96 METHODS IN TEACHING 



pleted, and the composition is aided and guided by a begin- 

 ner's rhetoric and composition textbook, in the hands of the 

 teacher. Plenty of practice, so arranged as not to become 

 monotonous, is given in writing. Pupils are held to what 

 has been learned in grammar and writing, just as they 

 would be in any other subject. Mistakes in known capi- 

 talization, punctuation, spelling, are looked upon just as 

 inaccuracies in multiplication would be considered in 

 arithmetic. 



There follow some extracts from a paper on language, 

 submitted by a teacher in an eighth grade i 1 



Composition is along the lines of invention, description, 

 reproduction. Numerous quick pencil sketches are re- 

 quired; these are discussed in class, or privately if the 

 errors are special rather than general. The necessity for 

 unity is discussed, and the means of obtaining it. One way 

 of investigation is reading from good authors. The pupils 

 note the points that, in their opinion, make the description 

 strong; they tell the effect upon their own imaginations; 

 they analyze as well as they can; they discuss the way in 

 which the description grows. After this consideration by 

 the class, papers are written, in which the pupils try to 

 embody some of the essential points that have been noticed. 



For a subject on which to write after such a discussion 

 something familiar is suggested, some pleasing feature of 

 our own surroundings, perhaps. The pupils are asked to go 

 to the place, to think about it, to study it while before it, 

 and to try to make their observations and ideas real to others 

 by means of pen and paper. In narration, an account of 

 some occurrence on the playground or in town may be called 



'Miss Belle Mitchell. 



