INTRODUCTION
This bulletin has been prepared with the purpose of offering some practical suggestions in regard to the organization of the high school course in English and to the methods of teaching English. As it is designed for the principals and teachers of Wisconsin schools, the plan and methods conform to the courses of study and conditions required of free high schools in this state. The aim has not been to discuss theories or to offer novel solutions for the problems of teaching, but rather to present ways and means of accomplishing the generally accepted purposes of the study of English in secondary schools. All the methods and plans suggested have been shown by experience to be practical, and are adapted to present conditions in both large and small high schools.
While the plan of the work has been made as flexible as possible in order to adapt it to different schools, it has seemed desirable to indicate definitely how all of the details of the course should be organized and what methods should be used to bring about the required results. The object has been to consider the purpose of each part of the English work, and to show as specifically as possible what must be done and to some extent how it must be done to accomplish this purpose. By having a definite aim for each year’s work and by seeing clearly what is to be accomplished in each part of the subject, the teacher of English feels responsible for the successful completion of a specific part of the course. At the same time the originality and ability of the teacher need not be hampered by a definite plan but may be exercised in adapting the work to different conditions in different schools and classes.
In discussing the course in English, the general aim and methods in teaching the important elements, composition and reading, are taken up first, and then the particular phases of each subject to be presented in each year, are considered. What is presented under the general topics, reading and composition, therefore, applies to the work of each year unless otherwise stated, and usually is not repeated in considering each year of the course.
A second edition of this bulletin has made possible some revision. No essential changes have been made, but considerable new material has been added. Some parts have been developed at greater length in order to explain the methods more fully. The most important addition is the outline for the study of composition and style, which has been included for those teachers who desire to review the various phases of rhetorical theory in preparation for teaching composition or reading. The bibliography has been extended to include a number of standard reference books on various phases of the English work. The books have been selected on the basis of their practical value to the teacher in the work actually required in the high school course in English, and of the possibility of assisting the teacher to build up for himself, at reasonable cost, a good working library. In order to accomplish the latter purpose the less expensive reference books have, as far as possible, been chosen, and the price and the publisher of each have been given.