IIORGANIZATION OF ENGLISH WORK
All high schools provide four years of instruction in English, and most of the schools devote five periods a week to the subject in each year. The course of study outlined in this bulletin, therefore, is arranged on the basis of five periods a week for four years. The successful completion of at least two years’ work in English, one-half of which shall be devoted to composition and rhetoric, and one-half to the study ofEnglish classics, is required of all students for graduation from Wisconsin high schools, and for entrance to the University of Wisconsin. The first two years of English are always required of all high school pupils whether they pursue an elective or a prescribed course of study. In some high schools four years’ study of English is required of all pupils, and in most of the Wisconsin high schools the curriculum provides for three years of English in all courses. When the course of study is partly elective, pupils are usually advised to continue with a third and often a fourth year of English after completing the two years of required work. Thus practically all high school pupils pursue the course in English for at least three years.
Whether pupils who study English for three years take up the work in the third or the fourth year of their course, is generally determined by the arrangement of the other subjects in the curriculum. When a choice may be made by either third or fourth year pupils between third and fourth year English, the principal and teacher of English can often decide for the pupil, basing their decision in each case upon what they know of the pupil and his plans. For some pupils the survey of English and American literature in the third year will be most valuable since it furnishes them the means of extending their acquaintance with literature by independent reading. Other pupils will doubtless derive more benefit from the intensive study of a few classics outlined for the fourth year.
The arrangement of the several phases of the English work in the course, and the amount of time that is to be devoted to each is as follows[2]:
2. For a complete outline of the course see p.47.
2. For a complete outline of the course see p.47.
First year—5 periods a week; one-half of the time to be given to composition, and one-half to the reading and study of literature.
Second year—5 periods a week; one-half of the time to be given to composition, and one-half to the reading and study of literature.
Third year—5 periods a week; from one-tenth to one-fifth of the time to be given to the history of English literature during the first three-quarters of the year and to the history of American literature during the last quarter of the year; four-fifths of the time to be devoted to the study of the works of representative authors in each period of the history of English and American literature; and from one-tenth to one-fifth of the time to be given to composition.
Fourth year—5 periods a week; four-fifths of the time to be devoted to the study of typical examples of each of the following forms of literature: the novel, the drama, the lyric, and the essay; one-fifth of the time to be given to composition.
The reading and study of literature in class in each year is to be supplemented by library reading of literature, the amount of which will be determined by library facilities and other local conditions.
If the English work is being taught by several teachers, the distribution of classes among the teachers deserves careful consideration. No English work should be entrusted to a teacher who is not interested in the subject and who is not adequately prepared to teach it. It is particularly important that the first year classes should be in charge of the best teachers of English that the school has in its corps. The not infrequent practice of having the thoroughly prepared and experienced teachers take charge of third and fourth year English, and of assigning the first year classes to the young and inexperienced English teacher, or even to teachers of other subjects who have little or no interest in the work and who are compelled to take classes in first year English because their time is not completely occupied by their own subjects, generally proves extremely unsatisfactory. If the pupils in the high schools are to have the right attitude toward the study of English, and are to begin the subject in the right way, the best teachers must be provided for the first year work, since much of the success of the whole high school course in English depends upon the manner in which the introductory work is taught.
The number of classes in English to be assigned to the teacher and the size of these classes must also be considered. The teaching of English requires an unusual amount of work outside of class. First, the preparation for each day’s teaching whether the work is in composition or reading demands much time and energy if it is to be done as it should be. Second, the correction of themes is a daily task that must be done carefully and accurately and that requires the best effort of the teacher when his mind is most keen and active. Third, personal conferences with each pupil on his written work are now generally conceded to be essential for successful training in writing. All these elements must be considered in arranging the programme of classes for teachers of English. Teachers cannot do satisfactory work if they must prepare for five or six classes a day, teach these classes, correct twenty-five or thirty themes daily, and hold conferences with pupils before and after school. The teaching of many classes exhausts the energy of the teacher and makes accurate correction after school or in the evening, as well as the careful preparation for the next day’s classes, extremely difficult if not impossible. Conferences on written work should be provided for in the regular programme and should not interfere with the teacher’s other duties before and after school. Four classes a day, two periods daily for conference with pupils, and not more than a hundred pupils in all classes, a number which requires the correction of one hundred themes a week, is an arrangement of work that makes possible effective teaching.
To give unity to the four years’ work in English, it is essential that all the teachers of English in each high school meet at frequent intervals to discuss organization, methods, and progress of the work. Each teacher will thus familiarize himself with the English work of the whole school, and can do his particular part of it more intelligently and more effectively. As the success of high school English also depends in no small degree upon the character of the instruction which the pupils have received in the grades, and particularly in the seventh and eighth grades, it will be found very profitable to have similar conferences occasionally betweenthe seventh and eighth grade teachers and the high school teachers of English. A closer relation ought to exist between the English work of the last two grades and the high school, and there seems to be no better way to accomplish this than to bring about cooperation between the teachers through the medium of these conferences. The benefit to the teachers and the great advantage that results to the English work of the school repay many fold the time and effort devoted to these conferences. If local conditions make these meetings of grade and high school teachers impracticable, the high school teacher of English should make every effort to familiarize himself with the amount and character of the training which the pupils have had before entering the high school, by visiting the schools and conferring with the teachers in the seventh and eighth grades. The knowledge thus acquired of the earlier training of the pupils will be of great service to the high school teacher in planning his work both in reading and composition.