The educational record of the province of Quebec, 1 janvier 1958, Janvier - Mars

[" 3 ù R LG Qu a \u2014 mn = Pr pose _______ ts OFF 2 1IS7C6S E3E/ / CON THE Gi EDUCATIONAL RE RECORD OF THE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY PROVINCE OF QUEBEC Vol.LXXIV, No.1 JANUARY - MARCH, 1958 a sx bt i EE ¥ ie, % 7 : | Nn eh ips Hl rs 97% 7 il ZE 7 # i 4 i 0 ; ; H bh WPF i fof | y 63 : 2 mb 2 7 i Gn 7 GE CE ; i oz GRO 2 i 7 _ Ge GE Gi 5% 7 Gé GE aa po 2 7 4 ve LE, 5.| CU Gr | 2 7 5 GE 7 0 us oF i ih = 2 Ë = - = ee 8 : 2.Hl Be Se £ i 4.7 fit i a GE éd i ie 7 pe Ga & ht, # qe i i 1 i A 7% GE he\u201d cod a Yi ri fin! % 3 \u201cHn ME dan \u201845 tn * J Ht ir io i\u201c.7 | i \u2019 i À ih Qu x © Fe i H # % 4 7 % 4 | | 4 er i is Z y we ET ri | ! i ILE PERROT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, ILE PERROT | PLANIFICATION BISLIOTH.QUE it 3 ih Rind tree Tr na sa eee san i 7 snr ny , rn hit Nn qu iH} ot hh fit su HRY i MORNING MOURNING This, surely, is a remembered sorrow, Not one new, and fresh.For my pain is curiously blunted, And I view my heart With detachment and wonder.My senses are sharp and refined.Not caught up in a whirl of anguish As I had imagined that they would be.I casually note the gay, mad trill of a bird, The cerulean blue of the morning sky, The fresh, sweet smell of the air After a pre-dawn rain.or was that rain My tears.?No.This must be only remembered sorrow, And only remembered pain.Mary L.Bernard Grade XI, John Rennie High School THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Janunuary - March, 1958 Announcements Introducing our Authors.Are We Teaching English ?Allan D.Talbot Has the Teaching of Grammar Gone out of Style?.Sylvia L.Burton Why Study Canadian Literature ?Kathleen Harper À Composition Programme in Grades IX, X and XI.Elizabeth Stanton Music, Vocal or Instrumental .Ann Wilson Automation in Industry .Douglas Beder Play Review: Peer Gynt ; Martin Morf The Hungry Sheep Look Up ; Angus M.Bernard Poetry for Teen-Agers Richard F.Callan Quiz for English Teachers Public Speaking in High School.Frances Katz After Fifty Years \u2026.Robert G.Smith My Library .Enid Beattie The School Play E.C.Carter Remedial Reading in High School Edgar R.Boyd The Supervision of English.J.G.S.Brash Minutes of the October 1957 Meeting of the Protestant Committee Printed by the Quebec Newspapers Limited, Quebec. THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD À quarterly journal in the interest of the Protestant Schools of the Province of Quebec, and the medium through which the proceedings of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Education are communicated, the Committee being responsible only for what appears in the Minutes and Official Announcements.Authorized as second-class mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa.Vol.LXXIV QUEBEC, JANUARY-MARCH 1958 ANNOUNCEMENTS REVISED REGULATIONS OF THE PROTESTANT COMMITTEE Section IX \u2014 The Protestant Central Board of Examiners 116.The Director of Protestant Education and the Protestant Central Board of Examiners shall alone have the power to grant certificates and diplomas valid for Protestant schools.117.To the Protestant Central Board of Examiners is entrusted the power of admitting all Protestant candidates to training leading to teaching certificates valid in Quebec.118.Whenever the Central Board finds it necessary to do so, in the interests of teacher training, it may limit the admissions to the School for Teachers (Institute of Education), having due regard to the relative qualifications of the applicants for admission.: 119.Professional training shall be given in the School for Teachers (Institute of Education), as provided in 7 Edward VII, Chapter 26, and amendments ; and in approved universities for Class I certificates and superior Class 1 diplomas.120.The Central Board of Examiners shall grant the following interim certificates and diplomas which shall be valid for teaching in Protestant schools, namely: Class I, Class II, Class III, and certificates and diplomas of all three classes in special subjects.121.All Class I certificates shall be exchanged for permanent diplomas after two years of successful teaching as certified by an Inspector.122.Class II and Class III certificates, including those in specialist subjects, shall remain interim until the holder thereof shall have taught successfully for two years and shall have successfully completed one summer session at an approved professional summer school when the interim certificate shall be exchanged for a permanent diploma.The professional summer school may not normally be taken before the completion of one year of teaching.123.Superior Class I diplomas may be granted to holders of Class I diplomas who, having successfully completed the equivalent of at least one year of additional professional and academic training beyond the standard required for Class I diplomas, have obtained approved post-graduate degrees.124.Interim certificates shall normally lapse three years from the date | of issue, but when reasons for a further delay are satisfactory to the Director of Protestant Education he may extend the time.3) con ro tien rt a ee ce A TE NE ee REVISED REGULATIONS OF THE PROTESTANT COMMITTEE 125.Holders of interim certificates that have lapsed may have them renewed upon giving reasons satisfactory to the Director of Protestant Education and completing the work of one full session at an approved professional summer school.126.The Director of Protestant Education shall determine the equivalent to attendance at a professional summer school for those cases where no provincial summer school courses are provided.127.Class II certificates or diplomas shall be issued to teachers holding Class III certificates or diplomas provided they have obtained the Senior High School Leaving Certificate with passes in five subjects, or its equivalent, and also have passed in ten papers of the Grade XI examinations.The Senior High School Leaving examinations may be taken in two sections for this purpose.128.(a) Class I certificates in special subjects shall be of the following kinds: Home Economics, Music, Physical Education, Industrial Arts, and any other subject as determined by the Central Board of Examiners, and shall be awarded to graduates of universities and colleges who have taken approved professional training.(b) Class II certificates shall be awarded in the special subjects named above to those with two years\u2019 academic and professional training, or their equivalents, beyond Grade XI ( High School Leaving).129.Class III certificates in special subjects may be awarded at the discretion of the Central Board of Examiners upon completion of one year's professional training or its equivalent.130.The persons eligible for certificates and diplomas are : (a) For Class III certificates, those who have successfully completed a year's course of training in the School for Teachers (Institute of Education : one section of which class will be Kindergarten and the certificates so designated.(b) For Class II certificates, those who have successfully completed either (1) the two-year professional and academic course of training at the School for Teachers or (2) the one-year professional course, having fulfilled the conditions laid down in Regulation 127.(c) For Class I certificates, those who have taken the required professional training and, as described below, who hold acceptable degrees from an approved university, and in their undergraduate years have completed the following courses or their equivalents : Courses of the First Year: English and any four of the following : French, Geography, History, Mathematics, Latin, a Biological Science, Chemistry, a Physical Science, another acceptable ancient or modern language.Continuation Courses: English and two courses continued from the First Year.It is provided, however, that the Central Board of Examiners mav at its discretion (a) admit to training any student whose courses approximate those detailed above, (b) admit students who may be deficient in some subjects and prescribe the additional courses which they must complete.RN eT et] THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD À syllabus setting forth the requirements of the course of professional training for Class I certificates, covering the topics, the length of the course and the examinations for such professional courses, shall be submitted by each university for approval, whenever required by the Central Board of Examiners.Upon receiving the report of the Professor of Education and his recommendations for graduates eligible for Class 1 certificates, the Central Board of Examiners shall determine which candidates have the necessary academic and professional qualifications for these certificates.(d) For Class II and Class III certificates in special subjects, those who have completed the courses of training and hold the necessary academic standing as determined by the Central Board of Examiners.(e) For Class I certificates in special subjects, graduates who have completed successfully the courses approved by the Central Board of Examiners.(f) For Superior Class I diplomas, those who hold Class I diplomas and who have received degrees from approved universities granted upon the completion of at least one year of post-graduate study.131.Before entering upon any course leading to a certificate valid for the Protestant schools of this Province, each candidate must : (a) Make application upon the authorized form to the Secretary of the Central Board on or before the 20th of July; (b) Be a Canadian citizen or a British subject, or satisfy the Central Board of his intention to become so qualified ; : (c) Have entered upon his eighteenth year before the first day of January after entering the School for Teachers for a Class III certificate, or his nineteenth year after entering, for any other certificate ; (d) Submit to the Secretary of the Central Board, before entering, a certificate to show that he is in good health and free from physical defects likely to interfere with his usefulness as a teacher.132.The academic qualifications for entrance to the classes of the School for Teachers (Institute of Education) are as follows : (a) For Class III: A High School Leaving or University School Certificate, or the equivalent, provided that the certificate presented shows a pass in at least ten papers ; Applicants for.kindergarten training must show proficiency in Music to the satisfaction of the Director of the School for Teachers.(b) For the one-year course leading to the Class II certificate : A Senior High School Leaving Certificate or Senior University School Leaving Certificate provided that the candidate has passed in ten papers in the Grade XI examinations and in Grade XII in English and four (4) other subjects ; (c) For the two-year course leading to the Class II certificate : The standing required for Class III candidates.133.All holders of Class II or Class III diplomas shall be entitled to receive Class I diplomas on graduation from an approved university provided they have fulfilled the requirements in regard to their degree course that are demanded in Regulation 130. REVISED REGULATIONS OF THE PROTESTANT COMMITTEE 5 134.The Central Board of Examiners may, upon the recommendation of the Director of the School for Teachers, grant a Class III certificate to a student who fails to reach the required standard for a Class II certificate.135.When a teacher in training, through sickness or other cause, fails to pass the requirements to receive a certificate, the Central Board of Examiners may allow the candidate to renew his course or to return for any of his examinations at the close of a subsequent year, and, if he be successful, award him a certificate.136.Bursaries may be paid at the discretion of the Director of Protestant Education to students who reside off the Island of Montreal and who cannot enter the School without such assistance.137.On being awarded a Class II, or a Class III certificate, each teacher in training at the School residing two hundred miles or more from Macdonald College shall be paid out of the Released Normal School Fund or other funds provided for such persons the sum of five cents for each mile that his home, in the Province of Quebec, is distant from Macdonald College.138.The examinations for Class II and Class III certificates shall be the sessional examinations of the School, the results of which shall be considered, together with reports on ability to teach and to govern rendered by the Director of the School.All results, including examination questions and answers, shall be submitted to the Board by the Director of the School, and, in view of these results, certificates shall be awarded.139.The Director of the School for Teachers shall be the custodian of the final examination papers and shall retain them, subject to orders from the Central Board for at least one year.140.A professional summer school shall be held annually at the School for Teachers (Institute of Education) for four weeks during the month of July.(a) All holders of interim Class II and Class III certificates must complete one session within three years after receiving their interim certificates except when reasons for a further delay are satisfactory to the Director of Protestant Education.(b) Holders of extra-provincial certificates who have been granted permission to teach in Protestant schools are eligible to attend.(c) Holders of interim Class II and Class III certificates and teachers with extra-provincial qualifications may, with the approval of the Professor of Education, attend the summer school for teachers at Bishop's University in lieu of successful completion of the summer school of the School for Teachers (Institute of Education).141.The Central Board of Examiners is empowered and required : (a) To prepare and issue all forms of diplomas, certificates and tabulated reports which it may require in addition to the forms provided for in the law or in these regulations ; (b) To determine the time and the manner in which any report required by it shall be made ; THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD (c) To determine all details of time and manner of conducting examinations for admission to the School for Teachers, and for teachers\u2019 diplomas not provided for by law or by the regulations of the Protestant Committee ; (d) To observe and to cause to be observed all laws, and all regulations of the Protestant Committee touching the duties committed to the Central Board of Examiners ; (e) To report to the Protestant Committee as that body may direct.The expenses of the Central Board of Examiners shall be paid from the funds of the Protestant Committee at the discretion of the Director of Protestant Education.Section IX A \u2014 The School for Teachers ( Institute of Education) 142.\u2018The annual sessions of the School for Teachers shall begin on the first Wednesday after Labour Day in each year and end in June.143.\u2018The course of study in the School for Teachers shall be drawn up by the Director of the School in conference with his Staff, and be submitted for approval from time to time to the Protestant Committee of the Council of Education.144.Persons admitted to the School must be present on the first day of the session and must thereafter attend punctually every day of the session or give reasons satisfactory to the Director of the School for their absence or tardiness.145.In order to continue in the School, teachers in training must maintain conduct and character suitable to their present position and their future calling.146.Each professor, lecturer or teacher shall have the power of excluding from his lectures any student who may be inattentive to his studies, or guilty of any infraction of the regulations, until the matter can be reported to the Director.147.The Director of the School shall have the power to suspend from attendance any pupil for improper conduct or neglect of duty, for a week, or until the next meeting of the Teachers\u2019 Training Committee when he may submit the case to that body.148.The Teachers\u2019 Training Committee is empowered for any grave cause to expel any teacher in training from any class.149.Teachers in training who leave the School during the session are expected to furnish the Director of the School with satisfactory reasons for leaving.In case of failure of health, candidates should submit a medical certificate.Neglect to comply with this regulation shall debar a student from re-entering the School for Teachers.150.Teachers in training must give their whole time and attention to the work of the School, and are not permitted to engage in any other course of study or business during the session of the School.151.Upon the report of the physician to Macdonald College that any student is physically or mentally unfit to continue his work, the Central Board of Examiners or the Teachers\u2019 Training Committee may require him to REVISED REGULATIONS OF THE PROTESTANT COMMITTEE withdraw from the School for Teachers, and any student having any physical defect that is likely to interfere seriously with his usefulness as a teacher may likewise be required to withdraw.152.In order to continue in the School, teachers in training must complete, to the satisfaction of the Director of the School, all the exercises, practical work and other tests which are required during the session.Teachers in training who fail to comply with the standards indicated in this paragraph, or who may fail to show aptitude for teaching satisfactory to the Staff of the School for Teachers may be required by the Director of the School to withdraw.153.Religious instruction shall be given for at least one period a week by a regular member of the Staff during school hours as part of the school course upon the subject matter and methods of teaching as prescribed in the course of study under the heading of Moral and Religious Instruction.In addition, assisting clergymen shall give one period per week to other aspects of religious instruction as approved by the Protestant Committee.154.Teachers in training shall state the religious denomination to which they are connected, and each student shall be expected to attend public worship of his own denomination.155.Whenever it is evident from any report to the Director of Protestant Education or from the papers of the candidates submitted to the Central Board in accordance with the regulations, or for other reasons, that any particular examination has not been conducted in accordance with the provisions of the law and these regulations, the Protestant Committee of the Council of Education may declare one or more certificates or diplomas void or that the whole or any part of the proceedings of meetings of the said Central Board are null and void, in which case the Central Board of Examiners and the candidates who receive certificates or diplomas shall be notified thereof by the Director of Protestant Education.Section X \u2014 Certification of Extra - Provincial Candidates 156.A person holding a diploma or certificate as teacher granted by extra-provincial authorities, who desires to obtain a diploma valid in Protestant schools, shall submit to the Central Board of Examiners documents to show the nature of the diploma or certificate awarded to him by such authorities along with certificates of age and moral character and evidence that he professes the Protestant faith and is a Canadian or British citizen, or has begun the necessary proceedings to become such.157.If the documents show professional training equivalent to that required for the corresponding Quebec diploma, the Director of Protestant Education may, at his discretion, grant permission to teach in Protestant schools until such time as the candidate may be granted an interim certificate or permanent diploma by the Central Board of Examiners.158.The Central Board of Examiners shall determine (a) whether the candidate for a Protestant diploma is to pass examinations or attend summer school, and (b) any general conditions that he must undergo to qualify for a certificate or diploma.i 2 on! sr it Re; Ku! oe a 0 0 Bet THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD 159.The Director of Protestant Education shall make the arrangements necessary for any written examinations that may be required and pay the necessary expenses, at his discretion, from the funds of the Protestant Committee.Section XII \u2014 Diplomas for the Teaching of French 182.So long as the legislative appropriation is sufficient, the sum of $300 per annum shall be paid to high and intermediate schools which employ teachers holding the diploma for the teaching of French, and $250 to those employing teachers who have taken the course leading to such diploma but have not met all the requirements necessary for a diploma, provided that these schools are recommended for grants by the Supervisors of French.Such teacher will normally give all his time to the teaching of French and should supervise the teaching of this subject in grades not taught by him, except in those classes which are taught by other teachers with diplomas in the teaching of French.The Supervisors of French will recommend grants only for those schools in which the teaching is satisfactory.183.(a) A summer school offering courses leading to the diploma in the teaching of French may be carried on under the direction of the Department of Education whenever funds permit and there is a prospect of a sufficient number of students.) The prescribed work of the summer school shall be the study and practice of the French language and of the most modern methods of teaching this subject to English-speaking pupils.The school shall be open to teachers who already have had protes- sional training at least equal to that required for a Class III certificate, have had a minimum of one year of successful experience in ordinary classroom work, aud have given evidence that they have a satisfactory knowledge of Oral and Written French.Bonuses as determined from time to time may be paid to teachers who take the full course, provided that they teach in Protestant school municipalities, during the year following their attendance.183.(b) Teachers who successfully complete the work of the school, meet any other requirements that may be laid down, and have satisfactory reports of efficiency in teaching from the Supervisors of French, shall be eligible to receive diplomas in the teaching of French from the Central Board of Examiners.The Department of Education will notify all students of any requirements which they have to meet in order to obtain such diplomas.The Supervisors of French shall have the right to recommend teachers with Class I diplomas for diplomas in the teaching of French without attendance at summer school, provided that the teachers concerned present evidence of satisfactory academic training, proficiency in the language and efficiency in the classroom. STATUS OF TEACHERS WHO DO NOT HOLD QUEBEC DIPLOMAS 9 STATUS OF TEACHERS WHO DO NOT HOLD QUEBEC DIPLOMAS The following information is intended to answer some of the questions raised regarding the status of teachers who do not hold diplomas valid in Quebec.Prerequisites for Engagement If a person does not hold a teacher\u2019s diploma valid in the Protestant schools in this Province, he or she cannot be engaged by a Protestant board to teach in any of its schools unless (1) the Department of Education has issued to that individual Permission to Teach or (2) has given the board Permission to Engage that person.Distinction between Permission to Teach and Permission to Engage The basic distinction between Permission to Teach and Permission to Engage is that the former is, in effect, a temporary licence issued to a person who can qualify for a Quebec diploma.Permission to Teach is issued to the individual concerned and he or she is {ree to seek employment with any board.Permission to Teach can be issued only to an applicant who can eventually qualify for a Quebec diploma.A board may, however, receive from the Department of Education Permission to Engage for a limited time a person who cannot qualify for a Quebec diploma.This Permission to Engage is issued to the board and not to the individual.If the latter leaves the service of the board to whom Permission io Engage was granted, any other board seeking to employ him or her is 1equired to make a new application to the Department of Education.Eligibility for Permission to Teach Permission to Teach is issued only to individuals who can produce acceptable evidence that (1) they are under forty-five years of age ; (2) they profess a Christian faith other than Roman Catholicism or that they belong to the Hebrew religion ; (3) they are of good moral character ; (4) they are Canadian citizens or British subjects or have begun the proceedings necessary to become such ; (5) they have completed a course of professional training comparable to that given in the Province of Quebec.The application form on which the above information is to be recorded may be secured from the Secretary, Central Board of Examiners, Department of Education, Quebec, P.Q.Conditions of Issue of Permission to Teach Permission to Teach is valid for two years but it is issued on the understanding that at the end of the first year of teaching its recipient will meet the following requirements : 1.Show evidence of satisfactory teaching ability as judged by an Inspector of the Department of Education.2.Pass an examination, usually held on the Friday preceding Labour 10 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Day, or attend a summer school session at Macdonald College or Bishop's University.The nature of the examination, the date held, summer school requirements, etc.are specified by the Secretary of the Central Board of xaminers when Permission to Teach is issued.3.Complete a second year of satisfactory teaching in Quebec Protestant schools.Granting of Diploma When the holder of Permission to Teach satisfies the above conditions he or she receives a Permanent Diploma or, under certain conditions, an Interim Certificate valid for three years from its date of issue.Interim Certificates, where issued, may be exchanged for Permanent Diplomas upon the completion oi an additional two years of successful teaching.Permission to Engage Untrained Persons A person lacking professional training comparable to that given in the Province of Quebec cannot under the existing regulations qualify for a Quebec diploma except through attendance at Bishop's University or the Institute of Education, Macdonald College.A board may, however, apply to the Department of Education for Permission to Engage such a person.Permission to Engage can be given for one year only.If teaching ability is satisfactory and no suitable qualified applicant is available, Permission to Engage may be renewed for one year at a time.The total period for which Permission to Engage may be granted cannot exceed five years.Permission to Engage Certificated Teachers Though a person may be fully qualified in some area outside the Province of Quebec any application for Permission to Teach will be refused if (1) he or she is over forty-five years of age ; (2) he or she is ineligible on grounds of citizenship or religion.Such an individual may be employed only on the basis of Permission to Engage.Permission to Engage can be given for one year only.If teaching ability is satisfactory and no suitable qualified applicant is available, Permission to Engage may be renewed for one year at a time up to a total of ten years.Contributions to Pension Fund All teachers in Quebec schools regardless of certification status are required by law to contribute to the Pension Fund at the rate of 5 per cent for men and 3 per cent for women.These contributions to the Pension Fund cannot be reclaimed until after a period of service of at least ten years.REQUIRED STATISTICAL DATA PERTAINING TO SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS The following information regarding every substitute teacher employed during each school session should be recorded by the principal of the school and the secretary-treasurer of the local school board : 1.Date of birth. STATUS OF TEACHERS WHO DO NOT HOLD QUEBEC DIPLOMAS 2.Name in full.3.Maiden name in full of a married female teacher and husband\u2019s full name.(State if husband is deceased.) 4.Maiden name in full of wife of a married male teacher.(State if wife is deceased.) 5.Diploma or type of teaching authorization with date of issue.SUMMER SCHOOL, BISHOP'S UNIVERSITY The Summer School for Teachers will be held at Bishop's University from July 1 to August 9.Guest lecturers for 1958 will be Dr.Henry Bowers, formerly Principal of Stratford Teachers College, Ontario, and Mr.Arnold McArthur, Principal of Shawinigan Falls High School.The latter will offer courses on School Organization, intended for principals and senior teachers interested in administrative problems, and Planning and Supervision of Extra- Curricular Activities.Dr.Bowers will offer courses on Thought and Emotions of Children, an advanced course on child psychology, and Atypical Children, which will deal with probfms connected with such types as the gifted child, the slow learner, and the handicapped child.Should enrolment warrant, Professor Jefferis will offer a course on Education in Quebec for teachers certificated elsewhere who intend to complete the requirements for certification in this province.These courses carry credit towards the degree of Master of Education for graduate students.Teachers holding Intermediate or Elementary certificates may take them on a non-credit basis ; for those holding interim certificates, the passing of two courses satisfies the requirement of attendance at a professional Summer School under Regulation 140 c.Rooms in the University residence are available for both men and women.The cost of room and board is $120 for the session, and the fee for three courses $50.Applications and inquiries should be addressed to Professor Jefferis, Bishop\u2019s University, Lennoxville.FRENCH SUMMER SCHOOL, MACDONALD COLLEGE The French Summer School 1958 will be in session from July 2 to July 30 inclusive.Regulations have been changed in regard to French Specialist Certificates.Starting in 1958, there will be only one certificate; the granting of Non- Specialist Licences and of Second-Class Certificates will cease.The framework of the French Summer School is not substantially affected.The School continues to welcome teachers who seek a refresher course in French without aiming at a Specialist Certificate.Aspirants to the Specialist Certificate will still be classified according to competence upon entrance; the time normally required to complete the work of the School continues to vary from one to three sessions.Students in the elementary and intermediate groups will explore the methods field and engage in mutual instruction; students in the advanced QU 12 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD group will teach under supervision in the Model School.If present plans materialize, the literature course for intermediate and advanced groups will be a study of Molière.The cost of registration, board and lodging now stands at $76.00 for the session.The usual generosity in granting financial aid may be expected from the normal sources.Application forms for the 1958 session will shortly be available from school principals or from Dr.C.Hawkins, Box 156, Macdonald College, Que.These forms should be filled out and forwarded, accompanied by a deposit of $10.00 (par Macdonald College and payable to the Secretary, Macdonald College) to Dr.Hawkins before June 15.SUMMER SCHOOL, MACDONALD COLLEGE The following courses will be offered to enable teachers to qualify for permanent diplomas: Creative Teaching in the Primary Grades; Creative Teaching in the Elementary Grades; Reading in the Elementary Grades ; Social Studies in the Elementary Grades ; Arithmetic in the Elementary Grades ; History of Britain ; Educational Psychology ; The Development of Education in Quebec.During the period July 2 to August 6 the following academic courses will be offered to enable teachers to qualify for Class 1I Certificates : English (2nd year), Music 100, Biology 100.Graduate courses of five weeks\u2019 duration (July 2 \u2014 August 6) will be offered for teachers wishing to qualify for the degree of Master of Arts (Education).A workshop will be held for teachers of Science in the high school grades from July 2 to August 6.Further information may be received from the Director, Institute of Education, Macdonald College Post Office, P.Que.BURSARIES FOR PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS Persons from off the Island of Montreal who find it impossible to enter the School for Teachers without government assistance may apply for bursaries.A limited number are available.Application for these special bursaries should be made by July 20 on a special form to be obtained from the Department of Education.Requests for bursaries must be accompanied by full particulars regarding the financial circumstances of the family and be supported by two letters from responsible persons who are familiar with the conditions.HOME AND SCHOOL CONFERENCE The Annual Conference of the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations will be held at the Physical Sciences Centre, 3450 University Street, Montreal on May 2 and 3, 1958.All teachers will be cordially welcomed. JUNE EXAMINATIONS TENTATIVE TIMETABLE 1958 13 JUNE EXAMINATIONS TENTATIVE TIMETABLE 1958 Morning Afternoon THURSDAY, JUNE 12 Grade XI Music.- 9 to 11.30 Grade X1 Instrumental Music.1.30 to 2.30 Stenography and Secretarial Practice.1.30 to 4.00 FRIDAY, JUNE 13 Grade XI Art.9 to 11.30 Grade XI Art (cont'd).1.30 to 4.00 Technical Drawing.9 to 11.30 MONDAY, JUNE 16 Grade X English Composition 9 to 11.00 Grade X History.1.30 to 3.30 \u201cXI 9 to 11.30 \u201cXI Yo 1.30 to 4.00 \u201c XII \u201c \u201c 9 to 12.00 \u201c Xt 1.30 to 4.30 TUESDAY, JUNE 17 Grade X English Literature.9 to 11.30 Grade X French._.1.30 to 3.30 \u201c XI 8 \u201c 9 to 11.40 \u201c XI PL .1.30 to 4.00 \u201cXII \u201c \u201c 9 to 12.00 \u201cXI PL La 1.30 to 4.30 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18 Grade X Physics .9 to 11.00 Grade X North American * XI North American Literature.1.30 to 3.30 Literature.9 to 11.30 \u201c XI Spanish.1.30 to 4.00 \u201cXII \u201c \u201c 9 to 12.00 THURSDAY, JUNE 19 Grade X Geometry.9 to 11.00 Grade X Chemistry.1.30 to 3.30 XI PL 9 to 11.30 \u201c XI BL 1.30 to 4.00 \u201c XII Physics.9 to 12.00 \u201c XII Analytical Geometry.1.30 to 4.30 FRIDAY, JUNE 20 Grade X Algebra .9 to 11.00 Grade X Geography .1.30 to 3.30 XI Elementary Algebra 9 to 11.30 \u201c XI Physics.2210 1.30 to 4.00 \u201c XII Chemistry .9 to 12.00 \u201c XII Biology .1.30 to 4.30 MONDAY, JUNE 23 Grade X Biology.9 to 11.00 Grade X Home Economics.1.30 to 3.30 XI Intermediate \u201c XI Trigonometry .1.30 to 4.00 Algebra .9 to 11.30 Typewriting and Home Economics.9 to 11.30 Office Practice.1.30 to 1.00 Industrial Arts.9 to 11.30 \u201c XII Trigonometry \u201c XII Algebra.9 to 12.00 Course I.1.30 to 4.30 Course II.1.30 to 4.30 TUESDAY, JUNE 24 Grade X Latin.9 to 11.30 Grade XI Geography.: 1.30 to 4.00 XI Biology .9 to 11.30 \u201c XII Latin Poetry \u2018and \u201c XII Latin Prose and Sight._.1.30 to 4.30 Composition.9 to 12 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25 LAN Grade XI Latin Prose and Grade XI Latin Poetry and A ON Composition.9 to 11.30 Sight.>\" 1.30 to 4.00 Bookkeeping.9 to 11.30 3 RECHERCHE Agriculture.9 to 11.30 = ET PLANIFICATION BIBLIOTH.QUE THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD INTRODUCING OUR AUTHORS Mrs.Enid C.Beattie has taught senior English and Latin in Sherbrooke High School for the past ten years.Before coming to Quebec she taught in the schools of New Brunswick for several years.Mrs.Beattie received her professional training at New Brunswick Teachers\u2019 College, Fredericton.Following attendance at the University of New Brunswick and Acadia University, Mrs.Beattie received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the latter institution.Mr.Angus M.Bernard has taught English in Westmount Senior High School since 1943.Following the completion of his professional training at Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, he taught for eight years in the schools of Prince Edward Island.In 1939 Mr.Bernard received the degree of Master of Arts from Mount Allison University and has since taken postgraduate courses at the University of Toronto and Columbia University.Mr.J.G.S.Brash has been Supervisor of English in the Protestant schools of Quebec since September, 1949.Before joining the staff of the Department of Education, he served on the staff of West Hill High School for twenty-five years, teaching senior English and Latin.Mr.Brash received a Master of Arts degree and a Diploma in Education from Edinburgh University.For many years Mr.Brash has acted as an examiner in English Composition and English Literature in the High School Leaving Examinations.i INTRODUCING OUR AUTHORS 15 Mr.Edgar R.Boyd was appointed to the staff of The High School of Montreal in September, 1957.His teaching career began in one-room schools in Argenteuil County.After a year\u2019s teaching in Alfred Joyce School, Mr.Boyd served on the staff of Verdun High School for a period of twelve years.Before his appointment to The High School of Montreal, he taught practical classes and did specialized work in reading for a period of nine years at West Hill High School.Mr.Boyd received his professional training at Macdonald College.He later attended Queen\u2019s University and Sir George Williams College from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.Following four years\u2019 service with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Canada and Europe during World War 1I, Mr.Boyd did postgraduate work in Reading and Guidance at Harvard University.Mr.Boyd organized and conducted the first course in Developmental Reading at Sir George Williams College.Miss Sylvia Burton has taught English, Latin and Algebra in Chambly County High School for the past eleven years.Her teaching career started as Principal of North Hat- ley Intermediate School.After two years\u2019 experience she was appointed Assistant Principal of Granby High School.On the completion of fourteen years of service in Granby High School she joined the staff of Quebec High School.Miss Burton received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bishop\u2019s University in 1926 and has since attended summer school sessions at Bishop's University and Mount Allison University.Miss Burton has been an examiner in English Literature in the Grade X examinations of the Department of Education for several years.SES PEER APRES tu THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Mr.Richard Callan has taught English in The High School of Montreal since 1929.Prior to his Montreal appointment he was Principal of the Laurentide School, Grand\u2019- Mère for four years .Mr.Callan received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in history in 1925 from Bishop\u2019s University and a Master of Arts degree in history and political science in 1932.Mr.Callan is the author of Chains of Harmony and has made numerous contributions to Canadian and American publications.Mr.E.C.Carter has taught English and acted as Assistant Principal in Hudson High School since 1956.He has also had teaching experience in West Hill High School, Stan- stead College and Quebec High School.Mr.Carter received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in 1934.During World War II he served with the Intelligence Corps in England, North Africa, Italy and northwest Europe and as company commander and second-in-command of an infantry battalion during the years 1940-1945.Dr.K.Harper has been Principal of Sutton High School for the past seven years.Her previous teaching experience includes service on the staffs of Stanstead College and Lennoxville High School.Dr.Harper received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of London, a Master of Arts degree from Bishop\u2019s University and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Montreal.i INTRODUCING OUR AUTHORS Miss Francs Katz has been a member of the staff of Baron Byng High School for fifteen years.In addition to being guidance counsellor for the girls, she teaches English and History in the senior grades and is speech specialist for the entire school.Miss Katz received the degree of Bachelor of Science from McGill University and a Master of Arts degree in Speech Arts from Columbia University.Mr.Robert G.Smith has been Principal of Scotstown High School for a period of three years.His teaching experience includes service in Crawford Park Elementary School, Howick High School and Ormstown High School.Mr.Smith received his professional training at Macdonald College.He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sir George Williams College and has taken postgraduate courses in English at the University of Montreal.At the present time, Mr.Smith is completing the requirements for a Master of Arts (Education) degree at McGill University.Miss Elizabeth Stanton has taught English in Lachute High School for the past six years and previously served on the staff of Granby High School.Miss Stanton received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in French and English from McGill University and is presently working towards a Master of Education degree at Columbia University.Miss Stanton has acted as Assistant Examiner in English Literature in the High School Leaving Examinations for several years. THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Mr.Allan D.Talbot has been teacher of senior English and Vice-Principal of North- mount High School since 1956.During his professional career he has served on the staffs of Strathearn High School, William Dawson High School and Lachine High School.Mr.Talbot received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in English from McGill University in 1933.During the years 1941 to 1945, Mr.Talbot served with the Royal Canadian Artillery in England, Italy and northwest Europe.COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AND INDIFFERENT PUPILS Indifferent pupils cause one of our biggest educational problems today.Approximately ten per cent of the older pupils in our schools are indifferent toward getting an education.These indifferent ones in our classes become a drag which lowers our standards markedly.The conscientious teacher does not want to ignore them, so a middle course is taken.Nagging discipline problems, even though so small as the case of a pupil with head reposed on folded arms as in sleep, keep the teacher and the class from the full vitality of the lesson.To baby-sit with indifferent pupils not only lowers educational standards, it discourages teachers and wastes money.It is time to think on this problem in the light of what is best for the general welfare.I shall never advocate closing school doors to any child who will really try, but surely there is sense in excluding those who are a nuisance and are detrimental to the general welfare.We must not forget, in our \u201civory-towered\u201d enthusiasm, that some people just do not want the kind of life we envision for them.Instead, if we accept the philosophy that we will do our very best for each pupil, no matter what his ability, as long as he will really work and behave, we will find new success for ourselves and a different attitude on the part of pupils.A new day in public education can arise.This new day in which we live demands that we inaugurate a new \u201cpull\u201d in education instead of the out-dated \u201cpush.\u201d \u2014 L.W.Huber Ohio Schools, February, 1957. neo pen a nn criti OB ERD Ur a co A tO EO SC SAA LNB OSE ARE WE TEACHING ENGLISH ?19 ARE WE TEACHING ENGLISH ?Allan D.Talbot, B.A., Vice-Principal, Northmount High School Montreal If the answer to the question asked in the title should turn out to be negative, one conclusion is certain : we are wasting a great amount of time and money.A senior high school student, for example, who is taking ten subjects spends over one-sixth of his time in the direct study of English, in some cases as much as one-fourth of his time.Time \u2014 inasmuch as teachers insist on being paid \u2014 costs money, and textbooks do too.A pupil may use only one algebra text during his high school journey, but he will paw through anywhere from twenty to forty books on the English course of study.Administratively, then, there is not much doubt about it: we are giving considerable attention to the teaching of English, or at least we are allowing considerable opportunity for English to be taught.Furthermore, it is intended that instruction in English should continue even when something else is mentioned on the timetable.The Handbook for Teachers states: \u201cThe teaching of English is involved in every subject of the course of study .It is impossible in fact to teach any subject effectively without at the samc time teaching English.So far the only point made is that there is nothing to stop us from teaching English ; we have every chance to do so.I have still not answered the question, \u2018 Are we teaching English?\u201d Naturally I have not the slightest intention of producing the answer \u2014 even if I could \u2014 so close to the beginning of this article.In order to carry a small fraction of the Educational Record\u2019s readers along to the end, there must be some slight element of suspense.The teaching of English involves the teaching of an amazing variety of things: the teaching of reading, oral and silent; instruction in oral and written communication, forming a concise, clear sentence, delivering a speech, writing a business letter, composing an imaginative essay, giving a factual report ; and the understanding and appreciation of literature.It may roam from the prosaic consideration of the insertion of an apostrophe to an inconclusive examination of Lady Macbeth\u2019s morals.It may touch upon the construction of a sonnet, Hamlet\u2019s paradoxical character, or how to write a letter to a bishop.One day it leads us to: \u201cDear Sir: I have not yet received the two garbage cans I ordered last week\u201d; the next day to \u201c The fear of the Lord, that 1s wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding.\u201d What a tremendous area of human activity is covered by that one subject English! With it we can soar into religion and philosophy, brush against psychology and ethics, and dip into the mechanics of syntax.We can ride the crest of a sonorous lyric; we can set our feet on firm ground and pin dows a dangling participle.\u201c Are we teaching English?\u201d The question is too big to be one question.Let's whittle it down, bit by bit. THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Silent reading, now.Despite the loud cries of dismay raised by the unfortunate parents of slow-learning children, there can be no doubt that somewhere along the line in elementary schools most children are taught to read.The raw materials for statistical proof are on hand for those who want them.Most of the pupils in our system are given standardized reading tests towards the end of their elementary school careers.A glance at the results should convince us that our boys and girls have on the average learned to read at, or above, a commonly-accepted standard.Beyond the point of elementary school completion, however, there may be room for some improvement.Not all high school students require further training in reading, but some do, and I am not sure that all who need it are receiving it.High school teachers of English generally assume .(Here 1 must interrupt myself and ask parenthetically how anyone, particularly this writer, can know what high school teachers of English generally assume.In fact who can generalize with any accuracy as to how these teachers of English teach ?Perhaps there are some people who can so generalize, but I am not one of them.By observing a few, and talking to a few, one forms impressions but does not acquire enough facts for a firm conclusion.Let me admit a fact which the reader knows very well already: anything said here about what is actually taught in the classroom belongs to the field of unsullied conjecture.) To return to the unfinished sentence two paragraphs north: high school teachers of English generally assume that their pupils have been taught to read, and that is that.So at times a novel fit for a normal thirteen-year-old is tossed into the lap of a child with grade four reading skill.This is a waste of a novel and a waste of a child\u2019s time.I would strongly advocate that pupils in Grades VIII and IX whose reading ability is below average should be removed from the prescribed literature course for the first few months and given intensive training in reading.So part of the question is answered to my satisfaction, if not yours.Question : \u201c Are we teaching reading?\u201d Answer: \u201cIn elementary schools, yes; in high schools, not thoroughly enough.The next chip off the big opening question is this : \u2018 Are we teaching oral English successfully?\u201d Here it becomes well nigh impossible to produce any real proof for the support of either an affirmative or negative answer.What means have we of measuring spoken English?How can we get an overall picture of our success or failure ?Perhaps we can creep up on a partial answer.If those who have a chance to listen to teachers at work will admit that on the whole the teachers speak good English, and if the teachers of English are competent to instruct in oral English \u2014 and I think both these conditions are being pretty well fulfilled \u2014 then we are well on our way to an affirmative reply.By confronting students with good English and by deliberately teaching them to speak it, these students have a chance to learn the art.But what a fight the opposition puts up! Over radio and television, in the homes and in the movies, the barrage of poor English is deafening.Teachers would have to be supermen to win an unconditiona\u2019 surrender from the enemy.og eC es DE EP ARE WE TEACHING ENGLISH ?21 But here's a test.Go to a district where there is a large number ot foreign-born parents.Meet the parents en masse and listen to them talk.Then listen to their children of high school age.The children, you will probably be pleased to find, are talking fairly good English.Better than their parents, of course we would expect that, but also fairly good English by adult Canadian standards.There is only one place where they could have learned it, and that is at school.So now another step is completed.Question: \u201cAre we teaching oral English successfully?\u201d Answer: \u201cTo some extent, but it\u2019s a tough fight.\u201d Next question: \u201cAre we teaching the writing of good English?\" No, that will not do at all.It is far too broad.Does it refer to writing a letter applying for a job as a sardine-packer, writing an ode to a canine space-traveller, or writing a précis of a technical article on hi-fi?We must break down the question.Are we teaching students to write clear, accurate letters, descriptions and reports ?Since we are all in an assuming frame of mind, let us assume something more \u2014 that High School Leaving examiners would not grant a pass in English Composition to a candidate who could not to an appreciable degree write clear and accurate English.If that is accepted, then let us note that for some years the number of pupils failing in composition has been hovering around ten per cent of the total.It would appear that about ninety per cent of our Grade XI boys and girls can write acceptably.If university professors tell you otherwise, do not start to worry until you have found out what sort of test the university has given the freshmen.And if an employer tells you that our graduates can not spell, do not fret your proud heart either.Tests will show that our graduates spell better than their fathers\u2019 contemporaries.I am not by any means convinced that all is rosy in the realm of teaching students to write good English for ordinary purposes.It is likely that too much time is spent in a rather unproductive study of points of grammar or in the writing of exercises involving grammatical rules, and not enough time in having the pupil write his own thoughts and words.If we want to teach people to write, we must let them write and make them write \u2014 and then let them see how they can improve what they have written.With all the time that is devoted to English, it might be rather surprising to an observer to see how few opportunities are actually given to a pupil to write.But you and I are not surprised.In the teaching of English, everything that is written has to be commented upon and corrected, and that, brother, takes time.Plenty of time.Two hundred words a week \u2014 that is not very much for a student of English to have to put down on paper.But require each pupil in your five classes of forty to write two hundred words a week, and you have forty thousand words to pore over.One method of alleviating the situation \u2014 possible only in wealthy communities \u2014 is to hire outside help for the correction of written assignments.That method leaves me rather cold.If the outside corrector notes only the mechanical errors, the essays have still to be read and commented upon by the PE ECO NAN CAS 22 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD teacher.And if the outside corrector does a complete job, and discusses style, sentence structure, emphasis, organization, etc.\u2014 well, I ask you, who is teaching my English class, I or he?Delegating correcting is delegating one of the most important teaching techniques.There is, however, another solution to the dilemma.Yes, you have guessed it \u2014 smaller classes! (Nothing more will be said here upon this subject.Anyone over the age of fifteen who is not yet convinced that the need for smaller classes is one of our prime needs will never be convinced.) So the question, \u201c Are we teaching students to write good English for everyday purposes?\u2019 has a rather dubious answer.Yes, we are teaching them to a considerable extent, but given better conditions we could do much, much more.It is time now to take a whirl at a far more complicated question: \u201c Are we teaching students to produce good imaginative and creative writing?\u201d We know very well that we are not teaching all pupils to reach this height; that would be accomplishing the impossible.The gnawing doubt is this: where the child has talent along these lines, are we doing much to develop that talent?Probably not nearly enough.Many teachers have neither the specialized training nor the ability to do it; few have the time.We can quote purple passages from some of our superior students, but this tells us nothing about the untouched talents that lie elsewhere.Before departing from the whole question of writing English, it might be interesting to examine a bit of heartening evidence.The few paragraphs quoted below were written by a girl of sixteen who came to Canada from Poland seven years ago.She was given this rather hackneyed topic for an assignment : \u201c Laugh and the world laughs with you.\u201d That did not daunt her too much.\u201cWhat is so heart-warming as a smile; so infectious as honest laughter ?Laughter, indeed, is the food of the soul, the very basic element of true happiness.\u201c1 once overheard my little cousin tell her mother, \u2018I like playing with my new Hungarian friend.Of course we can\u2019t speak to each other, but at least we laugh the same language.\u2019 \u201c Laugh, little girl, laugh on! The whole world will hear you and be made happy, because everyone laughs the same language.These were my thoughts, the thoughts that clung to my imagination as vines cling to a wall.\u201cPoliticians search never-endingly for peace; philosophers probe the problem to the depths, and here an unassuming, unlearned little girl arrives at the solution.Only a child who does not understand the intricate calculations of life can solve so complex a problem so simply, so perfectly.\u201cAll that is kind and good and true can be expressed by laughter.A smile is balm to an inner wound ; laughter begs us to forget and forgive.\u201cInstead of arms, let us wear a smile; rather than strategy, let us fill our hearts with laughter.Let us march to freedom and love with but one weapon \u2014 laughter \u2014 the universal weapon of peace.Customs, language, thoughts may change from land to land, but we all laugh the same language.\u201d ARE WE TEACHING ENGLISH ?Well, somebody taught this girl to express herself in English in the space of seven years, while she was also learning arithmetic, Latin, algebra, cooking, chemistry, how to adjust to a strange land, biology, and a dozen other things.It would be a little illogical to deny her various teachers of English some of the credit.On we move now to our final query: \u201cAre we teaching understanding and appreciation of good literature?\u201d The understanding of specific books and techniques can be measured to some extent by examinations, and that is being done quite frequently.To measure the understanding of literature in general \u2014 an understanding that will carry on into adulthood \u2014 is another matter.And as for the appreciation of literature \u2014 that is well outside the field of statistical study.But what love and appreciation of good literature there is in Canada today, and there is much, surely the schools have helped to create.The school is the only agency atempting the task on a large scale.Where else are such large sections of the public brought into contact with good books, encouraged to read, given the opportunities of carefully-stocked libraries and well-trained librarians ?Literature is still alive in the land today, and it must be the schools that are keeping it alive.What else 1s ?At the end of a couple of thousand words one is expected to sum up.That is a figure of speech from mathematics, and how can we arrive at a sum of several concrete items with no common measurable ingredient, plus a few intangibles ?(Solve this problem: A farmer's assets are a contented wife, twenty-four pigs, a cheerful disposition, one hundred acres, a stalwart son, a charming daughter and twelve cows.What is the sum of his assets?) All I can say in default of a summation is that we are making a strong effort to teach English, that in some aspects we are doing very well, in others not so well, but never very disgracefully.And as the day dawns (Am I dreaming now ?) when all teachers are thoroughly trained, and classes are not quite so bulky, the answer to our initial question will be a boisterous, unhesitant ce Yes ! ry Aside from the problem of the excessive teacher-pupil load, the \u201cdo it fast\u201d mania is the greatest handicap to writing.The objective test in all its ramifications is an abomination, not only because it inhibits free and full expression in many areas of schooling, but because it reduces everything to a yes-no, true-false, multiple-choice technique and practically eliminates true thinking .Certainly English teachers above all others should band together to resist the objective test and demand emancipation from the IBM monster.\u2014 Carl G.Wonnberger The English Journal, Vol.XLV (November, 1956).Ly es OO THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD HAS THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR GONE OUT OF STYLE ?Sylvia L.Burton, B.A., Chambly County High School Not long ago at an assembly of teachers, a prominent educator from across the border read a newspaper clipping that deplored the standard of English, the grammar, spelling and vocabulary of the average student.The article conveyed the impression that the situation was shocking, that something drastic should be done to remedy matters.Noting that his audience was suitably impressed, the speaker revealed that the outspoken criticism had been written over one hundred years ago.For decades, our visitor claimed, people had been making similar charges.In the present system of compulsory education the school patients, he affirmed, were doing as well as could be expected.They were no worse, probably much better, than a century ago.If this is a situation which no one can change \u2014 be he pupil, teacher or administrator \u2014 why bother trying?Why not look the other way?Why not turn a deaf ear when the bank president, the business executive and the university professor throw up their hands in dismay at the poor quality of English that comes to their attention, written sometimes by school graduates who have ranked among the highest in mathematics and science ?Such adverse publicity cannot, in my opinion, be ignored or treated lightly.Members of the teaching profession and the public at large must be perturbed by this widespread, unfavourable criticism.Teachers are most concerned in that the pupils leaving the schools for the business world reflect their teaching.A great many factors contribute to this problem of inefficiency.Of these some are beyond the control of the schools, a condition rarely acknowledged by the public.It is not my intention to present a general picture of the whole field of English as taught in the Protestant schools of Quebec but rather to discuss one aspect of the subject, namely, English grammar.n vi pe: is 8 pe a Present Standards in Grammar McGill University tests the writing ability of its freshmen at the beginning of the first term.The results of this test require many students to enrol in a class for remedial teaching.At the School for Teachers, a short preliminary test in grammar is given to all students early in September.Because the results are generally unsatisfactory, tutorials have to be arranged.It is evident, therefore, that at the higher levels of education an adequate knowledge of basic grammar is necessary before the student can do satisfactory work in the subjects of his choice.The following comments were made by June examiners on the written work of pupils in Grades XI and XIL 1950 \u2014 Extra English : \u201cThe greatest vocabulary need is for abstract nouns.\u201d Composition : \u201cThe question testing the candidates\u2019 knowledge of good sentence structure and correct punctuation was less satisfactory ; even the better students lost valuable marks.\u201d Physics : \u201cQuestions requiring descriptive work were not very well I a ee a i HAS THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR GONE OUT OF STYLE ?25 done whether examined from the point of view of English composition or scientific fact.\u201d 1951 \u2014 Agriculture : \u201cAgain the composition was very poor considering that these are Grade XI students and should be able to use the basic rules of English grammar.\u201d Composition : \u201cKnowledge of sentence structure and vocabulary was less satisfactory.Since many pupils do not know what a sentence is, they find it impossible to differentiate the different types.If pupils realize the nature of a complex or compound sentence, they know enough to punctuate the sentence, and the same holds true for phrases and clauses.\u201d Non-specialist French : \u201cPupils did not seem to know the difference between adjectives and adverbs.\u201d 1958 \u2014 Composition : \u201cThe dangling participle was the most common error.Variety of sentence structure was nil.\u201d 1955 \u2014 Composition : \u201cAbstract nouns were not clearly understood.Pupils were handicapped by lack of knowledge of the elementary rules of grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.\u201d 1956 \u2014 Composition : Advice of examiner: \u201cThose who wish to excel in composition should (i) learn to spell and punctuate with a higher degree of accuracy, (ii) know rules of grammar and essential structure of a sentence.\u201d 1957 \u2014 Composition : \u201cResults from a few schools both large and small indicated a greater weakness than usual in the mechanics of composition.Question 4 on grammar seemed to indicate that too many are unaware of the essential nature of the English sentence.Such terms as simple, complex or compound were either omitted altogether or, if included, used incorrectly .Compose meaningful sentences.\u201d Teachers of Latin complain that many pupils are unable to identify an object, state whether the verb is active or passive, or detect an antecedent.Much time, therefore, has to be spent teaching the fundamentals of grammar before the pupils can make any real progress in composing a Latin sentence or in translating Latin authors.Aims and standards for the teaching of language skills have been established at each grade level.Have we set our sights too high?Are we expecting the impossible ?I do not think so but I believe different techniques must be used and a higher value put on this subject on our school timetable.Let us examine our procedures and pare our programme down to essentials.Possible Reasons for Inadequate Grammatical Knowledge Many of the students in our high schools are mature, clear thinkers and avid readers.Their language is colourful and they possess an instinctive flair for style.;Their abilities should be developed to the full.This, I feel, we are unable to do, because we are swamped by pupils of low intellectual capacity and by idlers.OPENER A Cn THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD In this article, attention will be directed to the increasing number of pupils who are failing to achieve a working knowledge of the English language.As a high school teacher of English with more than thirty years\u2019 experience I will submit the following reasons for inadequate standards : 1.Lack of interest in the subject on the part of the teacher and pupil.2.Inadequate drill on the essentials.3.Failure to assign a reasonable number of paragraphs or compositions.4.Failure to stress the importance of using effective and correct English in all subjects.5.The extensive use of objective tests in many subjects.6.Insufficient time for teaching composition and grammar.7.Insufficient time for teachers to correct assignments.8.Heterogeneous grouping of pupils.9.Lack of time for individual remedial work.Suggestions for Improving Standards Because there is an urgent need for increased practice in writing, with subsequent drill on grammatical structure and form, more time must be allocated to the teaching of grammar.Additional provision should be made for spelling, developmental reading, oral compositions, debates, and the like.Teachers should be given extra time for the correction of assignments.A university professor recently wrote : \u201cThe teacher of English Composition must have at least four times as many free hours for correction of papers as the teachers of scientific and mathematical subjects.\u201d The basic needs of the individual pupil should be met.Textbook exercises that have no relationship to the pupil\u2019s language problems will not promote interest in writing.Samples of faulty sentence structure and grammatical errors found by other teachers might well be handed over to the teacher of composition and made the basis for remedial work.The following comments on the teaching of written composition are made in \u201cThe Study of English in Secondary Schools,\u201d prepared by the Ontario Department of Education : \u201c.there should be systematic planning of the course for each grade of the secondary school, avoidance of repetition except for necessary review and enlargement of topics.\u201c.the study of words in lists out of context is of too slight value from the standpoint of enlarging vocabulary to justify the time consumed.\u201cExercises of a mechanical nature in vocabulary or diction are unproductive unless they give some actual practice in the apt use of language for the expression of facts and ideas.\u201d The Handbook for Teachers has given an adequate outline of the parts of functional grammar that should be mastered in each grade.Success in written English cannot be achieved until the pupil has a working knowledge of grammar.The learning of this subject should not be made an end in itself but a tool which will contribute to the better understanding of the corrections made on written exercises and essays.Analysis and parsing are important but can only be meaningful if they have some bearing on the pupils\u2019 written work.ee a ae CE FAs HH) WHY STUDY CANADIAN LITERATURE?WHY STUDY CANADIAN LITERATURE?There can be little doubt in the minds of any of us that certain aspects of Canadian literature should feature on the high school course of study.It would, indeed, be strange if we allowed students to leave our schools with no knowledge of what has been produced by Canadian writers in the past and with little idea of the rather exciting new achievements which are being made in the beginning of this second half of the twentieth century.This excitement and increased interest in home talent seem to be felt at present more in the West.It is the responsibility of those of us who are teachers of English in Quebec to stimulate in our students an appreciation of the best that has been produced \u2014 writing which will help to interpret for them Canadian life and customs.Although students should have an opportunity of studying Canadian literature, it cannot be given more than its due place on the curriculum.The present policy of incorporating a few samples of good essays, poems, one-act plays, and novels into the regular literature course is an excellent one.There is not yet enough to justify a full course on the high school level.Belore an estimate can be made of the value to be derived by high school students from a study of this literature, it may be well to look very briefly at the samples already on the curriculum.Modern Poems for Modern Youth includes a few poems by Duncan Campbell Scott, Archibald Lampman, Bliss Carman, E.J.Pratt, Pauline Johnson, and one or two others.The books of essays on the Grades X and XI courses also give one or two examples by Canadian writers.On Stage contains \u201cBrothers in Arms\u201d and two radio plays which were first produced by the CBC, and the Grade XI book of short stories has five stories written by Canadians.Although this is a beginning, it is not enough to give senior high school students a very clear idea of what is being produced in twentieth century Canada.On the other hand, it would be difficult to add very much, as in this case some of the English literature would have to be dropped, and it is essential for students to learn while they are still in school something about the great classics of our language.The North American Literature course has provided an opportunity for some students to gain a better introduction to the literature of their country.The Grades VIII and IX courses offer Prose and Poetry for Canadians, anthologies containing some selections written by Canadians; and a good selection of full-length books, among them being Glengarry Schooldays, Neighbours Unknown, The Son of the Hawk, The Golden Dog and The Higher Hill.Grade X students are introduced to Canadian humour in Leacock\u2019s Sunshine Sketches, and if they are fortunate enough to have copies of A Pocketful of Canada they are given an excellent cross-section of Canadian literature.They also read in translation Maria Chapdelaine.Grade XI pupils read a good selection of short stories and two novels, Klee Wyck and Arundel. 28 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD The Grade XII course offers an anthology of Canadian poetry, Two Solitudes, The Grandmothers and John A.MacDonald.Those students who take the North American Literature course have by the time they leave school at least a nodding acquaintance with Canadian novels, short stories, essays, and poetry, and the fact that they enjoy this reading, and in some cases become enthusiastic about it, is in itself a proof of its value to them.They find an added interest in settings which are familiar to them; a knowledge of their country\u2019s history makes the historical novels and the poems which reveal the changing spirit of the age more alive and significant.It is impossible in a short article to attempt any critical appreciation of the contribution to literature which has already been made by Canadian writers, and in making any reference to them one must apologize in advance for the necessity of ignoring many who have done good and significant work.My intention here is to mention very briefly some of the writers who have a place on the high school course and show how a study of their work can help students to become more familiar with the landscape, the history, and the culture of their country.Canadian literature of any age interprets the Canadian scene, and this in itself, in a country of such magnitude and geographical diversity as our own, Is an asset in the education of our children.Until the last few years the most valuable contribution has been in the field of poetry.The United Empire Loyalists, such as Stansbury and Odell, present their ideas of their new life in the wilds of Nova Scotia, and men like Oliver Goldsmith and Joseph Howe, though writing in the conventional style of the eighteenth century, give us occasional vivid glimpses of the inhospitable and rather antagonistic country of the early settlers.Duncan Campbell Scott and Archibald Lampman reveal the immensity of nature, against which man pits his puny strength.Such poets as these, writing in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, suggest the awe-inspiring beauty of Canada.Man seems to be an intruder ; he can admire and wonder at the glory of the forests, the prairies and the white northland, but when he tries to become intimate with them, he is repulsed by their immensity and made to feel that a long period of hard work, self- sacrifice, and courageous determination is necessary before he can become accepted as a native of the country and not just as a sojourner in a strange land.This strong, self-sufficient personality of Canada is quite different from that of older, more settled lands, where one does not have the feeling of being an intruder, but is welcomed into the intimacy of the countryside.As the wilderness has gradually become tamed, so the literature reveals a more idyllic nature, as we see in the regional novels of Grace Campbell and Mazo de la Roche, in which the Ontario landscape is described in a sympathetic, if slightly unrealistic manner.It is good for Canadian students to feel the significance in their lives of their country's natural scenery and to realize how much influence it exerts on the development of the character of a nation.A love of the Canadian landscape also helps them to have pride in their birthright and to build up a feeling of national and cultural entity. césuencnsanos bproonou oi OU ae WHY STUDY CANADIAN LITERATURE?29 Canadian literature interprets the history of the nation.Up to the present, poetry has taken the lead in this field too.The poets of the Colonial period show the settling of the land, first in the Maritime provinces and later in Upper and Lower Canada.Among the more important writers in the Maritimes was the prose writer Haliburton, who later gained familiarity as the originator of Sam Slick.In his Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia he attempted to describe the historical development of his province and he also wrote a significant pamphlet dealing with the growth of Nova Scotia.Although neither of these works was a masterpiece, each contributed something of value to our understanding of early Colonial days.In the early nineteenth century large scale immigration began, and the number of settlers in Upper and Lower Canada increased.The two sisters, Susanna Moodie and Catherine Traill, gave us in both prose and poetry an accurate picture of the life of the early settlers in this part of the country.Poorer immigrants, such as Alexander McLachlan, gloried in the freedom of their new country.Sangster, the unofficial poet laureate, commemorated the historical events as they occurred and also wrote feelingly on the beauties of the Canadian landscape.With Confederation came a new feeling of national unity, expressed in such poems as \u201cCanada\u201d by Charles G.D.Roberts.Modern poets do not merely interpret the Canadian landscape and history : they are more cosmopolitan in their attitude and deal, sometimes realistically and sometimes symbolically, with universal themes.They are concerned with social conditions, and we can see in their work the effects of the social upheavals in Europe.As more immigrants from many different countries settle in Canada, some of them will undoubtedly have a literary contribution to make.From their different backgrounds will come ideas and visions which will surely act as a stimulant to the growth of literature in this country.EO ith! pie Hh bit J pi 4h Bl ie! M hu J > 1 Lb: Eg i + i During the past few decades prose has made good progress in Canada.Short stories have perhaps had greater success than novels: Morley Callaghan, Marjorie Pickthall and W.G.Hardy, among others, have done good work in this field.The novel has not on the whole achieved outstanding results.It has been either too consciously Canadian or too insignificant in theme and philosophy.Among the more important of the modern novelists are Child, MacLennan and Raddall.Although most novels can usually be classed as regional or historical, there has been a tendency during the past few years for writers to elevate their novels above the mediocre level, developing their themes in a more universal manner.Thomas Raddall, for example, makes use of symbolism in his later novels.MacLennan, although dealing with Canadian events and conditions of life, strives for true characterization and makes the conflicts that he presents of significance to all.Drama has not as yet kept pace with other types of literature in Canada, but this lack will surely be remedied within the next few years.The radio offers an excellent medium for playwrights, and much good work is being done by men like Len Peterson and Joseph Schull.An increasing interest in the legitimate stage is being shown by the public, as can be seen in the opening of new theatres, both professional and semi-professional ; summer Le 30 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD theatre groups are playing to full audiences ; and this year for the first time the Stratford Players are going on tour.This very real interest in drama will undoubtedly stimulate writers to increase their dramatic output, and we may look forward to a bright future for Canada in this field also.In the past, Canadian writers have been held back by two extremes in the attitude of the reading public.Some readers have been ready to herald as a masterpiece any work simply because it was Canadian; others have been just as ready to deride it for the same reason.Writers have been afraid to strike out for themselves and have been too greatly influenced by British and American literature; they have suffered from an inferiority complex which has tended to stifle their originality and their force.Their enthusiasm has been dampened by the puritanism, narrow nationalism and complete indifference of the public.Fortunately the future offers much more encouragement to Canadian writers.The past ten years with their remarkable output of all types of writing have ensured for Canada a place in the world of literature, and we can look forward with confidence to the flowering of a culture which will be sturdy and unique.Malcolm Ross in his article \u201cAmerican Pressures on Canadian Individuality\u201d has this to say about the future : Our task is to become what we are.We have learned that we are not just a mixed batch of transplanted Englishmen, Frenchmen, Slavs, Jews.We are a uniquely structured community.As individuals we live by various and separate ethnic and spiritual inheritances.We preserve these differences.At another level, as Canadians, we take our cultural life from the lively collision and interplay of many inheritances.Thus we grow.It is not the item \u2014 French, Jewish, Slavic, or English \u2014 it is not the item but the pattern which is Canadian.Nor should we forget or deny that our cultural pattern is North American with a difference, but North American all the same.This is abundantly clear in the literary work of these last ten years.We are big boys now.We need not be afraid of the dark! We are now perhaps in a position to sum up some of the values to be gained by a study of Canadian literature.Through the reading of novels, short stories and poems which describe the Canadian landscape, students may develop a richer love for their country and a greater appreciation of its beauty and grandeur.The vastness of this country, although it sometimes seems to dwarf man, must also act as a stimulant to thought, understanding and appreciation of man\u2019s place in the universe.By its very size it helps to do away with pettiness and to let in the fresh winds of tolerance, sympathy and humanitarianism, and it must, I feel, also stimulate the individual to strive for worthy goals.Through reading historical novels and poems revealing the poets\u2019 reactions to the chain of historical events, students will find that the history of their country lives again for them.They will develop an understanding of the dual culture which has grown up in Quebec and in other provinces where the French influence is felt.They will be encouraged to read in French the novels of such writers as Gabrielle Roy, Roger Lemelin, and Louis Hémon, and thus acquire a deeper understanding and appreciation of the French culture which has so much of value to offer them.1 The Centennial Review, Vol.1, No.4. WHY STUDY CANADIAN LITERATURE?31 An increasing amount of good work is being produced by Canadians.One way in which we in Canada can help this output is by creating a public demand for the best.Canadian writers are producing literature which is the product of their environment and of their different racial and social backgrounds.It will be different from that of other countries; it may be inferior to the best which other countries have produced ; it will, however, be worthy of our critical appreciation.The reading public must encourage this vigorous growth.It has before it an interesting future to which we may look forward with pride and even excitement.Students should be encouraged to study this literature with the seriousness which it deserves; they must feel that their country is beginning to produce a national literature which transcends mere geographical boundaries and is rapidly becoming of universal interest.If we cherish this growth, there will emerge in this country something vital and significant \u2014 a new literature, based to some extent on European traditions but animated by the spirit of Canadian cosmopolitanism and racial tolerance.It would be unfair to deprive the students in our schools of the opportunity of being in at the beginning of an age which is bound to be a significant period in the development of Canadian literature.Briefly, then, we may say that a study of their country\u2019s literature wili be rewarding to high school students in the following ways : 1.The grandeur of the landscape of their country will be revealed to them by writers who are sensitive to its rugged beauty.2.The history of their country will be interpreted by people who have either lived through stirring periods or who are able to reconstruct the past.3.Students must study the historical development of Canadian literature if they are to understand and appreciate present trends indicating a great and exciting future.4.An understanding of the unique culture of their country will be developed.5.Our students will be the poorer if they are not given a chance of sharing the experience and philosophy of the best minds of their own country.Some of our writers leave Canada for more rewarding fields.If we are not to fail our country and set back the clock on the progress of culture, we must see to it that a desire for first-rate Canadian literature is developed and strengthened.Our first duty, therefore, is to give the students in our schools an opportunity of knowing and appreciating the output ol their own country.The aim of reading .is gradually to create an ideal life, a sort of secret, precious life, a refuge, a solace, an eternal source of inspiration in the soul of the reader.\u2014 Arnold Bennett THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD A COMPOSITION PROGRAMME IN GRADES IX, X AND XI Elizabeth Stanton, B.A., Lachute High School He struck but lightly one bright, fleeting spark That lit an idea in an eager head.Years after, stumbling coldly in the dark, He came upon a fire the spark had bred.Much as any English teacher would like to think that he had succeeded in inspiring most of his students to a love of writing and eagerness to express thoughts and ideas skilfully and lucidly, most of us realize that we spend a good part of our time \u201cstumbling coldly in the dark.\u201d The discovery of any fire our spark has bred comes all too seldom.None of us, however, in spite of momentary doubts and discouragements about the effectiveness of our teaching, ever underestimates the prime importance of writing which, as Socrates has said, is \u201ca way of life\u201d \u2014 an activity so closely associated with our lives that we may use it to prepare a shopping list, to compose a sonnet, to write out a geometry deduction.to spin a science fiction tale, or to construct a parliamentary debate.Writing has a dual value : to society and to the individual.A civilization such as ours requires its members to use writing as a means of participation in public lite and of personal expression.Without documents, books, periodicals and letters, our institutions, our foreign relations and our personal affairs would soon become chaotic.Writing, too, can be a kind of personal discipline, a means of sharpening the thought processes and of developing judgment, as well as a mode of release from the pressures of life.Many points of view exist among teachers of English concerning the proper methods and objectives in writing activities for high school students : some stress the importance of mechanical correctness, others look for originality in so-called creative writing.All must agree, however, that the only way by which pupils will learn to write is by writing.This ability can never be achieved through discussions of how to write a good theme or through the indirect process of doing exercises.The very nature of writing demands that it be learned by the actual experience of putting words together to express a particular meaning.Learning to write, even reasonably well, therefore, calls for writing \u2014 frequent, regular, constant practice by the student and much direction, correction and evaluation by the teacher.Certainly there is no magic formula to ensure success in the teaching of composition, but possibly a discussion of the writing programme which I have developed over a period of years may be of some value to teachers who like myself teach English to several fairly large high school classes of varying ability in a mixed town and rural area.Since I find in such classes pupils of high intellectual ability seated next to others whose 1.Q.is less than 100, the problem of coping with individual differences looms large.With approximately 135 pupils to whom I teach all branches of English in six ! Montgomery, Marjorie, Epic of the Constant Teacher. A COMPOSITION PROGRAMME IN GRADES IX, X AND XI 33 45-minute periods a week in Grades IX and X (two classes of each), and five periods in Grade XI, the time I can devote to composition writing is necessarily limited.I strive, however, not to neglect this important aspect of communication and have worked out as systematically as possible a continuous programme of writing which proceeds from one grade to another.May I emphasize, first of all, the importance of sound motivation.Getting the student to want to write is more than half the battle.A good writing situation has several requisites.Each class should be so set up that whatever a student has to offer, if he thinks it important or worth writing, should be accepted with respect.Sarcasm or ridicule, however slight, if it is at the expense of a student\u2019s writing effort, has no place in the clasroom and will surely stifle any spark of interest and effort on the part of the student of low ability.In addition, a pupil should feel that the teacher recognizes his difficulties of writing and is sympathetic with his feelings of inadequacy when faced with a list of topics and a time limitation.On the subject of motivation, Lucia Merrielees in Teaching Composition and Literature in Junior and Senior High School recommends providing a good range of suitable topics, introducing these topics for class discussion for a few minutes to ensure that all pupils have plenty of ideas to work with, providing as much writing time as possible in class, offering supervision and assistance as pupils request help, and supplying time and incentive for revising and preparing final drafts.Each pupil thus has the best possible chance to do satisfactory work.The point she makes on the importance of choosing good subjects cannot be overemphasized.Too often we are guilty of seizing upon a list of titles from a textbook or an old examination paper rather than searching for timely topics which are close to the pupils immediate interest and which they will find emotionally and mentally stimulating.Furthermore, no writing should be done without general discussion guided by the teacher, a discussion in which the pupils\u2019 ideas grow as they share them with each other.This practice is of immeasurable value in helping pupils to think out problems and organize their thoughts.Such co-operative planning and preparation on the part of the teacher and class can lead to some very commendable writing.In Grade IX, I spend the greater part of the year on paragraph writing, since I believe that within this brief form of expression it is possible to teach all the basic principles of good writing while giving practice as frequently as possible.I require a paragraph every two weeks or oftener if I can find time for correction.The choice of topics for the paragraphs is especially important.Sometimes I use the list of subjects in Using Our Language 9, frequently I present lists of my own, and occasionally I give a \u201cfree\u201d topic.Whatever the topics are, I try to arouse an enthusiastic response by a discussion with the students, showing them that I want to begin with them, their lives and experiences.At this stage they are especially interested in subjects related to their homes, families, prized possessions, favourite sports and hobbies.I try to persuade them that anyone who has lived thirteen or fourteen years has had thousands of experiences and ideas 34 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD worth writing about.Every student needs to discover that the daily routine, the seemingly trivial personal matter, is of interest to his teacher, as well as of significance to himself, if it helps him to see his own life as part of all human experience.Naturally there is a real place for imaginative composition.A pupil sometimes has a desire to try his hand at fantasy and should be encouraged to do so, but I believe this type of assignment should never be forced upon him by a teacher who disparages the commonplace as suitable material for composition.There should be practice in all types of paragraphs \u2014 narrative, descriptive, expository \u2014 with clear explanation of how these types of writing differ.Frequently I ask each pupil to bring in a topic sentence stating the subject with point of view or line of development.In class he continues to work on the wording of this key sentence until it serves the purpose of arousing interest in his subject and controlling the ideas in the paragraph.In addition he attempts to collect and organize his thoughts by listing supporting details which he arranges in the best possible order.While this is going on, I move about the class, praising, suggesting and encouraging, leading each pupil to seek concrete words and images, to reject vague generalities, overworked words, loose rambling sentences, and to exercise care in mechanics by testing all sentences for structure, punctuation and correct spelling.Knowing that it is always a difficult task to get young people to recognize the need for organizing thoughts before writing, I try to show them the necessity for planning by reading samples of planned and unplanned paragraphs.Some practice with outlines may be given, but care should be taken, both in Grade IX and later, that the outline remains a means and not an end, since the best of outlines often needs to be changed as the topic develops in the hands of the writer.Although the accent in Grade IX is on paragraph writing, I give some assignments of longer compositions, particularly towards the end of the year \u2014 simple narratives and expositions of several paragraphs.An integral part of Grade IX's work in my programme is the autobiography.Each pupil is encouraged to reveal as much or as little as he desires about his family background, his accomplishments, his interests, hobbies and problems.I have always found these brief autobiographical sketches, in which student reserve is dissolved and personality revealed, of extreme value in helping me to understand those pupils whom I am teaching for the first time: the girl whose mother is dead and who is keeping house for her father and brothers : the boy whose main ambition is to own a motorcycle; the teen-ager who deeply resents the fact that her father changes jobs so frequently that she never has the chance to put down roots or make permanent friends anywhere ; and the youngster whose parents are separated and who is living in a foster home.Such information is, of course, confidential but can be very useful in establishing satisfactory rapport with the pupils.Since letter writing is the most common form of writing used outside the school, it should be regularly and consistently taught in all high school grades.In Grade IX, I always review simple social communications \u2014 sending, A COMPOSITION PROGRAMME IN GRADES IX, X AND XI 35 accepting or refusing invitations, expressing congratulations or thanks for gifts or entertainments.In these I insist on legibility, neatness, and sincerity of expression.In addition, I give my pupils some practice in writing simple business letters: ordering, inquiring, furnishing information or explanations, asking favours, requesting samples.Occasionally, too, they may write friendly letters.The Grade X programme should build on what has gone before and then advance towards more mature writing.Early in the year my students do a review unit of paragraphs of all forms, beginning with paragraphs developed by details, examples or illustration, comparison or contrast, cause and effect, ending with extended definition.At this point I usually find that the pupils have made definite improvement since the preceding year in Eg arranging ideas logically, in gaining control of their subjects by using good topic and clincher sentences and suitable transitions, and in casting aside i generalities in order to deal in concrete images; they have become aware E also of the importance of clarity and coherence, as well as of good language and E style.We do a good deal of paragraph analysis by examining selections of E sound lively prose, searching for topic and clincher sentences, key words, E good transitions, and identifying the methods of development used by diiterent E writers.Again in this grade the bulk of the writing programme is derived from the personal experiences and observations of the student.The store from which he draws his ideas should never run low because as he lives he replenishes it.At this stage in his development, the adolescent is often preoccupied with himself as he begins to think through the problems of his E- own adjustment to life.He wishes, yet hesitates, to share his feelings with others.To satisly this need, I organize units of challenging topics under such headings as: \u201cPersonal Attitudes and Beliefs,\u201d \u201cTeen-agers\u2019 Problems,\u201d \u201cFuture Careers,\u201d \u201cFamily Living,\u201d etc.Preparatory discussion aimed at 3 stimulating ideas is as important as ever.I stress the necessity of having something to say and the importance of organizing this material before E: writing ; of writing carefully, allotting sufficient time for rereading, thinking, E changing, discarding, and finally revising once more.Pupils should come to i realize that good writing can never be a hasty, careless process.E À unit on the writing of business letters should be included as this kind of writing will be required by all students in later years.The basic types, previously mentioned in the Grade IX programme, should be enlarged upon, and others practised \u2014 the claim letter, letter telling of a change of address, letter of application for a part-time or summer job, letter requesting a hotel, boat or train reservation.These business letters, always written in the proper form should be judged for courtesy, clarity, completeness and conciseness.The practical value of expository writing with its carry-over into other subjects should also be obvious.I assign a number of short explanations which include defining, giving reasons, showing differences, outlining procedures or giving directions.These are often read aloud.Directed by such TN NT On 36 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD questions as, \u201cWould you understand this procedure if you had never heard it?\u201d \u201cWhat steps has he omitted ?\u201d etc, the class gives special attention to the clarity and coherence of the material read.Such practice calls for straight thinking and sharp judgment on the part of all pupils.In Grade XI, the final year of high school, even greater demands should be made of the students.I assign one long composition, as well as two or three shorter selections, each month.These longer themes should call for further skill in organizing, interpreting, and writing.During the first part of the year I present a list of classified topics under such headings as \u201cPersonal Opinions,\u201d \u201cSports and Hobbies,\u201d \u201cPersonalities \u2014 My Own and Others\u201d from which students may choose one subject but no more from the list accompanying each topic.This restriction prevents the enthusiastic athlete from writing all four compositions on sports! As in preceding grades, the basic material from which honest, responsible writing develops is the personal experience, opinion, interest and feeling of the individual.Throughout Grade XI, I also encourage gifted students to write imaginative stories as alternatives to the above assignments.Later in the year, following upon the presentation of several lessons on methods of locating information, use of reference books, note-taking procedures, selection, organization and presentation of facts, pupils write reports on a variety of topics which interest them.These should always be of functional significance to the writers.The short assignments usually include paragraphs of several types: descriptive selections in which the use of sensory language is stressed ; construction of points for debate on a variety of current issues with particular attention to logic, unity and emphasis in writing; and business letters, beginning with the basic types practised in Grades IX and X and proceeding to more involved communications, in which pupils may conduct business for Students\u2019 Council or Clubs, write to prospective school advertisers, ask for recommendations for jobs, apply for admission to colleges, and advertise or promote school activities.There is no doubt that this amount of writing places a heavy load on the English teacher.This I fully realize, but there appears to be no alternative if we wish to give our pupils the practice they require.This is my programme of writing for Grades IX, X and XI.Still to be dealt with are the vital questions of evaluation and correction.If marking papers is looked upon as a means of helping the students improve rather than merely an opportunity for obtaining a record, the evaluation of a composition can be a significant step in the development of writing skill.One school of thought advocates much writing with little or no correction of papers, another group would have the pupils correct each other's papers.I cannot believe that we shall promote growth in either the ability of pupils to think or to write if we do not read their compositions.Themes must be read, first of all to discover if our students have something significant to say, and then to point out ways of improving arrangement of details, of gaining emphasis, of correcting technical errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, diction, sentence variety, paragraphing, etc. A COMPOSITION PROGRAMME IN GRADES IX, X AND XI 37 Fach year before the first set of compositions is returned to the pupils, ! devote some time in each class to an explanation of the standards by which compositions are evaluated, showing as clearly as possible the criteria of content and form which must be met in order to earn a passing or superior grade.A frank discussion of grading standards is, I feel, necessary if pupils are to believe that the teacher is fair and considerate.To improve the content of student themes, I provide, wherever possible, comments on the individual paper where the logic is obviously faulty, where the events recorded are juvenile, or where the student seems to linger mentally below his grade level.To improve the form, usually a great problem, I try to convince pupils that errors in grammar and usage, which I indicate by the use of a set of symbols used in all grades, must be eliminated because they interfere with clear effective writing.Mechanical errors are penalized quite severely, and the correction of all major errors is required on the blank page opposite the original.For each grade I make a list of simply-worded evaluation standards to be copied in the pupils\u2019 notebooks under these headings: \u201cQualities of Good Writing,\u201d \u201cAppearance of Themes,\u201d \u201cTechnical Skills.\u201d The pupils and I subsequently refer to these by number.These evaluation points may be used as a check list against which to measure single writing assignments as well as progress over a period of time.Each pupil should have a separate notebook for his compositions and should write on one side of the page only so that there will be ample space for comments, corrections, and subsequent revision.When compositions are handed back, more discussion follows.Here is an opportunity for pupils to hear some of their classmates\u2019 work read by the teacher or by the gi writers themselves if they are willing.4 EE RE In conclusion, 1 would emphasize that there should be nothing haphazard in the conduct of a high school writing programme, that it should be systematically organized so that the work of one class develops naturally out of what has already been done, and that students have plenty of practice in writing.English is a powerful tool.We have an obligation to show our students both how strong and yet how sensitive it is.If we succeed in our efforts, our students will think more clearly and organize their ideas more effectively as they learn to express themselves with greater precision.Though the goals towards which we are working cannot be measured objectively, a period of training under a teacher's sympathetic guidance should give to most pupils the basic skills in written communication and to a few a truly satisfying creative mode of expression.In commending the exercises of his pupils, let the teacher be neither niggardly nor lavish; for the one quality begets dislike of labour and the other self-complacency.\u2014 Quintilian EE Se ee a a 38 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD [ The three essays which follow were written during the Departmental examinations of June, 1957.MUSIC, VOCAL OR INSTRUMENTAL Ann Wilson, Grade X, Hudson High School ror the past fifteen years of my life, I have been engrossed in one of mankind\u2019s oldest and most cherished arts, that of making and listening to music.[ might say here that my talents lie strictly along the second part of this last statement, namely, listening to music.The first ten years of my life were completely vocal, as we did not have any room in the house for a piano, and I stubbornly refused to play anything else.As a perceptive infant of two, little Ann was wont to toddle around the house singing a piece of her own composition in a raucous soprano monotone : \u201cHappy birthday to Ann! Two years old on Sunday!\u201d This went on for several months until I discovered a new one, a priceless gem entitled \u201cChickery chick.\u201d No wonder my worried parents packed me off to kindergarten as soon as possible! Here I received \u201cU\u201d in singing, as I repeatedly sang louder than anyone else, and was given up as hopeless when I retused to \u201ctone down.\u201d Next year however, under the patient but firm guidance of Miss Eleanor M.Gillette, my grade one teacher, I learned the fundamental principles of music (\u201cNot so loud, dear!\u201d) and did, indeed, tone down.1 soon progressed into the junior choir of the school and the junior choir of the church.Frankly, I was saturated with music.When we moved from Toronto to Hudson, my musical education changed from the sublime to the sublimer (if possible).We acquired a piano, and the house soon resounded with false chords, sickly scales and pounded pieces.After taking piano lessons for three years, I suddenly remembered there were other instruments besides the piano and, with the encouragement of our local orchestra leader, bought a recorder and joined his children\u2019s group.The recorder, a small flute-like wind instrument, is supposedly the best way to learn about music.I began experiments with it, immersed in water, upside down and other such interesting practices.When the worried leader suggested ! go on to a more advanced instrument, I chose the clarinet, in imitation of such great musicians as Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey.By now, I had begun to listen to music and was entering the third phase of my Ife.A new high-fidelity phonograph was responsible for this, and I faithfully listened to the swelling strains of Beethoven symphonies, while waiting for a chance to pop on a dreamy Mantovani or a sprightly recording of \u201cSouth Pacific.\u201d Music in its two forms, vocal and instrumental, and appreciation ol music have always lured me from other passive arts, such as reading or sleeping.Whether it be the noisy singing of a group returning from a basketball game, a new boogie-woogie piano duet, a pleasant-sounding technical exercise, a clarinet practice for the annual concert, the \u201cHit Parade\u201d on the radio, or some soft music to study by, music is a firmly-entrenched part of the life of one Ann Wilson.And it always will be, I know. AUTOMATION IN INDUSTRY AUTOMATION IN INDUSTRY Today we tend to take industrial automation for granted, since we have always lived in an age of machines.Human labour, skilled and unskilled, is still important, but modern factories are essentially animals whose heart is the electric generator, whose brain is the switchboard.This, however, is a development of the twentieth century.The story of automation began in England about two centuries ago.In this \u201cconservative\u201d land the infants of the machine age were spawned.The textile industry was the first industry to change from hand labour to mass production, but it was by no means the last.From England, the industrial revolution spread to Europe and then to North America, where it is now most highly developed.Indeed, mass production is the chief characteristic of North American industry \u2014 certain manufactured goods are untouched by human hands during their journey through the factory.The sure steel fingers of machines have, with their uncanny efficiency, replaced man\u2019s frail limbs.Some of the numerous examples of industrial automation are truly fascinating.They remind one of a science fiction world in which robots are the masters and men the slaves.For instance, in an ultramodern bakery man\u2019s only work is to cut open sacks of flour and sugar and pour their contents into the mouth of a mechanical monster.Here the flour and sugar are mixed as well as they would be under the practised hand of a human baker.This machine then spews out its product onto a conveyor belt, which carries the dough along to be sliced into short lumps.While on the conveyor belt, the dough is shaped, sprinkled with dry flour, given a few hours\u2019 rest, and then flipped into an oven.Several hours later, the finished product is packaged, ready for consumption by humans whose lives still require food, not cheap electricity.Those industries creating nonorganic materials are equally indebted to automation.The variety of procedures a machine can follow appears limitless \u2014 I have seen a single unit of a box factory fold and cut a piece of cardboard, flip it over, staple it, slap on some adhesive and a label, crush it flat, and drop it into cartons for delivery.Like many modern conveniences, though, automation is a mixed blessing, for it has created new problems for man to solve.One material problem is somewhat obvious \u2014 if a single wire burns out, a multimillion dollar factory can be stopped \u201cdead.\u201d On the other hand, automation appears to be the only solution to the huge world markets for consumer goods.Now that we have created it, we must learn to live with it calmly.Even more perplexing are the sociological aspects of automation.Admittedly, it is the only solution to mass production problems, but at the same time it creates mass unemployment.New jobs must be found for those who have been displaced by their mechanical counterparts \u2014 new jobs which employees can feel are truly necessary and not just charitable positions.This 40 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD leads to another problem of automation \u2014 the problem of man\u2019s ego.The modern worker who spends his days feeding a machine begins to feel unimportant and frustrated.He becomes irritable; the monotony not only bores him, but it lulls him into a state of complacency.This mental attitude produces carelessness.To combat it, the work of a person in an automatized factory must be made interesting ; he must feel that he is performing a valuable task and is an integral part of our society.Above all, man\u2019s attitude towards automation in industry must change.He must remember that he is the master, and the machine the slave! PLAY REVIEW: PEER GYNT When the Stratford Players presented Peer Gynt at the St.Denis theatre this winter, an interesting phenomenon took place.Although the theatre was packed when the curtain rose, and although the audience was generally enthusiastic about the performance, a number of people left the theatre during the two intermissions.To understand this mixed reaction it is necessary to have a good look at the play that was presented.It is a long play (lasting a good three hours), it is very poetical and most unrealistic.It has few dramatic qualities (no conventional accumulation of impulses adding up to a climax), little physical action, and much psychology is involved.These factors may have affected the audience which, attracted by the reputation of the Stratford Players, came to see a play they did not know beforehand.But let us examine these factors more closely.Ibsen is telling the story of an incorrigible braggart who, driven by an immense energy, leaves his native fiords to roam about in America and Africa and eventually returns as a broken old man, but still afflicted by his old vice.In the hands of Ibsen, this apparently ordinary character becomes a figure of epic stature, symbolizing, as does Goethe's Faust, the urge in human beings to roam about restlessly and discontentedly in search of an unattainable goal.Just as Faust's study was too small for the German doctor, so are Norway's fiords too small for Peer Gynt.Since that Faustian and Gyntian element is present in all of us, the play appeals to us all.Like Peer Gynt we want to be great and famous, like him we are likely to be shattered on the rocks of reality.: The merit of the play is that it creates a character which ranks with Faust and Hamlet among the greatest in literature.This does more than compensate for the lack of a dramatic succession of events.It makes the play a masterpiece and, as such, unpopular with some modern theatre-goers.Poetic language, too, does not impress modern audiences, nor does poetic fancy.Both are abundant in Peer Gynt.What we want today, and this is illustrated by the phenomenal success of Arthur Miller's \u201cDeath of a Salesman,\u201d PLAY REVIEW : PEER GYNT 41 is realism in plot, characters and language.However, is it not sometimes necessary to detach one\u2019s self from reality?Peer Gynt leads us into the strange and supernatural world of Norwegian folklore.Were it not for such occasional excursions into the world of poetry, fancy and imagination, even the most realistic mind could not lead a balanced existence.But the most obvious reason for people leaving the theatre was the way in which the play was presented.It was a most abstract presentation indeed.A board, two ladders, and a pail were about all that was used to represent houses, hills, a boat, and so forth.While such a symbolical presentation was not only economical but also suited to Ibsen's excursion into an abstract world of folklore, it made the play incomprehensible to those theatre-goers who did not know the play before.(That the director decided to please È the minority who knew the play, rather than the majority who had to be E disappointed, seems to me to be a very courageous act.) The acting of Bruno Gerussi, who was constantly on stage in his role as Peer Gynt, made up greatly for the abstract setting.He presented Peer Gynt as the character Ibsen intended him to be, full of flaws, faults and errors, but driven by that tremendous and noble force which causes men to explore, É invent and create ; the force which built the tower of Babel and which will Ë make us reach for the sky.: \u201cHEY \u2014 DON'T FORGET THE BOTTOM PART, TOO\u201d HERBLOCK in the Washington Post. 42 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD THE HUNGRY SHEEP LOOK UP Angus M.Bernard, M.A., Westmount Senior High School It was, of course, a dream, but the impression left on me is so vivid that I am sometimes in doubt.Only the location remains vague.It was an isolated community where the inhabitants spoke a tongue unknown to me and studied English as a second language.I remember that I had been visiting a larger high school where pupils congregate from all parts of the community, and where they spend four years preparing for The Place of Higher Learning, which corresponds to our university.My guide was a quiet fellow who had difficulty in understanding some of the words I used, whose English vocabulary was rather formal, somewhat bookish but certainly pleasant.Clearly it was a sort of \u201cacademic\u201d English ; its slightly pedantic quality seemed peculiarly suited to him.He explained, as carefully as he could, the routines of his school and suggested that I might like to see English classes at work.Naturally I was delighted.1 might learn something and even perhaps get a chance to display a few of my own ideas about English and the teaching thereof.Our first visit was to a beginners\u2019 class roughly similar to our grade eight groups.1 was immediately struck by the alert, eager attentiveness of the pupils, by their obvious intelligence, and by their courtesy.So impressive was their conduct that I remarked that this was surely a special class, reserved for the brighter boys.Thoughtlessly I followed this with a request to see the retarded classes.This puzzled my friend, who seemed not to comprehend the word retarded.When I explained, he ventured, \u201cYou mean stupid, do you not?\u201d I tried to make him understand that in popular education stupid is an obscene word, that a child may be retarded, immature, introvert, or a host of other things, but never stupid, or lazy, or loutish.When I pressed for more information, he explained that in his community children are kept in school only so long as they display the ability and desire to do the work required of them.As soon as it becomes evident that they can or will no longer profit from attendance, they are dismissed.As a result, no stupid people remain.\u201cWho decides when the boy is to be dismissed?\u201d I asked.\u201cHis case is studied very carefully by his teachers, and their recommendation is accepted by the parents as final.\u201d \u201cDo you have no difficulty with parents?Do some protest such dismissal ?\u201d \u201cWhy should they protest?They themselves were trained in our school.They have sense enough to realize the waste involved in trying to teach a boy who cannot or will not learn and they also realize the danger involved in permitting a boy to remain idle.\u201d At this moment my attention was caught by a boy who read aloud a paragraph of rather difficult prose.This he did excellently, and it was evident that he understood what he read.After three others had read similar material, a fourth was asked to paraphrase what had been read.Another was presented THE HUNGRY SHEEP LOOK UP 43 with the problem of explaining why certain punctuation marks appeared where they did in a given paragraph.Still another had to point out various figures of speech and to explain what the writer had tried to accomplish in using them.The masterly way in which these tasks were performed showed clearly that these pupils had been subjected to thorough training and had developed pride in doing a job well.As we moved to another classroom, I hinted that perhaps the work we had just heard might be a bit advanced for the group, that it implied some drudgery, and that it might soon become dull.My guide seemed slightly annoyed.\u201cHas excellence ever been attained without much practice \u2014 drudgery, as vou call it?\u201d he demanded.\u201cWe believe that the child enjoys doing what he has learned to do well.Does the clumsy skater enjoy skating?Does the awkward dancer enjoy dancing?How can a poor reader enjoy reading?Moreover, he can learn to read only through drudgery \u2014 through constant practice until he does it well.\u201d \u201cBut surely comma-hunting is not a very inspiring chore?\u201d \u201cComma-hunting ?\u201d \u201cYes, you know \u2014 that assignment of explaining why punctuation marks appeared where they did.\u201d \u201cHow can the boy use punctuation marks correctly unless he knows why he is using them?\u201d Realizing that I would have some trouble in making him see things my way, I decided to let the matter rest.I [elt it would be useless to explain that in our more tolerant attitude we permit the child much freedom, that if he wishes to use punctuation marks as a means of decorating a page, of making it pleasing to the eye, we hesitate to curb this desire to express his individuality.I could see that his pupils had mastered much, but I found the methods deplorably undemocratic.By this time we had entered a classroom where senior pupils were beginning an essay.As I moved about, I was impressed with the manner in which they attacked the job.They had been assigned a theme, and each was now busy working on a plan.Some had already decided how many paragraphs would be necessary and had written a topic sentence for each.Then they proceeded to list under each topic the detail necessary to develop it properly.Surely with such careful planning, a well-organized and logical presentation must follow.Here again, though, there was a hint of rigid drill, especially in the matter of handwriting.As you would expect, it was neat, precise, and completely legible, but somewhat too uniform.There was not that freedom of expression which reveals itself frequently in a tendency to elaborate the tail of a g or a y, or to put a bit of decoration on the occasional h or t.O\u2019s appeared like o\u2019s, and l\u2019s like I's with terrible monotony.I didn\u2019t bother to point out that a little variety works wonders, that to make o\u2019s like a\u2019s, or ¢\u2019s like \u2019s helps to keep the reader on his toes because, along with the joy of reading, he is presented with the challenge of a puzzle.ES 44 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD I noticed that a number of smaller boys would have been unable to get their noses much above their desk covers had they not procured three or four large books to sit on.These, I discovered, were Mastering Effective English.To my obvious question, the teacher replied that they had once ordered a large number of them but had found them almost completely useless.He further explained that inferior texts were usually not permitted in the classroom, but since no one could make sense of these tomes anyway, and since they made adequate door-stops, he had decided to keep a few.Then he showed me an excellent workbook in English composition, containing abundant practice in punctuation, sentence structure, good usage, and numerous other things necessary to the student.Unfortunately the price of this book was about equal to that of four gallons of gasoline or five packages of cigarettes per pupil per year.Few could afford to spend so much money on the study of English.Our final visit was to a class in English literature.Here each pupil studied from an anthology which developed chronologically the story of literature from the Celts to modern times.This seems an excellent idea.In this manner a sense of continuity is established.Since a pupil faces, not a haphazard collection of unrelated material, but a mass of writing which reveals the hopes, fears, sufferings, and aspirations of man from the time he lived a half-savage, simple life until he at last finds himself in the complicated and sometimes frightening present, he should begin to appreciate the debt he owes to the generations that preceded him, to realize that, because he \u2018has borrowed so heavily from the past, he has an obligation to the present and the future.If this lesson were driven home, the next generation might escape some of the smugness that is so typical of ours.Since returning from my visit, I have attempted to fit the dream to reality.It is a frustrating task.In the first place, the major weakness in English seems to be the inability of even Grade XI students to read well.It is the frequent complaint of teachers of mathematics, history, and sciences that pupils fail because of their inability to interpret what they read.It would seem, therefore, that no other skill acquired in school is so important.In every grade the pupil should get not only more practice in this, but also a great deal more practice in paraphrasing.Too often he manages to read a passage rather glibly but has little real understanding of it.The student of English composition should be provided with an adequate workbook.There are many of these available, some of which are excellent.Since less than three thousand pupils write the Quebec matriculation cxaminations, the cost of supplying such a workbook for the Grade XI students of the province would be not more than five or six thousand dollars.Next, we must give much greater attention than we do at present to selecting the material to be studied in literature.It is an extremely difficult problem for a teacher to create enthusiasm in his students for material which he himself finds uninteresting.In my opinion, much of the prose to be studied in Grade XI, for instance, is insufferably dull, and a large part of Modern Poems for Modern Youth is second-rate and shoddy verse.What is THE HUNGRY SHEEP LOOK UP 45 needed is an anthology which offers a wide selection from the recognized masters in English literature.It might then be possible to create real interest on the part of the student and to relieve the teacher from the monotony of constantly repeating insipid material.Finally, we need a better idea of what \u201cdemocratic\u201d education means.At present, the teacher must concentrate on the boy standing midway between the extremes in a class of about thirty.He hopes that the dull boy will not be too much confused nor the bright boy too much bored by the material presented.But there is injustice here.The dull fellow probably absorbs as much as he can, while the bright one is constantly penalized.Is it undemocratic, therefore, to do justice to the bright boy?If special classes or even special schools were established, we could train our leaders to delve into and master material that is now \u201cgone over\u201d or \u201ccovered\u201d usually at the speed and standard of the lower half of the class.Such \u201csegregation\u201d will be unpopular with some parents, but should we concede to them, or have we the courage to work for the welfare of the whole communty?Perhaps if students in the advanced classes were aware that they might be transferred to slower groups unless they maintained a given standard, much of the present listlessness and indifference would disappear.Schools might then become places of learning and not shelters for the unemployed.They [many educators] say it is more important to help students to adjust to one another and to feel the warmth of success than it is to demand rigorous achievement.1 sympathize with the aims of these educators.But I submit that their approach does not measure up to the reality of life.When students leave school, they will find that success is not automatic.Knowledge and achievement will count, not good intentions.In the hard competition of life, they will have to face failure.Since life is this way, then our schools do not realistically prepare students if they ignore these hard realities.It 1s good to have democracy in our educational system, but it is also necessary to have backbone, standards and guidance.Young people want and need firm guidance.They may rebel against specific commands, but even the brashest of them knows that he has not the experience and wisdom to face the world unaided.\u2014 Vice-President Nixon It we are to check the waste of human resources, we must curb our devotion to the cult of mediocrity; we must give special attention and special training to the talented children on whom we shall make special demands, and all of us, parents, teachers, trustees, the taxpayers, must eradicate the criminally common belittlement of scholarship that is spreading like a virus through our schools.Life is more than learning, but living without the love of learning is less than life.\u2014 Sidney Smith REARING pr cs Basi 46 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD POETRY FOR TEEN-AGERS Richard Callan, M.A., The High School of Montreal Oliver Cromwell, referring to law on one occasion, used the sombre phrase \u201ca tortuous and ungodly jumble.\u201d Although some poems by writers of the Cult of Obscurity may justify the opinion with regard to poetry expressed by the leader of the Ironsides with reference to law, English literature has innumerable poems which speak to man in clearest terms in the universal language of the heart.A definition of poetry acceptable to all has yet to be formulated ; and one within the comprehension of the teen-ager, with his passion for clear-cut statement, is extremely difficult to find.Audrey Alexandra Brown has come very close to supplying the necessary definition when she writes: \u201cPoetry is to life as sunlight to a stained-glass window.\u201d However poetry may be defined, it must possess the magic of words; and if sometimes the words are a little wild and unconventional, this is not to be deplored.\u201cWhat passion cannot music raise and quell,\u201d wrote Dryden.The appeal made by poetry is fundamentally the same as that made by music, and it can be argued that the further it strays from music, the poorer poetry it becomes.If it is difficult to answer the question, \u201cWhat is poetry?\u201d it is equally baffling to define the teen-ager.Thousands ol words have been written about the boys and girls of this mid-twentieth century, and much of this writing has been an endeavour to pour them all into one mould.Like attempts to define the Socialist, theory falls short of fact.The teen-ager may successfully achieve an outward conformity in dress, forms of expression and behaviour, but the Most High has conferred an inward diversity, and the \u201coutward semblance\u201d denies \u201cthe soul's immensity.\u201d Few will question the assertion that poetry constitutes an essential part of any high school course.It has never been called a \u201cfrill.\u201d But what poetry should be taught?Here possibly as much difference of opinion exists as can be found in the attempt to answer the question, \u201cWhat is poetry?\u201d If the teen-ager is to appreciate poetry, he must be regarded as an individual and not merely as a member of a group.Tastes differ, as anyone who has been associated with adult poetry groups well knows.Many an evening has been spent in heated discussion regarding the merits of a particular work, and this 1s all to the good.Of course in preparing an anthology ol poetry for high school use, great care must be taken to make the work thoroughly representative, and in most cases this has been accomplished.But poetry which is to be presented to boys and girls aged thirteen to fifteen should not be the same as that intended for those from sixteen to eighteen.One must not fail to realize that a year or two in the teen-age period nearly always produces a change in point of view.Irrespective of age groups, some fundamental characteristics of poetry appeal to all.One is the appeal to the imagination.The teen-ager whose parents have taken the trouble to read to him in his preschool years is POETRY FOR TEEN-AGERS 47 better prepared to derive benefit from the study of poetry.His mind may not have grasped the meaning of all the words, but his imagination has been stimulated by the story and his ear pleased by rhyme.Christopher Robin\u2019s \u201csneezles and wheezles\u201d are never forgotten, and the \u201cruncible spoon\u201d remains, as it should, a mystery.Another basic characteristic is the appeal to the sense of rhythm.The kindergarten rhythm band and the regimental march, the nursery rhyme and the thumping metre of the folk ballad travel the same road and develop an awareness of measured sound.The child who has been deprived of these early benefits often is able to compensate for the loss, at least partially, during his years in elementary school.However, when he enters high school at the age of thirteen, what type of poetry should he be taught?My answer is: chiefly narrative.Many good narrative poems have been written, and for the thirteen to fifteen-year group these should predominate.I mention only a few: Scott's Tle Lady of the Lake, Longfellow's The Schooner Hesperus, Noyes\u2019 The Highwayman, MacMechan\u2019s The Ballad of La Tribune, selections from Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, and for top-ranking classes, portions of Beowulf.Very close to narrative poetry, in fact of equal importance, 1 would place songs.Why such a great gulf exists between the teaching of poetry and the teaching of music has always been a puzzle to me.Most teen-agers ol thirteen and fourteen enjoy singing, so why not provide words and music from the rich collection of folk songs?Always, or almost always, the words will be memorized as the melody is learned.Within recent years many folk songs have been collected, thanks to the efforts of a [ew people of vision.Canada may well be proud of this inheritance from both English and French sources.Another sadly neglected source is the metrical version of the Psalms.Not all these versions are ol equal merit, and some possess no merit at all ; several beautiful interpretations of Psalm XXIII exist ( to mention only one example) set to music which no teen-ager would find difficult to learn, and having learned both words and music would never forget.Christmas carols, Easter carols, and some of the great hymns ought to find a place in the course ol study, for these have withstood the acid test of time.I have mentioned a few types of poetry which might form part of every course for young people beginning high school work, and now I will indicate some topics which should never appear.At the top of the list to be shunned I would place poems which deal exclusively with death.Pupils of this age group are not much concerned with death but are greatly interested in life.Donne's Death, be not proud.is an excellent poem for the more mature, but means little to Grade VIII classes.Banish the Grim Reaper! True, in The Last Fight of the Revenge Sir Richard Grenville \u201cfell upon the deck and he died\u201d just as he was expected to do.The poem tells of his fight, and his death is but the fitting conclusion. 48 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Poems containing obsolete words and far-fetched imagery likewise should be excluded.The bride came into the castle hall, \u201cred as a rose was she.\u201d Fine! But don\u2019t let her \u201ctell the ways\u201d she loves after the manner of Elizabeth Browning in her beautiful sonnet How do I love thee?.This deeply moving work is highly prized by most teen-agers in Grades XI and XII but is too profound for those in Grades VIII and IX.What of the Shakespearian play?1 doubt the wisdom of including Shakespeare in the Grade VIII course, but certainly advocate an introduction to him in Grade IX.Pupils of this grade are able to enjoy 4 Midsummer Night's Dream, especially if Mendelssohn\u2019s incidental music to this work is played and if the different parts are related to the sections of the play to which they apply.The music ought to receive as much attention as the play, since hearing it only once leaves little impression except upon the very musical.Pupils of Grade IX also enjoy Macbeth, a work much more suited to the mental and emotional outlook of these young people than is The Merchant of Venice.These two plays illustrate Shakespeare's dramatic art and provide an excellent foundation upon which to build an appreciation of his genius.The teen-ager\u2019s change in outlook at fifteen is quite marked.In Grade 1X, therefore, while still retaining plenty of narrative poetry and songs, some attempt must be made to acquaint pupils with the different types \u2014 the ballad, epic and metrical romance.Trace the development of the ballad and say something about the great epics.Show that an epic must be written on a noble or impressive theme.Discuss the sonnet and point out the different forms; then have pupils memorize one example of each.(Yes, memory work, a great deal of it is essential if teen-agers are to know anything about poetry.) Humorous poetry, that is, poetry which is devoted to the ridiculous without satire, will arouse interest in Grade IX.Why are so few humorous poems found in school texts ?Someone has said that what the world needs at present is a good laugh, and many of the poems of Ogden Nash provide just this.If the teen-ager realizes that poetry can cause tears of joy to flow, he will rid himself forever of the idea that poetry is only for \u201cstuffed shirts.\u201d If the teen-ager has followed the outline indicated for Grades VIII and IX, he should be introduced to the writers of the Æeo-Classical school, particularly Dryden and Pope, during his first term #h Grade X.Pope's rhyming couplets are always popular, and students enjoy writing a few of their own \u2014 sometimes with startling originality ! Pope, \u201cthe wicked wasp of Twickenham,\u201d 1s a master satirist and can be appreciated by mature teen-agers.The Neo-Classicists should be read against the historical background of the period, and most good anthologies furnish historical introductions.Many Grade X students require no urging to make themselves acquainted with Elizabethan, Mediaeval and Anglo-Saxon times by means of these introductory sketches.Of course attention ought to be directed to the various techniques used by poets, and a start made in the study of scansion, if this has not been already undertaken.Interest in how things are put together is keen in this age group, POETRY FOR TEEN-AGERS 49 and for the inquisitive a few lessons on the iambic pentameter and other verse forms may be taught with profit.Although many younger teen-agers enjoy limericks, it is the older group who will not only read but write them, just as they will try their skill with rhyming couplets.The limerick is not poetry but has its place among nonsense rhymes and awakens interest in the use of words.This little gem by Gelett Burgess never fails to produce laughter, for it expresses the attitude of the vast majority of Grade X boys: There is nothing in afternoon tea To appeal to a person like me.Polite conversation Provokes the elation A cow might enjoy in a tree.An easy transition from the Neo-Classical period to the Romantic may be made by studying Burns and Blake, and these poets will lead to \u201cthe Father of the Romantic Revival,\u201d Wordsworth.When Wordsworth and Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads in 1798, they made a break with tradition.This was \u201cnew poetry.\u201d In the senior grades it is well worth the effort to spend some time discussing new poetry, especially that of the twentieth century.Too often students have the impression that all good poetry was written in the Victorian age or earlier.Up-to-date anthologies should be in every school library, placed on special shelves for the use of senior students.Modern poets have something to say to this generation, just as Chaucer had a message for his day and the Elizabethans for theirs.The question of what constitutes \u201cnew poetry\u201d may be raised, and possibly \u201cany poetry which breaks with tradition\u201d is as good a definition as any.Boys and girls in their later teens are quite capable of carrying on intelligent discussion ; and since it must always be kept in mind that many young people depend entirely upon their high school course to lay the foundation for the art of living, an exchange of views is highly desirable.It promotes interest and stimulates thought.An exceedingly good introduction to the Romantic Revival is Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner with its treatment of the supernatural, its \u201cnightmare life in death,\u201d its souls flying from the bodies of the crew: And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my cross-bow.If Coleridge sounded a new note in The Ancient Mariner, Wordsworth did likewise in his philosophy of Nature; and this new note must be heard if students are to derive any benefit from Wordsworth's poetry.To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.requires more thought than can be given it in a single reading.His On \u2018the Extinction of the Venetian Republic and his Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour.show him as a poet of Freedom; and My hope has been that I might fetch Invigorating thoughts from former years. riage.GR Ga ET BIRR AER TR 50 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD clearly indicates his love of the past.Every student should memorize The Rainbow, with its epigram, \u201cThe child is father of the man,\u201d and the lines from the Immortality Ode beginning : Our birth is but a sleep, and a forgetting.The youth, who daily from the east Must travel, still is Nature\u2019s Priest.Scorn mot the Sonnet offers the opportunity for a more intensive study of this form of lyric poetry, and nearly every teen-ager enjoys what is probably Wordsworth\u2019s best known work in this form \u2014 Composed upon Westminster Bridge.Nothing is to be gained by attempting to maintain that everything Wordsworth wrote is of equal merit.For example, I have never found any enthusiasm for the Lucy poems, and The Idiot Boy produces an effect on teen-agers far removed from that intended by the author.Carrying on the Romantic Movement are three poets whose works are always well liked by senior students.Frances Winwar in her book The Romantic Rebels thus identifies Byron, Shelley and Keats.Sketches of the lives of these poets will help to explain a good deal of their poetry and the spirit in which it was written.Byron's English Bards and Scotch Reviewers may be read as an introduction, and the circumstances reviewed which led him to write as he did.His use of the rhyming couplet for the purpose of satire is in the manner of Pope: Care not for feeling \u2014 pass your proper jest, And stand a critic, hated but caressed.Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is too long to be studied in its entirety, but selections may be made, and these ought to include the lines from Canto III beginning, \u201cThere was a sound of revelry by night.\u201d in which the poet describes the Duchess of Richmond's ball and tells of the officers leaving to fight at Waterloo.How masterfully Byron handles the Spenserian stanza! Many lines from this canto reveal his own character, for example : I have not loved the world, nor the world me ; I have not flatter\u2019d its rank breath, nor bowed To its idolatries a patient knee, Nor coined my cheek to smiles, nor cried aloud In worship of an echo.Then from Canto IV, since poems about the sea are always enjoyed by teen-agers, take the great lines beginning : Roll on thou deep and dark blue Ocean \u2014 Roll!.Man marks the earth with ruin \u2014 his control Stops with the shore.Read the Sonnet on Chillon.Its meaning has special significance for today : \u201cBrightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art.\u201d Byron's death while helping the Greeks in their war of independence is one fact which teen-agers apparently find no difficulty in remembering, and POETRY FOR TEEN-AGERS 51 this enigmatic figure seems to cast a spell over people today, just as he did over his contemporaries.A suitable poem to introduce Shelley is Ozymandias.\u201cThe Oberon of Poets\u201d has also been called the Poet of Youth because of his passion for curing the world\u2019s ills by transforming man through love.His Song to the Men of England is popular Socialist doctrine.But it is the \u201cprofuse strains of unpremeditated art\u201d that captivate the more sensitive teen-ager \u2014 the rhythmic beauty of this poem, and of The Cloud and the Ode to the West Wind.In the senior grades the elegy will have a good deal of meaning.One of the best is Adonais.Students will have read Gray's famous Elegy, and with the biographical sketch of Keats in mind will be able to appreciate Adonais.Gray's \u201cmute, inglorious Milton\u201d is an abstraction.Keats is a person.It would be worth while here to read Milton's Lycidas again and also selections from In Memoriam for purposes of comparison.It is always debatable whether to study poetry by authors or by types; in the case of the elegy I think it preferable to adopt the latter approach, since the four elegies mentioned very likely will be the only ones studied by the majority of students.Some reference must be made to the lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound, for it contains Shelley's doctrine of love as the law of life : Love, from its awful throne of patient power Cee ee ~ev.springs And folds over the world its healing wings.The sinking of the Ariel in the Bay of Spezia closed the career of the second \u201cRomantic Rebel\u201d and, like the circumstances surrounding Byron's death, is always remembered by teen-agers.Keats, dying at the age of twenty-five, awakens admiration and sympathy.He was not many years beyond his teens! Teen-agers are fully aware of the tragedy when death removes the young but take a more philosophical view when old men of forty die.What led this young man to give up his study of surgery and devote all his time to poetry?Give the students On First Looking into Chapman\u2019s Homer and see if they don\u2019t find the answer.Lead from this to the study of some of his other sonnets, particularly To one who has been long in city pent., When I have fears that I may cease to be., and Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art .These are masterpieces.The structure of the ode should be taught in Grades XI and XII, and then the four great odes of Keats studied : To Autumn, Ode To a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode on Melancholy.Of these the favourite will probably be Ode on a Grecian Urn, with its \u201cBeauty is truth, truth beauty.\u201d The Eve of St.Agnes, in which Keats uses the Spenserian stanza, recaptures better than any other modern work the spirit of mediaeval romance.Here the imagination takes over and the story is subordinate to the atmosphere : For there were sleeping dragons all around, At glaring watch, perhaps, with ready spears.RR a THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD The quiet life of Keats exhibits a contrast to the restlessness of Shelley and the stormy existence of Byron.À fitting conclusion to a study of Keats is to read Oscar Wilde's poem, On the Sale of Keats\u2019 Love Letters by Auction : I think they love not art Who break the crystals of a poet\u2019s heart, That small and sickly eyes may glare or gloat.Besides the Romantic Rebels, a number of lesser poets wrote good poetry in the Romantic vein \u2014 Southey, Campbell, Moore, Beddoes, Landor, Hood, Hunt \u2014 and these will be read out of class by the teen-ager who has developed a love of poetry.Hood's famous Song of the Shirt, Southey\u2019s The Inchcape Rock, Hunt's The Glove and the Lions, Landor\u2019s To Youth and also his On His Seventy-fifth Birthday all are enjoyable and present no difficulty.The Romantic Movement continues into the Victorian age, but it is modified by historical events.As the teen-ager approaches his own day he will become increasingly aware of the influence exerted by current events upon poets of a particular era.The amazing up-surge of industrialism, the overthrow of the Metternich system, the publication of Principles of Geology and The Origin of Species all play a part in forming the poetic climate.Tennyson met the challenge of this rather perplexing Victorian world by writing In Memoriam.Teen-agers are keenly alive to friendships, and that of Tennyson and Hallam is famous.Hallam\u2019s death was the basic reason tor the writing of this great elegy.Tennyson reflects the mood of the Victorian era in many ways; and just as it is no longer fashionable to smile tolerantly when this era is mentioned, so it is no longer smart to dismiss Tennyson as \u201ca mere Victorian,\u201d although this was considered the thing to do about twenty-five years ago.The little critics of the intellectual giants \u201chave their day and cease to be.\u201d The discerning teen-ager will see the influence of Keats in Tennyson's poetry, as both poets were Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, The love of love.Two exceptionally good \u201ccompanion poems\u201d are Ulysses and The Lotos- Eaters, and these may be compared with Milton\u2019s L\u2018Allegro and Il Penseroso in order to illustrate different moods of the same author.If students have received the impression that Tennyson lived in an ivory tower, have them read You ask me why, though ill at ease., which contains his great tribute to his native land : A land of settled government, A land of just and old renown, Where Freedom broadens slowly down From precedent to precedent.If, as some maintain, a poet must be in a sense a prophet, turn to Locksley Hall and read of \u201cPilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales.\u201d À, § la ce POETRY FOR TEEN-AGERS 5 But it is In Memoriam which provides topics for class discussion, and young people are quick to realize the implications of such lines as : Believing where we cannot prove.E Thou madest man, he knows not why ; i He thinks he was not made to die .men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.I have always found that teen-agers enjoy Tennyson, but they have to be guided or they miss a good deal of his philosophy.Someone has said that he lived the credo of Fra Lippo Lippi : If you get simple beauty and naught else, You get about the best thing God invents.Tennyson and Browning were great friends, but how different their poetry! Read selections from Saul, for example : Oh, our manhood\u2019s prime vigour! no spirit feels waste.«the wild joys of living! the leaping from rock up to rock.Ask students if Tennyson could have written such lines.Browning Er was concerned with the thing said.Of course Tennyson was too, but also i with the form in which it was said, as he was the supreme artist.Browning's vigorous style makes him a popular author, especially with boys.The dramatic lyrics provide a good starting point for the study of this poet, and 1 will mention three: The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Incident of the French Camp, and In a Gondola.My Last Duchess and Andrea del Sarto will illustrate the dramatic monologue, a form of poetry in which Browning excelled.Give a senior class Fra Lippo Lippi and see how most members enjoy themselves listening to his conversation with the Florentine guards who had caught him | in a \u201cnocturnal frolic.\u201d As in previous poems, certain lines should be singled out for class discussion, and what better than : .you've seen the world The beauty and the wonder and the power, The shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades, Changes, surprises, \u2014 and God made it all! Browning's own outlook on life is illustrated by the following from Rabb: Ben Ezra: Then, welcome each rebuff That turns earth\u2019s smoothness rough.One major \u201crebuff\u201d was the refusal of Mr.Barret of 50 Wimpole Street to allow his daughter Elizabeth to marry Browning.Teen-agers enjoy hearing how the poet overcame the difficulty, and when they read Sonnet 43 from Sonnets from the Portugese it takes on special meaning.They also like The Cry of the Children, one of the best of the poems of social protest : .the child's sob in the silence curses deeper Than the strong man in his wrath.Space does not permit even a brief treatment of poetry written during the later Victorian era, nor is it possible to discuss the interesting poets who 54 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD were writing just before the First World War.But any teacher will find a great deal to interest teen-agers in Kipling and Yeats, Hardy and Masefield.It has not been possible in this short article to speak of Elizabethan, mediaeval or Anglo-Saxon poetry.I have found that young people, in general, are less Interested in the more remote periods.although here again many outstanding exceptions occur.The poetry of The Twenty-Years Truce (1919-1939) shows much disillusionment and this is understandable.Senior students are quite capable ol realizing the contrast between the utopian world promised by the propagandists while the fighting was still in progress and the world of reality that took its place after the signing ol Versailles.They will enjoy Humbert Wolfe and Siegfried Sassoon.At present T.S.Eliot, W.H.Auden, and Stephen Spender provide a contrast with much that has gone before, and the death of Dylan Thomas shows that even today, as in the time of Byron, Shelley and Keats, talented writers may not live life's allotted span.I have said nothing about Canadian poetry for teen-agers, and I'm sure that many young people graduate from high school without having read more than a few poems by Canadian authors and with no knowledge at all of Canadian literature.Surely it is not too much to ask that the book, Leading Canadian Poets (ed.W.P.Percival), be placed in the hands of students in Grades XI and XI.Wilson MacDonald\u2019s work is widely known in the United States and Britain.Only last October this great Canadian poet visited Russia, where he gave several recitals, and where he was asked il he would permit some of his works to be translated into Russian.If other countries find that our poets have a great deal to say which is of value, we should see that our teen-agers share in this intellectual treasure.If teen-agers are to be encouraged to love poetry, they must be led step by step from the easy to the more difficult; and no task involves a greater responsibility.A teacher must always remember that each class 1s different, as well as each individual in the class.Why do I like this poem ?Why do I dislike it?Why am I indifferent to it?II these questions are answered with sincerity, then adults may learn a good deal about the teen-ager\u2019s point of view; for as it is with music, so it is with poetry.But at any rate teachers should endeavour to see that by the time a student graduates he will have a deeper appreciation of poetry than had a certain eminent gentleman of Victorian England who realized the difference between prose and poetry on a strictly visual basis: \u201cProse is when all words on a sheet extend to the right side of the paper.Poetry is when some fall short.\u201d Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry is mainly an affair of genius ; therefore a nation characterized by energy may well be eminent in poetry.\u2014 Matthew Arnold limit.1.QUIZ FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS Ur Ur QUIZ FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS E.Owen, Ph.D., Director of Curriculum, Department of Education This test is informal and nonstandardized and therefore possibly invalid and certainly unreliable.If, however, you can make a score of 80 or over out of 100, your EQ or English Quotient is probably not to be sniffed at.Some searching of heart is in order if your score is under 50.Attempt every question and give yourself a mark for each correct answer.There is no time For answers see page 61.Place a plus sign beside each correctly spelled word in the following list and a minus sign beside each misspelled word : (1) accidently \u2014\u2014\u2014 (2) allege (3) alltogether \u2014\u2014\u2014 (4) arguement \u2014\u2014\u2014 (5) benefitted \u2014 2.3.4.(6) connoisseur (7) disdeign (8) dynamos (9) harrassed (10) pantomime \u2014 (11) rythm \u2014\u2014 \u2014 (12) sacrelege \u2014\u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014\u2014 (13) seige \u2014\u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014\u2014 (14) supercede \u2014\u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014\u2014 (15) weird \u2014\u2014\u2014 Underline the accented vowel in each of the following words or, if two syllables are accented, underline only the vowel in the syllable bearing the main stress : (1) artificer (2) confidant, (4) diocesan (8) corral (5) epicurean (6) gondola (7) Penelope (9) sedentary (8) Potomac (10) testator Place opposite each word in the first column the number preceding the name of the language from which it is derived : (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) () (8) (h) (1) (J) (k) 1 (m) Bandit bungalow cockroach corgi geisha kindergarten magazine mazurka photography quorum robot schooner shawl I.oN © No oe 9.10.11.12.13.Arabic Czech Dutch German Greek Hindustani Italian Japanese Latin Persian Polish Spanish Welsh Place opposite each word in the first column the number preceding the name of the topic with which that particular study is concerned : (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (8) Accidence Etymology Orthography Phonetics Prosody Semantics Syntax 1.PTO EN Spelling The laws of versification Meaning Words in composition Derivation Sounds History of Literature Inflections EE EE PET THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD 56 5.Place opposite each expression the number preceding the appropriate term : (a) Well, I'll be.1.Anacoluthon (b) Free, gratis and for nothing.2.Aposiopesis (c) A citizen of no mean city.3.Asyndeton (d) I came, I saw, 1 conquered.4.Chiasmus (e) I dare not fight, flee I cannot.5.Hyperbole (f) Mr.Pickwick took his hat and his leave.6.Litotes (8) And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.7.Metonymy % (h) She died a hundred deaths.8.Onomatopoeia (i) He is a disgrace to the cloth.9.Oxymoron 8 (}) The moan of doves in immemorial elms.10.Pleonasm (k) Nelson commanded some thirty sail.11.Syllepsis (I) Let's don\u2019t.12.Synecdoche 6.Place opposite each word in the first column the number preceding the expression that describes it: (a) Alexandrine (b) Anapaest (c) Assonance I.A lament 2.A marriage song 3.A comic imitation of a serious poem (d) Caesura 4.The last part of a sonnet (e) Epithalamium 5.The repetition of vowel sounds (fy Elegy 6.A pause in a line 7 8 9.1 (g) Parody A line of six feet (h) Sestet A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed (1) Trochee Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed 0.An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed 7.Place opposite the name of each character the number preceding the name of the novel in which it appears : | (a) Sophia Baines 1.David Copperfield \" (b) Angel Clare 2.The Egoist 3 (c) Jeanie Deans 3.The Heart of Midlothian | (d) Soames Forsyte 4.Jane Eyre 2 (e, Mr.Micawber 5.The Man of Property a (f) Sir Willoughby Patterne 6.Mansfield Park 2 (g) Fanny Price 7.The Mill on the Floss a (h) Dr.Primrose 8.The Old Wives\u2019 Tale i (i) Mr.Rochester 9.Tess of the D'Urbervilles 3 (j) Becky Sharpe 10.Tom Jones # (k) Maggie Tulliver 11.Vanity Fair 3 (1) Squire Western 12.The Vicar of Wakefield 8.Underline the name of the author who was not a contemporary of the others on the same line: I.Bacon, Dryden, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Spencer.2.Addison, Blake, Defoe, Pope, Swift.3.Coleridge, Keats, Lamb, Shelley, Swinburne.DIE TRE TT Pr THT QUIZ FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS 57 Carlyle, Dickens, Fielding, Ruskin, Thackeray.E Jane Austen, Conrad, Galsworthy, Hardy, Wells.E Hawthorne, Irving, Poe, Sandburg, Thoreau.T.C.Haliburton, Leacock, L.M.Montgomery, E.J.Pratt, R.W.Service.8.Boswell, Burke, Goldsmith, Pepys, Sheridan.NS Sk 9.Place opposite each quotation the number preceding the author\u2019s name : (a) A thing of beauty is a joy forever.I.Browning (b) Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying.2.Byron (c) Drink to me only with thine eyes.3.Dryden (d) Footprints in the sands of time.4.Herrick (¢) Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.5.Jonson (f) God\u2019s in his heaven \u2014 all\u2019s right with the world.6.Keats (g) Hope springs eternal in the human breast.7.Longfellow (h) I must go down to the seas again.8.Masefield (1) None but the brave deserves the fair.9.Milton (J) If winter comes, can spring be far behind ?10.Pope (k) The course of true love never did run smooth.11.Shakespeare (I) There was a sound of revelry by night.12.Shelley (m) Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.13.Tennyson (n) Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new.14.Wordsworth Whenever I make an assignment I try to do it myself and to write about twice as much as I expect of my class.If writing is as much fun as I say it is, I certainly should be willing to write as often as my classes, and it is quite important that my classes know that I really can write.1 say this because I suspect that there are teachers who dislike writing and who have never written much more than a personal letter since their college days.It is obvious that such persons cannot teach composition.\u2014 Carl G.Wonnberger The English Journal, Vol.XLV (November, 1956).Of all the qualities that go into the making of a good teacher, the ability to inspire is perhaps paramount.\u2014 Norman Cousins RE EEE THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD PUBLIC SPEAKING IN HIGH SCHOOL Frances Katz, M.A., B.Sc., Byron Byng High School, Montreal A hushed silence filled the room with expectancy as the judge rose, came forward, ascended the platform, and took his place in front of the audience to pronounce his decision.This was an annual event, a competition, and now came the moment to hear the name of the winner, the recipient of the coveted prize.What was this competition?It was the Public Speaking Contest, the culmination of a long period of preparation and planning, and the climax of many years of training in the art of platform speaking.Rare is the classroom where speech in its more common forms does not occur \u2014 conversation, group discussion, comment, question and answer, reading aloud from the printed page, telling stories, reciting poetry and prose from memory, talks, reports and demonstrations.Speech is an integral part of the pupil's school life.But what about public speaking per se?No one teacher is responsible for the public speaking programme in any school.Each and every member of the staff is teaching public speaking.As each pupil rises to answer a question, he or she is participating in the activity we call public speaking; the class is the audience, the teacher is the judge.Each time a pupil speaks to an audience of one other pupil he is talking in public.But talking is not enough : we need to talk well.The simple truth is that in a democratic society such as ours the ability to express ideas is just as essential as the capacity to have ideas, and most important is the ability to express these ideas so that the listener is stimulated and impressed.No educator will deny that the traditional three R\u2019s are basic and fundamental processes.No educator can deny that speech is likewise a {fundamental process, for speech occurs more frequently in everyday living from babyhood to old age than any or all of the three R\u2019s.Modern educational trends are toward a curriculum that develops habits of greater social adaptability.Training in public speaking as properly conceived is vital to the realization of this goal.And the English course in our high schools is so planned as to make the achievement of this goal possible.The text in Grades VIII and IX offers many exercises in oral practice, and Mastering Effective English, used in Grades X and XI, contains many chapters devoted to the speech arts.In preparing an adequate public speaking programme for high school students, it is essential at the outset to give recognition to the objectives of the course, for example : (a) to set up correct standards of good speech ; (b) to give the pupil an understanding of and a correct attitude to the speaking situation ; (c) to give the pupil insight into his own speech habits and the speech habits of others ; \u2014\u2014 PUBLIC SPEAKING IN HIGH SCHOOL 59 (d) to stimulate creative and artistic achievement in speaking performance.The aims of the course may be summarized as follows : \u201cSpeak good English and good English will speak for you.\u201d The second step in a systematic course of public speaking must be the enunciation of basic principles and the provision of adequate motivation to bring about a favourable action and reaction.Throughout history the ability to speak well has been the asset of great men.What qualities are needed to become a successful speaker?Success will depend upon knowledge, self-confidence and skill.In the development of these qualities, each pupil has already made some measure of progress during his attendance at school.He is now better able to express himself than at the age of six, his vocabulary is larger, and more information is at his command.To acquire more knowledge, the pupil will now be required to read more extensively and more intensively.To develop self-confidence, the student must increase his poise and self-control.This can be achieved only if he is at ease with his subject.The speaker must choose topics of interest to himself and his audience.In this selection, teacher guidance will be of inestimable value.The development of skill will come with frequent opportunities for practice and participation.Because the assigned periods in school must be devoted to the completion of the heavy requirements of the English courses in Grades X and XI, there are few opportunities [or public speaking practice during school hours.It therefore plays a very important part in many extracurricular activities sponsored by the school and the students\u2019 council.In order to develop the ability to speak in the classroom or auditorium or in situations beyond the school, the following instructions will be of significant help to the beginner : 1.Pick an interesting subject.2.Know your subject thoroughly.3.Learn the sequence of the ideas you intend to present.4.Speak aloud as often as you can.5.Focus your attention on your audience.6.Use meaningful gestures.7.Do not lean on table or chair.8.Strive for variety of volume and tempo.9.Emphasize important facts by pausing or repeating.10.Do not give up.Nervous tension is normal.To sum up: (a) have something to say, (b) want someone else to understand it, and (c) say it as simply and directly as possible.The first four requirements relate to the actual writing of the speech.The fifth introduces the first problem to be overcome in the delivery of the speech.Roughly speaking, there are two aspects of delivery: that which people see and that which they hear.The former is the speaker's physical behaviour on the platform, the latter is his use of his voice.Through visual impressions the audience makes its first estimate of the speaker \u2014 of his sincerity, is manner, and his appearance.The teacher or coach must therefore prepare LRU EH Hu 60 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD the young public speaker to consider his audience very carefully ; the audience must [eel that he is talking to them personally.To establish personal contact with the audience, nothing is more effective than the simple device of \u201clooking them in the eye.\u201d Constant reference to notes is, therefore, discouraged.In order to clarify the sixth requirement for effective performance, the following definition should be noted: \u201cA gesture is the movement of any part of the body used to convey some thought or emotion.\u201d Unless the movement is purposive, it is not a gesture.The students are cautioned that the impulse to gesture should come from within rather than from without.Gestures should never be \u201claid on.\u201d Demonstrations are given to illustrate correct gesturing and meaningless movement, and frequent opportunities are given for students to observe and criticize each other's efforts.Before long, the apt student uses gestures that are descriptive and effective.Much attention must be given to voice and diction.Pronunciation is checked, intonation corrected, and volume, pitch and tempo are carefully appraised.Finally comes the polishing process.By means of a tape recorder the student can listen to the finished product and evaluate his own performance.In addition, other students may prepare a report on the talk and submit it to the speaker.If necessary, the coach will make further comments on the good and bad points of the speech.All this preparation and practice reach a climax when the annual Public Speaking Contest is announced.This contest which takes place in three stages is organized as follows : The First Stage The pupils of Grades VIII and IX meet in the library and are presented with ten topics.The morning is devoted to the preparation of a three-minute speech on the topic of their choice.In the afternoon, each speaker delivers his or her address before a panel of judges.These judges are members of the staff.From this usually large group of contestants, the outstanding members are selected for further competition.The Second Stage The winning students from Grades VIII and IX are joined by students of Grades X and XI and assemble in the library to receive another set of ten topics.Following the morning's preparation, the three-minute speeches are presented in the afternoon and judged by members of the staff.The winners of this second elimination are eligible to compete in the final stage of the contest.The Third Stage The final stage of the Public Speaking Contest creates considerable stir around the school, as all competition must.Much criticism has been directed against competitive activity.Let us not be ostriches and bury our heads in the sand: we live in a highly competitive society.I would hesitate to deny the value of the contest programme.Many pupils benefit greatly from PUBLIC SPEAKING IN HIGH SCHOOL 61 participation in it: the winners experience the satisfaction of achievement ; the losers learn to accept disappointment; and the audience acquires the very important skill of listening.For the past few years we have been very fortunate in having Mr.J.Brash as our judge in the final contest.The outstanding speaker in the contest receives the Public Speaking Plaque.During the years there has been equal alternation between boys and girls in the winning of this award.The annual Public Speaking Contest serves a dual purpose: the winning boy represents our school in the Rotary Contest and the winning girl is the À school\u2019s representative at the McGill Alumnae Contest.Some of the students who have won this trophy have gone on to win many prizes in public speaking at other institutions of learning.Many students have told us that the public speaking programme at the school has launched them in careers 4 where good speech is of paramount importance.É Man no longer communicates by smoke signals or tom-tom beats \u2014 man È communicates by word of mouth.The telephone, the radio and television have made us a speaking and listening public.Instruction in public speaking should, therefore, be an integral part of our English programme in all high schools.\u201c Let this conqueror come ! Show him no hindrance ! Suffer his flag and his drum! Words .win!\u201d ANSWERS TO ENGLISH QUIZ L'D-,@0+,.60)\u2014-.{)-,6)\u2014-.(0+,(17)\u2014.,(8)+,(9)\u2014, (0) + , (II) \u2014 , (12) \u2014 , (13) \u2014 , (IA) \u2014 , (15) +.2.Artificer, confidant, corral, diocesan, epicurean, gondola, Penelope, Potomac, sedentary, testator.3.(a) 7, (b) 6, (c) 12, (d) 13, (e) 8, (f) 4, (9 1, (h) 11, () 5, (ÿ) 9, (k) 2, (3, (m) 10.4.(a) 8, (b) 5, (c) 1, (d) 6, (e) 2, (f)8, (g) 4.5.(a) 2, (b) 10, (c) 6, (d) 3, (e) 4, (f) 11, (g) 9, (h) 5, () 7, (7) 8, (k) 12, (D 1.6.(a) 7, (b)9, (95, @6, (2, (M) 1, (8) 3, (kh)4, ()8.7.(a) 8, (b) 9, (c) 3, (d)5, (e)1, (f) 2, (g) 6, (h) 12, (i) 4, (g 11, (k) 7, (D) 10.8.Dryden, Blake, Swinburne, Fielding, Jane Austen, Sandburg, Haliburton, Pepys.(a) 6, (6) 18, 5, 7, \u20ac)4, M1, @10, (M8, (3, Gg) 12, (k) 11, () 2, (m) 14, (n) 9. ! page 201.THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD AFTER FIFTY YEARS Robert G.Smith, B.A., Principal, Scotstown High School \u201cOne of the salient features of this year\u2019s examination was the unusually large number of misspelled words.Three of the most frequently misspelled words, Macbeth, speech, and creditable, occurred in the examination paper.Caesar appeared in many disguises, such as Ceasar, Caeser, Caesor, and even Cezer.\u201cIt is a question in my mind whether those who extol the old methods of teaching spelling are quite right as to the result obtained .In my acquaintance with these people of a generation ago, my experience has been that they are quite infallible on \u2018phthistic,\u2019 \u2018rhinoceros,\u2019 \u2018bivouac, \u2018gneiss, etc, but they are far from faultless spellers in their letter-writing, the e and : in \u2018receive\u2019 and \u2018believe\u2019 often confused; \u2018there\u2019 and \u2018their\u2019 sometimes used interchangeably ; \u2018to\u2019 and \u2018too\u2019 uncertain; \u2018until\u2019 figuring frequently with an extra 1; contractions and possessives guiltless of the apostrophe or in many places missplaced.\u201d These two quotations sound very familiar, do they not?Surely the first quotation is taken from the report of the examiner of English Composition [or the High School Leaving Examination of 1957 and the second must have appeared in a recent issue of the Educational Record, the Teachers\u2019 Magazine or some other educational journal.Actually both were written when the parents or grandparents of some of us were in school : the first is taken from Results, Reports and Examination Papers of the High School Leaving Examination issued in 1914, and the latter appeared in the Lducational Record for February, 1911.In his book, Growth Through the Language Arts, C.W.Hall states : \u201cThe teaching of spelling is the aspect of the language arts programme of which the general public is most critical.\u201d! Many parents are dissatisfied with the progress their children are making in spelling and businessmen universally complain that their high school employees cannot spell.As educators, we may be too prone to dismiss current criticism of spelling proficiency as the disputatious babblings of a few disgruntled busybodies who claim that schools are failing in their responsibility.Without the support of statistical data on spelling achievement in our schools over the past fifty or one hundred years, little significance can be given to the comparative evaluations made by parents, employers and teachers.Comparative studies on spelling achievement have been conducted in the United States; in Canada, unfortunately, little factual data is available.At the present time the Alberta Committee on Educational Research is conducting an extensive study of achievement in Vocabulary, Language and Spelling, utilizing a Canada-wide sample.Research of this type is an urgent need in Canadian education.For over half a century the Department of Education in Quebec has called the attention of teachers to the need for more effective teaching of spelling. AFTER FIFTY YEARS 63 In 1901, the Memoranda of Instructions for Teachers, circulated by the Department of Education, asked teachers to recognize \u2018\u201c\u201c the importance of familiarizing pupils with right methods of using the dictionary.\u201d The Memoranda of 1915 explained the purpose of spelling as follows, \u201cto give the child tools wherewith he may express his thoughts in writing.\u201d This booklet also directed teachers to have pupils \u201c endeavour to form an image of the word so clear and strong that its reproduction is automatic.\u201d It was recommended that \u201cpart of the work should be correlated with the other work of the school and taken largely in connection with the work in composition.\u201d The following aims were listed for the teaching of spelling in the Handbook for Teachers issued by the Department of Education in 1943 : \u201cTo awaken in pupils a sensitiveness to the correct form of written or printed words.\u201cTo help pupils to master the spelling of the words which they are likely to use in writing, under all ordinary circumstances.\u201cTo stimulate an interest in words which will make pupils careful to write them in a way which is in accordance with their derivation, history, and usage.\u201d The 1947 Handbook for Teachers repeated these aims.The second aim marks the trend in the teaching of spelling which started with the introduction of the Quance spellers in 1935.Previous spelling books contained lengthy lists of words to be learned by rote without regard to use in meaningful context.Before the publication of these books, Dr.Quance conducted a nation-wide investigation in Canada of the writing vocabularies of children of varying ages.Working from his research findings, he then compiled vocabulary lists in which words were presented in meaningful units at a time when they were most likely to be useful to children in their writing needs.Other researchers, such as Horn, Fitzgerald and Rinsland, have investigated basic vocabulary lists and have stated that the basic list contains between 2,500 and 3,000 words.Rinsland selected a total of 2,909 words recurring most frequently in the written work of children as they go from grade to grade for the basic lists for inclusion in The Pupils Own Vocabulary Spellers, Grades II to VIII, which were introduced by the Department of Education experimentally in 1950 and authorized in 1951.The My Spelling books introduced at the same time as The Pupils Own Vocabulary Speller series also contain lists based on the findings of vocabulary research.In the 1951 edition of the Handbook for Teachers, the section on spelling was incorporated with that on language.The following comments were made on the teaching of spelling in the elementary school : \u201cIt is most important for pupils in all grades to know how to spell.As with good reading and language habits, accuracy in spelling is achieved gradually by stressing syllabication and phonic analysis.The authorized spellers present lists of new words in a meaningful context and stress not only the spelling but also the structure and meaning of each word.\u201d For the junior high school (Grades VIII and IX), the suggestions were given in a short paragraph which directs attention to the problem of incorrect TR RR ER RL SES EN pape 64 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD spelling : \u201cFor exceptionally bad spellers in all the high school grades a systematic remedial programme must be persisted in until the weakness is eradicated.\u201d The remarks in the senior high school section are terse indeed : \u201cSpelling, to be closely linked with vocabulary study; remedial work when needed.\u201d The importance of spelling efficiency was re-emphasized in the 1953 edition of the Handbook for Teachers: \u201cAs spelling is taught daily in the elementary and junior high school, a reasonably satisfactory standard can usually be expected in Grade IX.\u201c Bad spellers ought to keep a list of words they habitually misspell and review these lists regularly.Teachers should endeavour to establish a spelling conscience in the minds of pupils and insist that correct spelling be carried over to all writing activities.\u201d In the 1957 edition of the Handbook for Teachers the attention of teachers is again drawn to the importance of spelling proficiency : \u201cThere is no statistical proof that general spelling achievement is worse than in former years, but there is sufficient evidence to indicate that an improvement is desirable.\u201d In this article attention has been directed to the successive recommendations which have been made to teachers by the Department of Education regarding the teaching of spelling.The actual teaching situations in the classrooms across the province have not been described.From the analysis presented it is evident that | (a) present-day criticisms of the spelling programme are very similar to those made a half-century ago, (b) more research is required to answer objectively the conflicting opinions regarding the then-and-now standards of spelling achievement, and (c) the instructions from the Department of Education on the teaching of spelling are in agreement with modern methodology in this subject.SOURCE MATERIAL FOR ENGLISH QUIZ* The following books, obtainable from the Professional Library, contain the answers to nearly all the questions that cannot be answered with the help of a dictionary : 1.Buchan (ed.), 4 History of English Literature.2.Harris, The Nature of English Poetry.3.Larsen and Walker, Pronunciation, a Practical Guide to Spoken English in Canada and the United States.4.Partridge, English, a Course for Human Beings.5.Pei, The Story of English.* See page 55. MY LIBRARY MY LIBRARY Enid Beattie, B.A., Sherbrooke High School Broadening a child's interests through books is rewarding for both librarian and child.A teacher-librarian is happily situated in that she can perform this service.Her function is twofold : as a teacher she is interested in the intellectual growth of the pupil, and as a librarian she has a knowledge of available books which will assist this growth.Take Betty in Grade IX, for example.Betty came to me last year with the idea of reading something \u201cgood.\u201d She had exhausted the \u201cSue Barton\u201d series and was tired of \u201cgirls\u2019 books.\u201d \u201cWould it be all right if I read a classic?\u201d she asked me.\u201cWhy, you have read classics, many of them,\u201d I answered.\u201cHave I?\u201d \u201cYes.Let's look at your record card.You've read Tom Sawyer.1 don\u2019t believe you've ever read Oliver Twist though, and that is a story you'll really enjoy.\u201d Well, that was the beginning.Betty, then in Grade VIII, read five or six of Dickens\u2019 novels, The Robe by Lloyd C.Douglas, The Shape of Sunday (Douglas\u2019 biography written by his daughters), three biographies of Florence Nightingale, and many others.1 was much impressed by Betty's interest in reading.In general class work, her teacher reported consistent improvement.Betty, now in Grade IX, has read Tennyson\u2019s Idylls of the King and Scott\u2019s The Lady of the Lake.And Betty 1s not the only one.The Grade VII girls, the youngest in our school, are impressed by such books as I Found My Love, Pray, Love, Remember, The Day and the Way We Met, but neither their teacher nor I despair.Soon they will be reading Robin and Jane in Switzerland with the same zest.Later they will move on to The Conquest of Everest and perhaps then to various biographies and history books.Many times I have wished I could be less \u201cteacher\u201d and more \u201clibrarian.\u201d What a joyous responsibility to be available at all times to all the pupils and to give all \u201c the golden key that opens the enchanted door.\u201d The teacher-librarian, however, has an advantage which the teacher and the librarian individually may lack.The teacher knows the needs of the pupils but, too often, does not know the books.The librarian, on the other hand, knows the books but may have little knowledge of the child\u2019s reading ability, his personality and his needs.The teacher-librarian must try to make the library an integral part of each teacher\u2019s thinking for only the teacher can create the situations which will lead the pupils to use the library for reference and research.As a teacher of English, I find limitless opportunities for reference work of this kind.The lives of poets, the historical and mythical references in literature, the background of the Book of Job, the study of Shakespeare, all present opportunities to use the library.I should also mention the research essays I require from each senior 66 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD student, the book reviews I mark every term for Grade X, and the well-worn books on mythology and Roman history that my Latin students enjoy.At the present time, our schools are criticized for failing to provide challenging interests for students of superior ability.Those \u201cbrains,\u201d as the teen-agers call them, can find much stimulating material on the shelves of the library if the librarian exerts herself to help.Where adequate stimulation is provided, pupils \u2014 average and below-average \u2014 will also develop wholesome and lasting interests in library reading.The keynote in the organization of the library is simplicity.The Dewey Decimal System of classification is used, and the books are catalogued alphabetically.The librarian numbers the books and writes the shelf cards.Title, authors, subject and book cards are typed and filed by senior commercial students.Additional help is given by younger pupils.A class of Grade VIII boys spends one period each week pasting book-card pockets and date-due slips in new books.Frequently they find time to mend books and check the books with the shelf cards.Pupil participation in these mechanical jobs invariably promotes increased interest in reading.Books may be borrowed each day before the morning and afternoon assembly of classes.Of a total enrolment of 390 pupils, approximately 200 make consistent use of the library facilities.All use the library for reading and research during assigned periods.Pupils who remain for lunch may use it for study or leisure reading under teacher supervision.Several senior students come regularly each morning to work quietly long before school begins.Many pupils who do not borrow books for home reading have acquired the habit of reading the daily copies of the Montreal Gazette.There is nothing drab or dull about my job! Nor is there about the room in which I work! Imagine, if you will, \u201cmy\u201d library \u2014 it is truly mine although I neither bought it nor designed it.1 own it because I made it grow from a room stacked high with dusty old books to the busy, shining, vital place it has become.In order to effect this change, I depended upon the helpful advice and physical assistance given to me by teachers and pupils interested in the library's development.The physical appearance of the library in Sherbrooke High School is very pleasing.The walls are green, neither too dark nor too insipid, and the ceiling of white acoustical tile is bright with phosphorescent tubes.The shining warmth of red maple reading tables and chairs stimulates the mind and strengthens the spirit.Shelves on three sides of the room filled with an exciting array of blue, pink, yellow and brown volumes give further stimulation to the prospective reader.And \u2014 best of all \u2014 draperies of beautiful bark cloth, striped in green and beige.Wide windows provide an inspiring view of a tree-lined park across the street.According to Addison, \u201c\u201c Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind.\u201d From the library in Sherbrooke High School pupils gain a wealth of knowledge and wisdom.If the aim of the school is to foster an abiding interest in learning, \u201cmy\u201d library is vital to its achievement. rose THE SCHOOL PLAY 67 THE SCHOOL PLAY E.C.Carter, B.A., Assistant Principal, Hudson High School Our Miss Allworthy who teaches English at Silverbirch Consolidated School is a veritable stockpile of energy.She coaches basketball and chaperones at \u201cFriday Nights,\u201d outdancing many a student.Twice a week she conducts remedial English lessons, and once a week she instructs New Canadians.She collects milk money from the children who use the school cafeteria, and for the past two years she has been building up the school library through a personal canvass among parents.Main Street tradesmen, the targets of the school\u2019s fund-raising drives, sense her presence even before they hear her firm footsteps on the sidewalk and dodge behind their merchandise.Last summer, between a refresher course at Queen\u2019s and helping to unearth an ancient Indian village along the Seaway route, our Miss Allworthy spent a week end at Stratford.The outcome of this pilgrimage was the Silver- birch school play.Like everything else Pat Allworthy undertook, the play was a tremendous success.For days afterwards everybody talked about Pat Allworthy\u2019s play and about Pat's bold and arresting make-up technique ; about the carrot-red wig that she had personally designed for the leading lady, and the Swiss chalet drapes that she had run up for the set.While the school talked, Pat was riding around town in a truck supervising the return of borrowed stage properties.That play was indeed a personal triumph for our Miss Allworthy! Everything about that play was the directress.A cast there certainly had to be, yet no personality stood out; a backstage crew there must have been, but, if there was, it functioned smoothly and unobtrusively \u2014 a matchless squad, a mere projection of Drill Sergeant-Major Allworthy.The decision to produce a school play should not be made lightly, nor for trivial reasons.To put it bluntly, the glorification of a director or directress is no good reason for producing a play, neither is the raising of money for some sick or failing school activity.More legitimate grounds exist for producing school plays.The reading and study of drama is a fundamental part of the literature course in our high schools ; Shakespeare, Barrie and Shaw, as well as anthologies of one-act plays, are studied in the senior years.The formal reading of plays in the classroom can be boring.Play reading requires animation and imagination to convey to students the real spirit of the live stage.When two or three superior readers present a dramatic portrayal of, say, the Trial Scene from Saint Joan or the Knocking at the Gate from Macbeth, a desire for improved performance may be developed in the entire group which may eventually culminate in an artistic, polished production.The first step in play production is the organization of a play-reading group.Play selection and play reading are suitable projects for the more accomplished students of literature who do not find sufficient challenge in the present high school course.They will respond eagerly to the assignment of additional reading provided there is purpose.Play publishers such as Samuel French of Toronto or Dramatists Play 68 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Service of New York will supply catalogues from which suitable titles can be selected.Select a play that is suited to your production facilities.It may be one of three acts, or two or three one-act plays may be perferred.It should be remembered that comedy is difficult to present successfully.In the selection of a play, note the proportion of male to female parts and consider well the problems of costume and properties.If multiple-set plays are chosen, the backing of a deft and efficient stage crew is necessary.Select some half-dozen or more plays.When they arrive from the publisher allot them to your play readers with detailed instructions on how to evaluate them.The readers will subsequently report to their classes or to the school drama club.If they have done their jobs thoroughly, and if the production problems of the various plays have received adequate consideration, there is no reason why the final selection cannot be reached by democratic methods.It may be wise for the staff adviser to retain the power of veto.Our Miss Allworthy had followed an entirely different course.She had tossed the play proposal like a grenade in the midst of a staff meeting.(Needless to say, she had already selected her play.) A brief skirmish followed with the home economics teacher who wanted eighteenth century costumes as a project for the sewing class, and with the principal who judged a play by its low price or, preferably, complete absence of royalty charges.After Miss Allworthy had surmounted these obstacles, she presented the fait accompli to the students.When the play has been chosen, it is advisable to list the production duties and the personnel who will undertake them.The staff adviser who has guided the play selection thus far is undoubtedly going to carry on as director.He or she would be well advised to select a senior student with leadership talents to act as assistant director.The business manager will be busy from the start.He will have to write for copies of the play, remembering to order additional books for director, property mistress, electrician, and prompter.He will have to ascertain royalty charges, paying for books and royalties at least two weeks before production.He will arrange for the printing or mimeographing of programmes, not forgetting suitable acknowledgements to individuals who have lent properties or given assistance in the play's production.He may be assisted by a publicity manager who will prepare accounts on the progress of the play for the local newspaper and look after the paid advertising.The stage manager will supervise the stage crew in erecting and striking sets and in positioning furniture.If there are any changes of sets, the stage crew should rehearse just as assiduously as the cast.It should be possible to strike a complete room set and to erect another in its place in less than ten minutes.The property-man (or mistress) is responsible for the arrangement of all properties on and off stage.This job calls for a tidy mind and considerable concentration.Countless trivia, ranging from top hat perforated in the brim so that a rabbit can wear it, to a bag of jelly beans and a piece of goal post, must be placed in specified positions on the required side of the stage so that the actor can pick up what he wants without fumbling.The electrician has complete charge of the lighting.With an assistant he ni tte THE SCHOOL PLAY 69 may also be asked to look after any sound or special effects.This work requires specialized knowledge, the more so if the lighting equipment is primitive or limited.The local Home and School Association should be able to produce at least one engineer or electrician who will volunteer his services in instructing a mechanically-minded student.The prompter should be completely familiar with the play and with the actors.An overzealous prompter, brought in at the last minute, who rushes lines and interrupts studied pauses does more harm than good.If the pitch is wrong or the enunciation too sibilant, the prompter should be corrected during the first rehearsals.Problems in dramatic activities will vary greatly depending on whether or not a play-acting and play-going tradition has been established in the community.School dramatics will develop ideally where an adult group has already been active for several seasons.Such a group will have already amassed considerable lighting equipment, flats, doors, windows, a small library of plays, make-up kit, and a wealth of experience.In this fortunate situation, the adult group will stand ready to help the school players with equipment and experienced personnel.This happy relationship between school players and little theatre groups can have important long-term results.In school, budding actors serve their apprenticeship for the little theatre group.The students gain in stage .presence, in acting, and in the technique of production.By the time they | graduate their experience has become an important asset to the adult group.The little theatre benefits from a constant stream of new talent.Where an active adult group exists, there frequently is a temptation to use students in appropriate roles of adult productions.This practice should be avoided.Most students (after their studies and extracurricular activities have been served) do not have time to take part in dramatic activities which are rehearsed in evening practices.Silverbirch boasts an active little theatre group which does three or four productions annually in the school auditorium.Over the years, the group has trained three or four competent directors, an excellent make-up crew, numerous stage managers, electricians and stage hands, a few outstanding character actors, and a good many more who are capable of a creditable performance.The group has an excellent set of flats, a small room packed with costumes, small properties, sound effects, electrical equipment \u2014 even a good switchboard.For two or three years this adult group has felt the lack of new blood.The task of portraying youthful characters is placing an intolerable strain on the make-up crew.Grease paint and footlights help, but in a small community there are few secrets.The Reluctant Debutante has not merely a streak but a highway of gray, and mad young Mercutio has a touch of arthritis.The little theatre group looks to the school\u2019s graduates to supply new blood.To some extent success has been achieved.Unfortunately, much of the school dramatic talent moves afield to university or to employment in the distant city.Nevertheless, the annual play at Silverbirch is usually a noteworthy event, a stimulating and memorable dramatic experience, not only for the cast, but for the whole community.N by RON REA CE RE TO EE PSE?ae v ENTRANT I I TT RT YIN II TI NE TTL aah Th SU Ea TAA EA tt TEM va NMA TFUE THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD REMEDIAL READING IN HIGH SCHOOL Edgar R.Boyd, B.A., The High School of Montreal At a meeting of principals held at the Seignory Club on May 16, 1955, it was charged that the high schools were failing to equip their graduates with \u201creading skills commensurate with their needs.\u201d Commenting upon the lack of formal instruction in reading beyond Grade VII, \u201cprobably one of the greatest weaknesses in our curriculum,\u201d it was asked whether, as educators, we are depriving our pupils of \u201cone of the most necessary tools for further development.\u201d In a discussion which followed, strong feeling was expressed regarding the continuation of systematic reading instruction in the high school a grades, and it was suggested that a study toward the implementation of this ill required teaching should be undertaken.The need for systematic instruction in the high school grades to assist students to achieve increased skill in reading was identified by W.S.Gray in a review of research studies covering a period as early as 1926 to 1936.Gray states : One of the significant facts emphasized by the results of recent investigations is that a surprisingly large percentage of pupils encounter serious difficulty in reading or are unable to engage successfully in required reading activities.The situation is particularly acute in the upper grades and in high school.In the elementary school the variations in reading ability are generally less pronounced and may be handled effectively by grouping procedures.Because most high schools have adopted the specialist system, grouping within the subject classes on the grounds of reading ability is not feasible.The possibility of putting all the poor readers in separate classes was recently discussed with several class teachers.The suggestion did not receive the approval of the teachers because they felt the presence of a few good readers in a class encouraged the others to improve.1f reading retardation is to be alleviated in our high schools, the responsibility must, therefore, be entrusted to a specialist in the subject.In addition, the nature of the instructional work requires the provision of a classroom equipped with adequate and varied materials.If possible, the reading room should be situated close to the central library.The work of the reading specialist will supplement that of the subject teacher, not replace it.The responsibility of building the vocabulary required in the subject fields must remain with the subject teacher ; the reading specialist will give supplementary training in finding additional information, using a dictionary, and improving reading techniques to achieve increased fluency and efficiency.This autumn all Grade VIII boys in one of the high schools in Montreal were given the Nelson Silent Reading Test.The following graph shows the reading grades achieved by the 352 pupils participating in the test.It will be noted that reading ability ranged from 2.5 grade level to 11.5 grade level: in all of the classes tested, the range was at least seven grades.! Thirty-sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I (Bloomington : Public School Publishing Company, 1937), p.15. REMEDIAL READING IN HIGH SCHOOL 71 Statistics of this nature explain why it is next to impossible to do an efficient instructional job in large classes.Two Practical Grade VIII classes were tested but results have not been tabulated.Of the forty tested in these classes, three were reading at grade level or better.wn d lm a > 2 fe O @ = = = > Z 20-243.0-3 9]4.0-4.8]/50-5.9]6.0-¢-9]7.0-79|8.0-84a]4.0-9.9]i0.0-108]1-0-119 READING GRADE Since the scores from the Nelson Silent Reading Test are higher than those obtained from the Gates Reading Survey and several other widely-used tests, it was decided to provided specialized instruction for all academic students scoring below Grade IX level.In the course which has been organized, 159 pupils are enrolled.Credit for improvement in reading will be included in the English mark on the Easter report.The specialized work has received the enthusiastic approval of the subject teachers who regard increased reading efficiency as an essential for improved efficiency in the subject fields. THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD Reading classes, held during the English periods, are limited to an enrolment { of twenty-five pupils.Each class is given two lessons per week.One period is : focused on the development of vocabulary and the use of unfamiliar words.x In this work, the following workbooks are used : Reading for Meaning by W.S.; Guiler and J.H.Coleman, Words Are Important by H.C.Hartwick, and ! Mastering the Reading Skills by J.C.Colbert and A.T.Hunkin.; During the second weekly lesson speed and comprehension are stressed.To motivate the students to develop more efficient reading habits, fourteen Iowa Reading Films are used.In the first of these films a story is projected at a rate of 270 words per minute.Throughout the film series the word count per minute is steadily increased until a final projection of 447 words per minute is presented.This increase requires the students to perceive more words during each pause or fixation.The primary purpose of the film is to read in phrase units in preference to word-by-word perception.Because the JG reader is unable to regress and re-read something which he has missed, he must get the information on the first reading.To ensure that each film has been read and understood, a detailed comprehension check follows the presentation of the film.In addition to the reading practice provided by the film series, supplementary reading material should be available.In the reading classes, short, interesting stories of approximately 2,000 words are mimeographed and supplied to each student.The reading of the story is carefully timed and students are instructed how to compute their reading speed.A comprehension check follows each 3 story.Since the results of each lesson are systematically recorded, the daily 5 progress in speed and comprehension can be readily observed for each student.I TAUGHT THEM ALL I have taught in high school for ten years.During that time I have given assignments, among others, to a murderer, an evangelist, a pugilist, a thief, and an imbecile.The murderer was a quiet little boy who sat on the front seat and regarded me with pale blue eyes; the evangelist, easily the most popular boy in the school, had the lead in the junior play; the pugilist lounged by the window and let loose at intervals a raucous laugh that startled even the geraniums ; the thief was a gay-hearted Lothario with a song on his lips; and the imbecile, a soft-eyed little animal seeking the shadows.The murderer awaits death in the state penitentiary; the evangelist has lain a year now in the village churchyard ; the pugilist lost an eye in a brawl in Hong Kong; the thief, by standing on tiptoe, can see the windows of my room from the county jail; and the once gentle-eyed little moron beats his head against a padded wall in the state asylum.All of these pupils once sat in my room, sat and looked at me gravely across worn brown desks.I must have been a great help to those pupils \u2014 I taught them the rhyming scheme of the Elizabethan sonnet and how to diagram a complex sentence.The Clearing House, November, 1937.\u2014 N.J.W. rt tr Er A et OR ts THE SUPERVISION OF ENGLISH THE SUPERVISION OF ENGLISH* J.G.S.Brash, M.A., Supervisor of English Department of Education I appreciate the honour of being asked to report to you on the supervision of instruction in English.More than six years have passed since I had the privilege of addressing this committee.That meeting was held on September 28, 1951, in Asbestos-Danville-Shipton High School which was officially opened that evening.During those six years, while visiting all the high and intermediate schools throughout the province, I have noticed many changes, principally in high school buildings but also in curricula and methods of teaching.Modern school buildings seem to have given teachers and pupils a renewed interest and pride in their work.All progressive citizens will agree that classrooms, the place of study and often arduous mental effort, should be bright and attractive and made comfortable for all concerned with modern desks, chairs, and other equipment.Indeed the life of the school should transcend the life of the community so as to give the necessary motivation or incentive to young people to strive to better themselves and their environment.It seems right that the school should give them a glimpse of a better way of life.Generally speaking, our school buildings are now a far cry from the little red school house of former years.Although everyone seems to be in favour of higher standards of education, few are agreed as to what the aims of the school should be.On the one hand we are told that the practical purpose of our elementary and secondary school system should be to prepare youth to earn a living.Others believe that the development of character is our most vital responsibility.More popular is the theory that \u201cthe end purpose of education is not the extent of knowledge but the ability to make decisions and to take intelligent social action.\u201d Whether the aim should be practical, moral, or social, the basic purpose of the school, at least in junior grades, is to teach young people to read, write and calculate to the limit of their ability.If this primary task of the school is done well the other moral and social by-products of education are likely to grow and blossom as the years go by.Whatever be the individual's ideas concerning education, he will no doubt be willing to admit that a training in English, reading and writing (two-thirds of the essentials), is of primary importance.As language pertains to all work, experience and social contacts in school and throughout later life, English may be said to be the key to the door of progress and happiness.The course of study in one\u2019s native language should, therefore, be given special attention by all teachers of elementary and high school grades.Textbooks and methods of teaching reading, composition and spelling should be kept practical and challenging.Because books go out of print or oecome dated, many changes in the course of study have been introduced in recent years.Retaining the same set of textbooks for too long a period tends to produce a lessening of enthusiasm on the part of the teacher and a corresponding * Report submitted to the Protestant Committee on December 9, 1957. 74 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD falling off of interest on the part of those taught.Only by having interesting, lively and stimulating books and teaching methods can the teacher of this ; new sputnik era hope to hold his own against the claims of sports, movies, : science fiction and TV programmes.For a youth to do homework in English composition upstairs with the gang of Wild Bill Hickok blaring from the TV set downstairs is not only a test of the pupil\u2019s character but also a tribute to his teacher.Following the arrangement given in the Handbook for Teachers, let us refer to the teaching of reading, composition and literature.As once was Gaul, English may be divided into three parts.In the elementary school, a more varied and flexible course in reading has replaced the narrow and restricted programme of former years.Twenty-six basic readers and as many as eighty-four supplementary texts are now authorized.Not all school boards nor teachers are as yet fully aware of all the facilities offered.In Grades I to III most children make remarkable progress in reading and comprehension.Good teachers use a variety of techniques, not the least important being elementary phonetics.According to the new edition of the Handbook for Teachers, \u201c In the first three grades the child is taught to identify consonant and vowel sounds and syllables that form words.If this relationship between sound and symbol is not fully established, the result will be utter confusion for the child who is expected to make progress in reading with no better equipment than a sight vocabulary of seventy or eighty words.\u201d By dividing the class into two or more units and by a variety of teaching methods \u2014 games, dramatizations and mock radio programmes in junior 1 grades, and construction projects and interesting assignments from supplemen- il + tary readers or workbooks for older boys and girls \u2014 teachers arouse and : maintain a high degree of interest.Pupils rapidly build up a knowledge of the meaning of words and derive obvious enjoyment from what they read.Young people no longer merely learn to read.The new workbooks train them to read, think and reason for themselves, Through the courtesy of W.J.Gage and Company, a lecturer on the teaching of reading skills spent about three weeks in this province in 1951, 1953 and 1956.At conferences held in various centres, class demonstrations on the teaching of reading were followed by discussion of techniques in teaching word recognition, fluency and comprehension.Such lectures were stimulating and instructive.Many elementary teachers outside Montreal received not only information and expert guidance, but also a renewed feeling of confidence and inspiration for more effective methods of developing skill in reading.The course of instruction in language, the second division of English, has also been revised and altered.Written expression is now begun in Grade IT instead of Grade IV as formerly.Teachers assign and mark paragraphs, letters, reports, etc.more often and more carefully.The textbook series Using Our Language provides a systematic programme for the study of grammatical principles and rules of composition, but the rules and exercises have to be supplemented by additional practice in written assignments. THE SUPERVISION OF ENGLISH 75 The course in language for junior high school was recently extended by the authorization of a separate text for Grade IX.The new assignment includes exercises in parsing and detailed analysis, a knowledge of which is necessary in formal composition and also invaluable in the study of Latin and French.A new workbook in spelling is also in general use in Grade IX.During the school year 1953-1954 a committee of Helping Teachers and the Supervisors of English prepared a Bulletin on Composition.In this Bulletin an attempt was made to co-ordinate the type of written work expected from each grade.Methods of teaching were discussed, topics for written exercises suggested, and model paragraphs and essays published as a guide to teachers and pupils.A uniform system of marking was also outlined.From a wealth of material kindly forwarded by principals and teachers from all over the province, members of this committee were able to select typical examples of good composition for all grades from II to XI.To remind teachers still further that pupils learn to write only by writing, a circular letter was sent last year to all high and intermediate schools.This letter read, in part, as follows: \u201cTo develop the ability not only to write well but also to think logically and clearly, some type of composition should be assigned in all grades from II or III to Grade XI inclusive, at least every second week, and written in an exercise book kept for this purpose.Each completed assignment should be carefully checked and marked by the teacher, and mistakes rectified by each pupil on the left-hand page of this notebook.\u201cIf written work in composition is readily available in all grades when the supervisors of English visit your school, it will enable them to give encouragement and advice to pupils and teachers, and to discuss this subject in a more practical manner.\u201d There is always the danger that, in the limited time available in a crowded school day, a mere study of grammar may replace regular assignments in writing.Both aspects of instruction are vitally important but, as we learn by doing, skill in written expression usually depends more on practice than on parsing.Teachers should see that all pupils are taught to read, think and write to the maximum of their ability.Last month the Montreal Star in an editorial entitled \u201cSombre Commentary\u201d underlined this responsibility : \u201cThe secondary school teacher, as the University professor, has every right to expect that such elementary subjects as penmanship, spelling and clear composition are the responsibility of earlier schooling and should not clutter up the higher educational institutions.\u201d No one would feel justified in trying to refute this statement.Increased emphasis on regular practice in composition will ensure that our pupils are given the opportunity to develop whatever innate ability they may have.Essays selected from High School Leaving Examinations in English Composition which were published in the Educational Record show evidence that our graduates have been well trained and that at least some have developed a sensitivity to language and an awareness of the art of good writing as a direct result of regular practice in school.Generally speaking, all our young people from Grade II to Grade XI are Lemme ue ea vale THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD now given regular assignments in the writing of original sentences, paragraphs, letters, reports, essays, etc.in accordance with their age and grade in school.Realizing that careful and meticulous correction of all written assignments is always necessary, principals, whenever possible, are planning the daily schedule of work so that teachers are given freedom from classroom duties to attend to this important aspect of the teaching of English.The courses of instruction in reading, language, spelling and written composition are definite, intensive and progressive, but the study of poetry and literature tends to be more extensive, the principal objective being enjoyment and appreciation.Pupils follow a straight up-hill path in their study of spelling, grammar and composition but they are given encouragement and more freedom to wander freely in the goodly states and kingdoms of literature.Those who have access to a modern collection of books read widely beyond the limits of prescribed texts.Charles Lamb tells us that he and his sister were \u2018tumbled early into a spacious closet of good old English reading.\u201d Today, any intelligent youth who has freedom to browse in a well-stocked library is certainly not wasting his time.All classes derive knowledge and enjoyment from the assignments in literature for the elementary grades.Many of the older texts have been withdrawn and more modern stories authorized.In each grade from II to VII at least two stories are read by the teacher and discussed in class.In addition, pupils from Grade IV to Grade VII have two texts assigned for individual study with occasional help from the teacher.The ultimate aim is to get boys and girls interested in books so that in later life they may derive knowledge and wisdom as well as pleasure from reading.As many as thirty-eight texts in literature and six poetry anthologies are in use in the elementary school.In Grades IV to VII two stories are chosen for discussion in class from an optional list of six titles.The course of study in literature for high school grades consists of selections from the Bible, poetry, and a modern or Shakespearean play.Additional assignments are chosen from an optional list of novels, essays, short stories and one-act plays.Teachers usually supplement this course by various projects such as the production of scenes from Shakespeare or one-act plays, poetry scrapbooks, book reviews, characters from novels or short stories discussed in class.Reference is made to current events, TV programmes and articles in newspapers or magazines.During school hours there are debates or public speaking contests.Senior students are usually well informed; they speak fluently and help to maintain a lively interest in such events.The Annual and other school publications, sponsored by the students\u2019 council, are cooperative efforts of practical as well as literary value.The course in English Literature for high school was authorized in 1948.Although minor changes have since been introduced, the assignments for the various grades are essentially the same.Probably the time has come when a representative committee should be appointed to revise the course in English for all high school grades.A new syllabus for Grade XII English was introduced this year.The course in North American Literature is planned to give recognition Se Tr THE SUPERVISION OF ENGLISH 77 to Canadian writers and to \u201cfoster an appreciation of literature that depicts the scenery, customs, and ways of life on this continent.\u201d When more school editions of reputable Canadian publications become available, this course will emphasize to a greater extent the prose and poetry of our own authors.Many of our teachers are giving students a good basic training in English.Final results in Departmental examinations in English Composition and Literature have recently shown an upward trend.In June 1957, in Grade XI, the percentage of students with first-class marks in English Composition exceeded the percentage of those who failed.The assistant examiner summarized his impressions as follows: \u201c All in all I found a lower percentage of failures than last year and a praiseworthy improvement in some of the country schools as well as a commendable maintenance of good firsts in the city schools.\u201d The examiner in English Literature for Grade XI ended his report with this statement: \u201cIt is encouraging to note that the standard in English Literature is improving.\u201d The examiner of Grade X English Literature considered the standard satisfactory : \u201cThe majority of papers were neat and legible and generally the answers were quite satisfactory.\u201d The standard in English varies considerably from school to school, but generally speaking the students who lead are from large city high schools with their staffs of hard-working, conscientious and efficient teachers.More than 2,600 candidates wrote High School Leaving Examinations in June 1957.Approximately two-thirds were from Montreal.The chief purpose of supervision is the maintenance of reasonably satisfactory standards, but there are no definite rules as to how this can best he brought about.In days gone by, the typical school inspector, like the Ancient Mariner, \u201cpassed like night from land to land,\u201d casting a dark shadow on all inside the school building.Nowadays there appears to be a change in the concept of supervision, a trend away from this depressing, omniscient attitude.Criticism of lessons and voluminous reports on teachers, with accompanying strain on all concerned, are being replaced by more democratic methods \u2014 practical assistance, friendly encouragement, and active participation in classroom work.The emphasis is on respect rather than inspect.The inspector tries to make the school day pleasant and profitable both for the teacher and the class.Although their profession ranks second to none in the preservation and development of our intellectual life and in the forward march of material progress, most teachers will never be given the credit they deserve.From the kindergarten assistant to the university professor, they are all helping to transmit the cultural and technical knowledge that have made modern life so much worth living.In addition, they are inculcating in the minds of youth high ideals of honesty.By their own example and by their daily quest of factual information, truth, knowledge and accuracy, they are exerting the best possible influence on the character of our future citizens.Teachers will never receive rewards commensurate with the standards of efficiency and uprightness of character that society demands of them, but perhaps, as Ruskin says, \u201cthat person is richest who has the greatest influence on the lives of others.\u201d I consider it a privilege to be associated with so many conscientious and intelligent men and women, most of whom have dedicated their lives to the service of Protestant youth in the Province of Quebec. 78 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 1957 MEETING OF THE PROTESTANT COMMITTEE On which day was held the regular quarterly meeting of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Education.PRESENT : Mr.L.N.Buzzell, in the Chair, Mr.W.H.Bradley, Dr.C.L.Brown, Mr.A.K.Cameron, Mr.G.Y.Deacon, Rt.Rev.Bishop Dixon, Hon.G.B.Foster, Prof.J.U.MacEwan, Dr.C.E.Manning, Dr.S.E.McDowell, Mr.Howard Murray, Mr.K.H.Oxley, Mr.T.C.Urquhart, Mr.E.T.Webster, Mr.T.M.Dick, Prof.D.C.Munroe, Mrs.A.Stalker, Mrs.Roswell Thomson and the Secretary.Apologies for absence were received from the Superintendent of Education, Mr.R.J.Clark, Hon.W.M.Cottingham, Brig.J.A.de Lalanne, Sen.C.B.Howard, Dr.F.C.James, Mr.J.R.Latter, Mr.J.P.Rowat, Dr.R.H.Stevenson, Dr.J.S.Astbury, Dr.A.R.Jewitt.The minutes of the previous meeting were approved on the motion of Mr.Murray, seconded by Mr.Dick.The Chairman welcomed Messrs.K.H.Oxley and E.T.Webster who nad recently been appointed to the Committee by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.It was moved by Mr.Webster, seconded by Dr.McDowell, and agreed that a suitable letter be forwarded to Dr.A.R.Jewitt wishing him a speedy recovery from his illness.On the motion of the Rt.Rev.Bishop Dixon, seconded by Mrs.Thomson, the Committee moved into Committee of the Whole.On the motion of Mr.Deacon, seconded by Prof.MacEwan, it was resolved that the Committee reassemble in regular session.Arising from discussion in Committee of the Whole it was moved by the Hon.Mr.Foster, seconded by Mr.Cameron, and unanimously resolved that the Protestant Committee disapproves in principle any payments, other than reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, to members of elected Protestant school boards and reaffirms the principle of gratuitous services by school board members.The report of the Director of Protestant Education contained the following information : (1) In 1956-1957 there were 155 Protestant school boards under Commissioners and 114 under Trustees, a total of 269.There were two annexations and four new boards of trustees.(2) The number of schools in operation was 350, of which number 119 were secondary schools.(3) There were 886 male and 3,034 female teachers in Protestant schools, the largest increase in staffs being 116 in the high schools and the total increase 256.(4) The increase in the number of teachers with Elementary Diplomas was 115; with Intermediate Diplomas, 49; with High School Diplomas, 26.(5) Salary increases averaging $877 per year have been granted to nine Inspectors or Supervisors.(6) The number of diplomas issued in 1956-1957 was 250.(7) The number of non-residential MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 1957 MEETING, PROTESTANT COMMITTEE 79 pupils in secondary schools outside the Board of Greater Montreal in 1955-1956 was 3,776.(8) During the past session Helping Teachers assisted 350 qualified teachers and 95 teaching on permission.(9) The Frederick James Richmond Trust Fund for Gaspé High School has been in operation for one year, and two bursaries have been awarded for 1957-1958.(10) After passing, at the request of the Protestant Committee, a resolution to make a spot check of the valuations throughout their area, the Chambly County Central School Board rescinded their resolution inasmuch as there were protests from four local boards concerning the costs; new valuations had been made in Longueuil and St.Lambert during the past two years, and there was doubt as to the power of the Central Board to assess such expense.In September of this year the Central Board advised the local boards to make a spot check of their valuations at their own expense and to correlate the check with valuations in St.Lambert.The report was received on the motion of Mr.Murray, seconded by Mr.Dick.On the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Mr.Cameron, it was resolved that the plan for the redistribution of inspection areas as submitted by the Secretary and effective beginning with the session 1957-1958 be approved in accordance with Section 29, Sub-section 2 of the Education Act.The report of the Education Sub-Committee contained the following recommendations : (1) The \u201c Science Today and Tomorrow\u201d series of texts should be authorized for experimental use in Grades IV-VII of selected schools under the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal during the session 1957-1958.Professors MacEwan, Munroe and Henry should study the texts in consultation with the Elementary Science Committee of the Montreal Board, and the Board should be asked to report in April on the success of the experiment.This was approved on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Mrs.Thomson.(2) The experimental use of Language Comes Alive should be authorized for the session 1957-1958 in Grade IV of selected schools under the Montreal Board, and the Board should be asked to submit a report on the experiment in April.This was approved on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Prof.MacEwan.(3) The experimental use of Basic Ideas of Mathematics and Winston Mathematics, Intermediate Book 2 should be authorized in selected schools for the session 1957-1958, and the Chairman of the P.A.P.T.Curriculum Committee should be asked to report on the value of the texts and explain what further changes their authorization might involve in the present courses in Arithmetic and Mathematics.This was approved on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Mr.Oxley.(4) The Murray school edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles should be authorized to replace the Musson edition.This was approved on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Mrs.Stalker.(5) À committee should be appointed to revise the course in Home Economics and should consist of Miss Kathleen Brown (Chairman), Mrs.J.R.Martin, Prof.F.I.Honey, Miss N.E.McCarthy, Mrs.A.Stalker, Prof.H.R.Neilson, Miss Alice Bruce. SHINS.TRU 80 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD This was approved on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by the Rt.Rev.Bishop Dixon.(6) The sixth edition of Mechanical Drawing by French and Stevenson should be authorized to replace the fifth edition, which should remain authorized as an optional alternative until June, 1960.This was approved on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Mr.Murray.The whole report was adopted on the motion of Mr.Dick, seconded by Mr.Cameron.The Annual Report of Macdonald College (Institute of Education) outlined the administrative changes, the course leading to the High School Diploma, the activities of the staff during the past session, and the future needs of the Institute.The report of the Macdonald Summer School for Teachers showed that 269 students were in attendance, of whom 240 were in the professional summer school.Each candidate for a permanent diploma was required to take a course in both general methods and psychology.Twelve students were registered in academic courses only.The Macdonald French Summer School had an attendance of 32.Five students were recommended for second-class and 22 for non-specialist certificates.The reports were received on the motion of Prof.Munroe, seconded by Mr.Dick.The report of the Bishop's Summer School showed that the enrolment was 19, of whom nine held High School Diplomas.Six courses were given by four instructors and the session was of six weeks\u2019 duration.The report was received on the motion of Mr.Cameron, seconded by the Rt.Rev.Bishop Dixon.Mr.Teakle, Supervisor of French, outlined his work in Protestant schools, described methods in the teaching of French, standards in Grades X and XI examinations, and the Oral French courses.On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman expressed its appreciation of his report.Mrs.Thomson drew the attention of the Committee to the fact that the law concerning the stopping of cars behind buses is not being observed.On her motion, seconded by Dr.McDowell, it was decided to refer this matter to the Legislative Sub-Committee for report at its next meeting.The Committee decided to ask the Supervisor of English, Mr.J.G.S.Brash, to present a report at its next meeting.On behalf of the Committee, Dr.Manning offered congratulations to Dr.Brown who had recently completed sixty years in the medical profession.There being no further business the meeting then adjourned on the motion of Prof.Munroe, seconded by Mr.Bradley, to reconvene at the call of the Chair.L.N.BUZLELL E.S.GILES ENT Secretary Chairman | MINISTERE DE LA JEUNESSE IMPRISONED The sky 1s weird in the twilight : A dusky rose glows dully in the west, While the ebony fingers of stark November trees Stretch heavenward to the volume of stern leaden clouds Which roll, ominous above.The world is cold and barren, wild and free, But I, on the wrong side of the window, Must draw the curtain, And face the smothering warmth of the room When I would \u2019front the elements : Such is the plight of the fettered soul, Chained by convention.Shirley McLeod Grade XI, John Rennie High School rs me Ear er es So Ey Sry = = = = ces = es co es \u2018aa _.\u2026 SE es hs om on .aies crm a ees - i ea _ Loa ~ \u2026 a.CE A = Ct LaiE ee = es iE -éques décerne \u201ca, = \u201c ois = ; | aa iS = > SE , = Jo = = S a NE 8 ie a Sa cc ne se ses = = =.= a He RR id bi 3 ; = = = a SN = S ; Se SN 5 = se se ss a Si al su ee .4 5 ges ce ss Let Sw 3 = = = = Li i = sa ss oe Sk a ss oe S Gy i nd a a Sa ne Les oh ss = se oi = si SES 3 oh = ge = $ OX = = = = SE A He i Th i oR Ny Ra RY = = se x = S Si = Hi Na ce 2 8 Re si = 3 = Hy a 5 ss.+ es .a 2 ats S.Be Nn Ha a = a = The Te En Tes = , ès 55 \u20ac fee Se a ee i a = .a A i fe RS = = Soa = 2 a $ sn es = , sa i 3 = = i x Rs sont - ! i Ra ses = sx 5 | : il 5e sisi Pera .= 3 RR si Sie à BD 25 ded = « 0 BN = EN eo SS i be = 5 5e = a = .ESS = 5 Sl = = i 5 2 = = SS 0 5 # i $ RD SE i RAR =.eu 1 i i if LE sn Ne ee SAS A EE oi AY = 8 = NE Sa .a oe 5 Hy RR = Ra = Es S 3 = i se = = x NE , = se = Re Th se Si = = Si 3 se = = Re = Sh = UE i = = = - = 13 = = SN 0 RN .Se 3 a , sa a Tan on RE i Ra = oN S = .SB RY > $ a = = aN = = = a i = RN = .£% = SS ne > = EE a 3 = = - = se S on - = s > N = 58 se 5 a SN - = nN = = .= = = = = = aaa = ER Te > - = ss S R = .S&S a a Se = WS > a A 2 = i = WY RN ue WN Ha RN Ne se = , 5 = a se RN se ces Ni Sa AIR 3B NR 5 a S À ss =.x DS S S , = .A A a 2 Sa oN 84 & So AN 2 3 se , .se Ne SRE A .a = = , .© A a Si = SE Si = BN RN = 3 aN S A 3 = AN = s = a 3 A a = =.RN .a A = a 3 = = = SN = a = = = a BN NE Se SR Se A a se Ra 5 5 .SN = a a NE SN O = Le $ se = 3 .5 = = Be he 5 =.A 5 WS & 3 Sa = WN - NN = Na 2 = = +.se =.A a 5 à ; a = \u2026 i 3 = Sa + » > , \u20ac a 3 oR .= S = Sa = 5 Re A = 5 ; NR N od 5 a Sh Ale .SN aN os Sig vase ee oS 8 x = NR SN a .i 3 pt a 3 MALARTIC ELEMENTARY \u2014 SCHOOL, MALARTIC -, "]