should know the phrase and the clause as they function in the sentence as parts of speech.

He should know the use of necessary marks of punctuation whose only excuse for being is to help along the thought of the sentence.

The knowledge of these things he. should possess as his instrument for the fashioning of thought. These are the means which he should apply toward his end — the communication of ideas to his fellows.

If the sentence is taught from the first not as an isolated unit, but in relation to other units of thought, the idea of the paragraph will be gained unconsciously, and more definite work in this larger unit of thought will come as a matter of course in the senior high school. The pupil will then be ready to understand the cumulation of sentences in building up a larger thought unit; the part of each sentence in developing the paragraph thought; the idea of sentence control of paragraph thought.

In the matter of oral English it is desirable that the pupil when entering the senior high school should be able (1) to ask intelligent questions of the teacher or classmates about any subject which is under discussion; (2) to answer accurately and without help from the teacher any question (on which he is informed, of course) that is put to him by the teacher or his classmates; and (3) to speak connectedly on some subject that interests him for two or three minutes.

The pupil should be able to write in class at least two paragraphs or groups of related sentences about something within his own experience. He should be able to proof-read his work so that when it comes to his teacher it shall contain no glaring grammatical faults and no misspelled words. (He should be encouraged to use the dictionary freely.) The pupil's handwriting should be legible.

Now in spelling what shall the pupil bring with him?

May we not at least ask for:

1. Desire to spell correctly.

2. Knowledge of how to use the dictionary.

3. Habit of using the dictionary.

When the pupil enters the senior high-school literature class he should bring with him the power to read to himself intelligently (silent reading) and the power to read to others intelligibly (oral reading). He should be able to read in a voice that is audible to the person farthest away from him; his word-endings should be clear-cut; run-together phrases such as "would uv," "had uv" should not grate upon our ear. He should be able to listen with interest to the reading of his teacher or classmates and to reproduce what he has heard ; he should have the desire to spend some of his leisure time in reading other books of the authors studied in his literature course.

With such an equipment further work in the English course in both composition and literature will be a real pleasure to all concerned.

The Reorganization Bulletin, pp. 114, 119, 123-128, 151. The English Journal:

Fish, S. A. "What Should Pupils Know in English ^Tien

They Enter High School?" March, 1914. Fontaine, M. B. "Articulation of English in the Elementaiy

and High Schools," September, 1914. Randall, Julia. "My Bridge Approach," Vol. VI, p. 551. "Report of the Committee on the Economy of Time," February, 1919.

THE SEPARATION OF COMPOSITION AND LITERATURE

How much time shall we give to the study of composition? How much to literature? Effort to improve the pupil's expressional work both oral and written should be made in the teaching of every subject. Clear, accurate^xpression of thought should be insisted on in every class. Intelligent answers phrased in language which observes the rules of good usage should be required by every teacher in the schools. We can never escape composition work; but definite study of English composition as distinct from the study of English literature should occupy at least one half the time allotted to the English course. Recently many schools have been separating the English course into two parts, the study of composition and the study of literature, alternating the work in various ways by days, weeks, or semesters. In Washington, Detroit, Madison, and Chicago the semester plan has been adopted as the most satisfactory. It is in operation now and is working well both administratively and educationally. Reports from the schools that have adopted the separation plan of the study of English seem to prove the success of the experiment. No school that has adopted it has gone back to the old plan.

"Failure to distinguish between the primary aims and values of the study of language per se, the study of literature for social ends, and the study of literature for individualistic ends, leads to confusion in the study of 'English' in the average secondary school," says Professor Inglis. "The teacher either fails to analyze the special values to be emphasized in the particular phase of work involved, or attempts to meet too many aims and to develop too many values at the same time."'

Dr. Snedden, in "A Letter to a High-School Teacher of English" published in The English Leaflet, November, 1914, deplores the fact that "under the head of English we seem now to include two secondary-school subjects of essentially different character and having unlike aims — namely, formal English, and English literature. One result of this merging of two different subjects is that the means and methods of teaching one tend to deflect and neutralize those appropriate to the other. So evident has this become to me that were I responsible for the administration of a high school at the present time, I believe my first step would be to place the teaching of literature on the one hand, and on the other all that pertains to English expression, under charge of different teachers, who would probably be quite unlike each other in temperament and interests. I should take this action in the

1. Pririciples of Secondary Education, p. 445.

expectation that each of these teachers would then develop methods appropriate to his subject, and that the teaching of each subject would as a result have a fairer opportunity for improvement than is now possible. I strongly believe that as a rule the same person cannot teach English expression on the one hand, and Uterature on the other, with satisfactory results, because, from my point of view, English expression and English literature for their effective teaching require methods of treatment, spirit of approach, and utilization of means which are fundamentally unlike, and even largely incompatible with each other."