has written on this subject).
It also helps us become accustomed to express
beautifully, either orally or in writing, ideas and
sentiments which are accurate and personal.
The goal of the English class is not to form scholars or
specialists, but to acquire some mastery of our own tongue.
As a consequence, spelling and grammar do not come first
in teaching English. They have to be understood as tools,
never disconnected from the expression of ideas. Language is
an instrument to communicate thought.
1. READING ALOUD TO
Language is primarily spoken. This is why
the teaching of language, as an art imitating nature, must use
the spoken or phonetic form of words as the primary means for
teaching reading. Reading aloud should be the first way of
testing reading comprehension, of making the learner familiar
with the role of punctuation marks, or engaging the learner in
the full emotional experience that literature ought to yield,
or providing an appreciation for the cadenced and hence
ordered character of all works of the mind. One can teach a
pupil to put a period at the end of a sentence by first
identifying the end of a sentence as a place where one drops
Not only should the students read aloud,
but the teacher should also read to the class. This can be
done at the end of the day. The children always look forward
to a good story. It is also an excellent way to train them to
thoughtful listening. Once, Father Finn, SJ, was given a
difficult class. He found that the best way to obtain
discipline was to read them a story as a reward for good
Reading aloud can be an excellent homework
assignment as well. Parents and other siblings can easily
listen for five minutes a day. This is an excellent way to
show children that reading is important to the family, too.
Mother Stuart used to give a reading class
to her teachers. She wrote that such a class gives:
- "Some understanding of the importance of reading well
aloud, and of what is important in it.
- Courage to admit to our hearers that we have some
feeling of sympathy with what we are reading (a thing some
appear to feel bound in honor to keep as a dark secret).
- Some realization of the effects of good reading in
developing things that have their springs very deep:
self-control, patience, consideration for others, active
thought for them, positively and negatively. We have to
remember that we read for them, not for ourselves, and so
must not put too much of our personal idiosyncrasies into
our reading lest it may jar on them. It teaches the
necessity of consideration for our author and our audience
and forgetfulness of ourselves."
As Dr. Otto Willman2 says,
reading aloud is a:
"valuable asset of instruction and a
capital of which the teacher should make the most profitable
use. The teacher, who can do justice to a story, approaches
in power the rhapsodist. The pupils will not only listen to
her, but will hang breathlessly upon her every word as upon
a rhapsodist’s. In this way the teacher will not only win
their interest, but infuse into their soul sympathy with
what is great and noble, and enthusiastic devotion to high
2. THE ROLE OF
Grammar is the study of a language, spoken
or written. First, of the elements which constitute this
language: this is morphology. Secondly, of the
functions and relations which link the elements to one another
Grammar could be called a descriptive
knowledge. What is the object of this description? The
elements of the language and their arrangements, therefore the
structure of the language, its constructions, the diagrams,
the models in which human thought is expressed, since language
is the body of the thought.
The study of grammar, while indispensable,
is secondary in the study of any language, beginning with our
own. Before all else, through the contact with great works of
literature, the goals of the English class are to root us in a
tradition, and to make us discern the true nature of man. It
is also to teach us how to express ourselves. Besides, even to
express ourselves correctly, the study of grammar does not
suffice in itself; it is an auxiliary, and nothing more.
Reading great writers teaches us more on this level, owing to
a prolonged and frequent contact with beautiful language.
As a consequence, we should seldom if ever
isolate the study of grammar from the study of a text. It is
very important to connect this technical study of the language
to the expression of thought, since grammar is but an
However, we must be careful never to do
grammatical exercises taken from a poem. A poem is a work of
art; but in dissecting it into subjects, direct objects,
adverbs, prepositions, etc…. one destroys it. It is a
destruction of the music of the words, and an annihilation of
its transcendence, that is, what it tells us beyond words. As
G.K. Chesterton says:
"Pleasure in the beautiful is a sacred
thing; if a child feels that there is an indescribable
witchery in the wedding of two words he feels it alone, as
he feels his vanities and his dreams, in places where he
cannot be badgered or overlooked or philosophically
educated. The act of insisting upon his analyzing the holy
thing, I think, without the smallest doubt or the smallest
desire to exaggerate, is as insolent as asking him to
dissect his favorite kitten or account for his preference
for his mother."
3. THE STUDY OF
The Dominican teaching sisters have made
the following remarks about the important subject. It does not
seem good to have the student memorize lists of words isolated
from a text, for the sole benefit of enriching a collection of
completely disincarnate vocabulary.
Of course, it is necessary to learn
spelling, but we should never dissociate this study from a
text, where words are included in a sentence and the sentence
in a text. When we understand the text well, it helps to
understand the words used to express the thought. The
"context" is indispensable to the true understanding of the
word. It will also help to memorize the spelling of a word.
When this word is seen in the context of a beautiful sentence,
this beautiful sentence has a better chance to strike our
mind, and thus to inscribe itself more deeply in our memory,
rather than if it is in the middle of a list of dry and
disconnected words, without soul or life.
To study our language does not mean to
dissect it into a multiplicity of material elements, separated
from one another. Such a study, far from leading to a better
comprehension of the language, presents the danger of reducing
it to something merely material, whereas its fundamental role
is to convey thought. Language allows a mind to communicate
with another mind. It is a matter of spiritual communication,
which needs words, and yet transcends words. This is
especially true in the case of poetry, or with knowledge in
the supernatural domain of the Faith and of revealed Truth.
4. DICTATION, IN GENERAL
Dictation is very useful in teaching
correct writing. The children work from models of beautiful
writing. They see and study correct spelling and punctuation
and are able to enjoy excellent writing of various styles.
Laura Berquist3, the renowned educator, has
analyzed well this topic, which is of great importance for a
In a prepared dictation, the teacher goes
through the passage with the child, line by line, noting and
giving a reason for every capital, comma, semicolon, colon,
period, question mark, exclamation mark, and quotation mark.
Difficult spellings are gone over as well. The teacher then
dictates the passage to the child, who writes it from the
dictation. This way the student gives concentrated attention
to the mechanics of writing in a situation where he is writing
material that has been put together because it goes together,
as opposed to material artificially put together to try to
highlight examples of writing mechanics.
In an unprepared dictation, the teacher
reads an entire passage that the child has not studied
beforehand (although it could be a text from his reader that
he has seen before). As soon as the student finishes the first
set of words, the teacher reads the rest of the sentence,
waits for the student to write it and then moves on to the
next set of words. The dictation doesn’t take long this way,
but it does provide a model of good writing and practice in
spelling and punctuation.
In summary, the unprepared dictation is
administered as follows:
Teacher reads whole selection.
Students repeat what was said.
Teacher reads selection again in little
sections as students write.
Teacher repeats whole selection one last
time as student reads work and corrects it, if necessary.
Another form of dictation is called
auto-dictation. The child has to write a text from memory. A
good example of this might be a poem or a song that has been
Value of Dictation
Dictation is useful to cultivate attention
and to teach spelling in an interesting way, not mechanical
but integrated into the study of literature. It should be done
on a daily basis in the elementary school (frequency should be
dependent on grade level).
5. THE IMPORTANCE OF
The reading of beautiful texts is
irreplaceable for culture. To explain a text is to unfold it
or to open it, respecting its contents and communicating with
the true values it contains. This nourishes our students. We
should treat literary work as literary work, as work belonging
first to art, presenting first a vision of beauty. We have to
allow ourselves to be enchanted, captivated by the work,
without forgetting to keep our head and reason. Because a
literary work is not a philosophical thesis, it speaks to our
intelligence through our sensibility, which it can rouse,
touch or make vibrate. But we cannot read it only from the
purely esthetic point of view, which is impossible,
because there are moral values involved necessarily. Thus we
have to be attentive to the values of Christian life. For in
every literary work of any grandeur, the question of the
conception of man is involved. Creators of characters,
speakers of words, inventors of harmonies, makers of
situations, the great writers are all of that. Without that,
they would not be great writers.
Teaching the classics in the English
speaking world presents however one problem. Dr. John Senior4
has expressed it well:
"The upshot of the difficulty is that the
heart, indeed, the very delicate viscera, the physical
constitution and emotional dispositions as well as the
imaginations, of children will be formed by authors who are
off the Catholic center and some very far off; and yet, not
to read them is not to develop these essential aptitudes and
We should be careful not to exaggerate the
difficulty. "The worst failure in English classical
literature is indirect, that is its omissions —the conspicuous
absence of Our Blessed Mother and the Blessed Sacrament and,
following from the loss of these principal mysteries, all the
rich accidentals of Catholic life, the veneration of saints
and relics, the use of medals, scapulars, holy water,
Rosaries… These omissions must be compensated for by a rich,
Catholic and especially Latin liturgical life."
We think that we should not deprive our
students from the treasures contained in Robert Louis
Stevenson, Walter Scott or Charles Dickens simply because
these authors are not Catholic. "English literature has
been done and can’t be done again, the best since Greece and
Rome, full of beauty, good and truth —and Protestant. As the
Children of Israel took Egyptian gold and silver vessels on
the Exodus, so it is with us and classic books which, although
Protestant, are doubly Catholic to a Catholic because he feels
the pain of what they lack."
In addition to such classics as Treasure
Island or Robinson Crusoe, children should become
familiar with such authors as Fr. Francis Finn [available from
ANGELUS PRESS] or Hilda Van Stockum. These
Catholic writers (and several others like them) are able to
form a Catholic mentality in our students and this is why they
should be included in our literature lists (Br. Schuster's
"The Role of Catholic Literature").
The reading of the authors from the past
reveals to us the mystery of man and the context of a
civilization which is past, allowing us to understand better
the world in which we live. It would not be good to study only
contemporary authors. Even to understand these authors and to
grasp their impact, it is good to read them with reference to
the great works of the past. But we need to see clearly that
reading the authors of the past interests us insofar as their
works bear a message which is still valid, inasmuch as they
are expressing eternal values and thus they are in a way,
authors of the present.
6. THE SUPERIORITY OF
"LIVING BOOKS" OVER TEXTBOOKS
School readers that contain excerpts of
whole books have several drawbacks. The first one is taken
from the human nature of the teacher. a As Fr. Drinkwater5
"School Readers, in essence and
origin, are an attempt to make it possible for children to
learn something without teachers, or without competent
teachers; and they tend to create the conditions they
presuppose. Thus, if I were a teacher teaching some subject
by means of a School Reader, I should be under a
constant temptation to say, ‘Get out your reading books’;
and the end of it would be that the children would know only
the book and not the subject."
The second drawback is taken from the human
nature of the student. There is no doubt that he will get more
out of reading the complete story from beginning to end than
out of reading a fragment of it. Well chosen books stimulate
thought in a manner which cannot be attained through readers.
A good book read by an entire class during a couple of
months is always a great learning experience. As a teacher
was saying, "After reading such a book, my students are
always different (for the better)". The various themes
contained in the story are discussed together. Often the
students will remember having studied such a book several
years ago whereas they will not remember the excerpts in an
A third drawback is that the School
Reader tends to create a positive distaste for books:
"If it is all readable, any child of
ordinary curiosity has read it all from cover to cover in
the first week or two; and to return to it regularly during
a whole term, or whole year, is neither work or play, but
mere irredeemable boredom which soon induces on the one hand
the habit of day-dreaming, and on the other, that hatred of
everything in book form with which most pupils leave
school." (Fr. Drinkwater)
Does this mean that we should do away with
English textbooks? No, especially since some readers (Faith
and Freedom, National, Cardinal, De La Salle etc…) contain
some good stories (that are for the most part well written) by
which the children are able to be nourished. So we can use
these textbooks in an intelligent manner, selecting the best
excerpts for study in the classroom and using the rest as
supplementary reading. A teacher who has several grades in one
and the same classroom or several reading levels in one and
the same grade will also find these readers helpful. But we
should always use besides those readers several well-chosen
classics to study as a class. These 3 or 4 books have to be
adapted to the grade level of our students. There are several
lists available to help teachers select the best books for
their pupils. Great literature is the best way to form the
minds of children, and this can only be done through reading
living books and not just textbooks.
In the choice of books, we will not only
include classical literature but also some works by recent
Catholic writers because of the special value of Catholic
literature. Every teacher should read the wonderful essay on
this subject by Brother George N. Schuster.
7. THE ART OF
One of the best ways to stimulate thinking
in the intellects of our students is through skillful
questioning. As someone said, "The teacher’s fish-hook is
the interrogation point, for with his questions he angles in
the minds of his scholars for facts, conclusions, inferences
and judgments —the results of all mental processes. …But to be
most effective, questions must be well made." When
the teacher does most of the talking, the minds of the
students are apt to remain more or less inactive. Nothing
wakes up the mind more quickly and thoroughly than a direct
question. To put his pupils on the alert, to hold their
attention, to arouse their curiosity, to fix truth in their
memory and to apply it to their conscience, to keep them
active instead of passive —for all these ends the teacher will
find nothing more helpful than the practice of frequent
questioning. Training the pupil to think is one of the
chief objects of education; and in trying to answer questions
the pupil is set thinking in order to supply the missing
Since good questioning is so important for
effective teaching, teachers will strive to acquire this
intellectual craft. Mother Stuart told her teachers that
"To acquire the art of questioning was to cultivate a habit of
clear expression of thought. One questions as one talks. Good
questioning, like good expositions, is the outcome of habits
of clear thought and precise expression. Here, as elsewhere,
general life-habits dominate school-work."
Fr. Kirsch6 gives good advice in
this matter. If the teacher asks a question he expects an
answer, and it is evident therefore that the question should
be so worded that an answer is possible. It is a waste of time
to ask a pupil questions that he cannot be expected to answer
either because he has never learned the matter, or because the
subject is altogether beyond his capacity. A really good
question requires some hard thinking on the part of the
teacher as well as the pupil: on the part of the teacher,
because she must seek to ascertain before questioning, what
that pupil can be expected to know; on the part of the pupil,
because he must set his mind working in order to find the
The teacher must insist that the pupils
answer what was asked for, and not something else that may
pertain, perhaps only in a remote way, to the matter in
hand. Nor should the teacher be satisfied with half an answer,
or tolerate the practice of pupils who hide their ignorance by
beating about the bush. If the pupil cannot answer, or gives a
wrong answer, the teacher should try, in most cases, to lead
him to discover the correct answer. If this is impossible or
if it involves loss of time, then another pupil should be
invited to give the answer, though the teacher must still make
sure that the first pupil will get to know the matter.
It is a point of special importance that
the answer be given in a complete sentence. We all know from
experience how much easier it is to give one word answers
instead of a complete sentence. But consider what is missed,
what valuable opportunities are lost for language training if
the teacher is satisfied with single words or with half
sentences. The teacher must furthermore demand grammatical
correctness. What improvement shall we ever expect of our
pupils if we allow them to use slang expressions or
ungrammatical speech in the schoolroom?
Let the teacher give much time and effort
to the acquiring of the difficult art of questioning. Nothing
impresses a visitor to a schoolroom more favorably than the
teacher’s ability in this regard. The character and quality of
classroom instruction can, with comparative accuracy, be
discovered by a study of the character of the questioning. It
is, indeed, a pleasure to visit a class where the pupils vie
with one another in answering whatever question has been
asked, for this rivalry is a visible proof of the alertness of
the children and the teacher’s skill. But the best evidence of
the teacher’s skill is her ability to let a few questions
start the class in giving a connected treatment of a subject.
It is a good rule to make one question go
as far as possible, and for the teacher to come prepared with
a number of pivotal questions. Strayer remarks: "A half
dozen thoroughly good questions often make a recitation a most
stimulating exercise, while the absence of this preparation on
the part of a teacher not infrequently results in the
ordinarily listless period which may actually be harmful to
the child’s intellectual growth."
8. THE CASE AGAINST
Cardinal Newman7 gives this
definition of the instruction given in the elementary school:
"a discipline in accuracy of mind". The great Cardinal
then explains that the problem of modern students is the
"haziness of intellectual vision" caused by "shrinking
from the effort and labor of thinking." The consequence is
that when they grow up, our students "will have no
consistency, steadiness, or perseverance; they will not be
able to make a telling speech, or to write a good letter, or
to fling in debate a smart antagonist, unless so far as, now
and then, mother-wit supplies a sudden capacity, which cannot
be ordinarily counted on. They cannot state an argument or a
question, or take a clear survey of a whole transaction, or
give sensible and appropriate advice under difficulties, or do
any of those things which inspire confidence and gain
influence, which raise a man in life, and make him useful to
his religion or his country."
How can we develop the intellects of our
students? We have to arm ourselves with patience. Rome was not
built in a day, and buildings will not stand without
foundations. If our students are to be taught well, they must
be taught slowly, and step by step. A good teacher will not be
afraid to spend time on a particular page if he sees that it
is stimulating the minds of his pupils. Quality comes
One of the problems of modern education is
the abuse of workbooks. When used in a systematic way, they
tend to lead the child to develop automatic reflexes so that
he fills in the blanks without thinking. Very little true
learning is accomplished. The exercises tend to be artificial,
the sentences meaningless and personal effort is therefore not
encouraged. In traditional education, the students were using
a notebook in which they were writing dictations,
compositions, diagramming etc… They were not just filling in
the blanks but writing whole sentences and whole paragraphs.
Penmanship was thereby greatly improved. Students were also
proud of their notebooks. A workbook is thrown away after
use whereas a beautifully kept notebook (poetry, history,
religion) can be kept throughout life.
The shortcomings of multiple-choice
questions are evident enough: shaky knowledge is sufficient to
recognize the answer, guessing yields rather good results,
intelligent discrimination among the answers may enable one to
find the correct solution even if one did not know it. It is
therefore no true way of assessing a child’s solid knowledge.
Oral questions are often the best way to really find out if
the child has grasped a particular point.
Does this mean that workbooks are never to
be used in our classrooms? No, in fact they may be necessary
in certain circumstances (several grades in the same
classroom, etc…). Obviously, they should only be used with
great moderation. Good teachers will much prefer oral
exercises or using the blackboard and the notebook. Workbooks
favor laziness of the mind since they do not require much
intellectual effort. We do not want our students to fill
out worksheets in a mechanical way, but to think accurately.
9. THE PLACE OF
POETRY IN THE CURRICULUM
We should foster in our students a love of
the beautiful and true and a corresponding distaste for what
is ugly and false. Children’s sense of beauty can be
encouraged in various ways. The so-called fine arts include
music, painting, literature etc. Attention to such things will
aid in the kind of intellectual formation that is the object
of a classical education because it will strengthen and inform
the imagination, which must be developed in the right way to
do its job well. Laura Berquist has stressed in her writings
the importance of poetry for education (cf. also Dr.
David Allen White's series on "T.S. Elliot: The Wasteland"
Poetry is one of the forms of the beautiful
that is relatively accessible to children. Children respond to
patterns of sound and enjoy the rhythm of poetry, if they are
introduced to it before someone tells them they shouldn’t like
it. Poetry is naturally pleasant to the ordinary child, and
pleasure is a sign teachers should never ignore.
Mother Stuart, speaking of the cultivation
of the love of the beautiful in children, explained that it
tended to make them thoughtful, not childish, and awakened the
true human element in them, making them grow up. "It has
been suggested that beauty gives to children what suffering
gives to older people —something completed,
accomplished in the best sense."
Children are very good at imitation because
it is the way God intends them to learn. We need to keep this
in mind for all areas of our children’s development, moral and
intellectual. Children need models of right behavior and of
excellence in all the scholastic areas that are appropriate
for them to pursue. The right use and richness of language is
an area that is most appropriate for the formation of
children. For this reason they should be exposed to the best
examples of the use of language that we can give them.
Beautiful word patterns and sounds, the right choice of words,
and methods of producing particular responses can be imitated
by children who have had good models. Language development
is significantly enriched by exposure to good poetry.
Additionally, in all of the fine arts, one
of the chief benefits of appreciation is seeing the world
through the eyes of the artist. His gift of observation is
given to the student when the work is studied. For this reason
a painting can be better than a photograph in drawing the
viewer’s attention to certain aspects of a particular scene,
for example, the lighting or the composition of the figures.
Similarly, poetry can be a better way to draw attention to
certain truths or to make some facet of an experience stand
out. Excellent poetry will both direct the student’s attention
to these aspects of reality and model the best way to share
Also, poetry appeals to the emotions, as
does music, and like music, beautiful and rightly ordered
poetry can habituate or train the soul to the right kind of
internal movement. Familiarity with truly good poetry will
encourage children to love the good, to hope for its victory,
and to feel sad at its demise. The opposite habituation is
very clear to see in children who watch or read stories in
which the grotesque is taken for granted. They cease to be
shocked by what is really disgusting. That is a great loss to
Young children are good at memorization;
they pick up jumping-rope rhymes and doggerel verses without
effort. We should encourage this inclination and ability by
having the children memorize fine poetry, among other things.
This will strengthen the imagination and memory, as well as
prepare the children for the subsequent stages of intellectual
development. Since poetry draws attention to specific aspects
of experience, regular exposure to poetry will reinforce
children’s observational powers.
Continued practice in memorization will
stretch the faculty of imagination. Like any power of the
soul, repeated use of the power will improve it. Children who
memorize regularly find it easy to do, and a good memory is a
real asset to the intellectual life. We should start by
reading the poem to our students.
If the poems are short and adapted to the
grade level of the students, it seems possible to memorize one
every week or at least every two weeks. Once the poem is
learned, the child should enter it in a "Poetry Notebook",
which could contain illustrations. The poem can be photocopied
when the child is too young to write well (e.g., first
grade). As the student gets older, he should write the poem in
his notebook himself. Soon he will have his own personal
anthology, full of poetry he knows and enjoys.
10. THE TEACHING OF
Creative writing encourages personal
thought, originality and imagination. It is good to acquire
skill in expressing one’s own interior world on paper. It also
helps to be able to describe persons, events or situations
accurately. Good writing is possible only when the student
really knows his subject. This is why composition themes
should at least up to 6th grade be about familiar and concrete
things: first his personal experience, e.g., how I
spent last Sunday, what I saw on my way to school. What I did
yesterday evening after my homework etc… Essays for children
need to give clear boundaries and expectations.
After the child has learned to write about
his own doings he may be given subjects dealing with his
family or neighbors, e.g., how my father planted a tree
in the garden, how my mother baked a cake. Last, the teacher
may move to more difficult subjects. e.g., what episode
of Our Lord’s life was last Sunday’s gospel about, what my
favorite book is and why.
The classics the students read for
literature offer plentiful material for composition work.
These books stimulate their interests so it should be easy to
find subjects which will arouse their enthusiasm and therefore
bring out good writing. In 7th and 8th grade,
students can be initiated to write a real "dissertation",
e.g., what motivation such character had, how they judge
his actions, what would have happened if he had acted
differently etc. It is then that the teacher can form their
judgment and help them have a Catholic perspective on life.
One important point in teaching composition
is this: if we really want our students to improve their
writing skills, we need to correct their first draft so
they can write a second draft with the benefit of our guidance.
It is the only way for them to acquire the "craft" of writing.
They are apprentices and the teacher is the master craftsman.
He shows them how to do the work. The introduction should give
a preview of what the composition is about, clearly indicating
the topic and the student’s purpose in writing about it. The
body must consist of paragraphs which are well articulated so
that the current of thought flows smoothly throughout the
whole composition. The conclusion is often a brief summary of
the composition. The teacher should make helpful suggestions
in correcting the first draft so that the second draft will
incorporate them into their work.
Mother Stuart told her teachers "that
she would reserve to herself the pleasure of giving them a
weekly class in English composition". They met in her room
on Wednesday evenings, a subject was given to be developed in
a paper of about five hundred words, and returned to her by
five o’clock the following Tuesday. At the next meeting these
papers were read aloud, and criticized first by them, then by
her, and finally revised according to a scheme which she
prepared each week.
A short outline had to be written at the
head of each essay, however brief. Sometimes entire paragraphs
were remodeled by her and handed to them with their next
paper. This continued for nine weeks. She was quite merciless
in the criticism of certain faults, such as exaggeration,
inaccurate statements, phrases that had no thought behind
them, meaningless adjectives, and above all what she called
"cheap writing" a superficial, easy manner of handling a
subject without having "thought to a finish", as she
said once, apologizing for giving an answer after very short
notice. She always gave them the reasons for her rejection of
a word, and substituted others with a note of interrogation,
submitting them to their approval.
Good writing, whether for teachers or for
students, is an excellent tool for the formation of the mind.
As a summary, here is a checklist
for the principal who is evaluating one of his teachers:
- Is the teacher effectively teaching grammar?
- Have the students a good knowledge of the parts of
- Are they proficient in the art of diagramming sentences?
- What is the spelling level of the students?
- Does the teacher make the effort of correcting the
spelling mistakes of the students in their notebooks?
- Is the study of spelling integrated into the different
parts of the English program or is it disconnected (spelling
- Are dictations done regularly?
- Are they corrected with diligence?
- Are the poor spellers getting extra help from the
- Are the students led to appreciate good literature?
- Is the teacher instilling a love of reading in his
- Do the students have many good books to read at home?
- Are readers (consisting of excerpts) the only books used
in the classroom or is the teacher also using complete works
- Are these books well chosen so as to nourish their
- Does the teacher possess a good knowledge of these books
so that he can share this knowledge with his students?
- Does the teacher ask enough questions to his students?
- Are these questions well prepared so as to lead the
pupils to think?
- Does he try to involve every student in the discussion
or only the bright outgoing ones?
- Is the teacher using workbooks in a way which defeats
the purpose of education?
- Are workbooks encouraging the teacher’s laziness so that
he no longer teaches but merely corrects the
- Is the teacher developing penmanship through the
students’ writing whole paragraphs in their notebooks?
- Are the students memorizing poems on a regular basis?
- Are they able to recite them with expression?
- Is the teacher explaining these poems to the pupils so
that they may be led to enjoy them?
- Are the students given a composition on a regular basis?
- Are the subjects well chosen?
- Is the teacher correcting the first draft so that the
student can write a second draft with the benefit of his
teacher’s observations so as to improve his writing skill?