Some institutions, however, have organized very definite plans for such preparation. An example of this is seen in the case of the University of Southern California, whose course is set forth at length by the professor in charge, Allison Gaw, in an article in the English Journal for May, 1916. This provides four college years and a graduate year, in which provision is made for extensive studies in English, foreign languages, history, public speaking, philosophy, and education, together with a special course in the teaching of highschool English, continuing three hours a week throughout the graduate year. This is accompanied by practice teaching four periods a week and by a course in school management two periods a week. Inasmuch as almost all the larger colleges and universities of the country have begun to offer special courses for the training of highschool teachers, particularly in their summer sessions, it seems likely that in the near future such courses may become reasonably standardized. That they should include (1) studies in the nature and elements of the various literary types, in addition to a broad reading knowledge of English and American literature, (2) sufficient training in oral and written composition, including public speaking, (3) a course in the application of educational principles to the teaching of English in the high school, and (4) actual practice under direction, may safely be affirmed. Preliminary steps have been taken in certain. States to demand specific professional training of all high-school teachers, and it is certain that it is only a question of time until this will be a common practice. Doubtless this result will be hastened by the recent action of the University of California, which has established a degree for teachers known as graduate in education. This will be conferred upon the successful completion of the following requirements: 1. Not less than four years of successful professional experience. 2. Two full years of graduate study, one of which must have been spent at the University of California. 3. A minimum of 36 units of upper-division major and graduate work, distributed as follows: (a) A minimum of 12 units of courses in education based on a (b) A minimum of 12 units of advanced work in a minor. the direction of the school of education, and both to be 8. TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN SERVICE. Clarence D. Kingsley, High School Inspector, Massachusetts Board of Education, makes the following suggestion regarding the need for State directors of high-school English: No system of high-school education may be regarded as complete unless adequate provision is made for the continued training of teachers after they have entered upon their work. Even after the teacher has secured the best possible preliminary training, many problems will arise upon which he needs the advice of an experienced teacher. Consequently, it is recommended that each State department add to its force a specialist in the teaching of high-school English. This specialist would: (a) Visit English teachers in their classrooms so as to discover their individual problems. (b) Confer with groups of teachers regarding common problems. (c) Issue bulletins embodying the results of successful experimentation, giving references to useful material. (d) Revise from time to time State manuals on the teaching of English. The assistance of such State directors is needed especially by teachers in smaller high schools, inasmuch as these teachers have no one to whom they may look for expert detailed advice. Even in the larger high schools where several persons are teaching English, these State directors could give much valuable assistance because they would be familiar with methods and material used successfully in other high schools. Under an ideal scheme some arrangement could be made whereby these State directors of English could, in alternate years, serve as instructors in institutions preparing teachers of English. In this way they would bring to the preparation of teachers an intimate knowledge of the needs of the schools, and during the years in which they were acting as field agents they would know what preliminary training the teachers had received. 9. CLASSROOM EQUIPMENT. The trained teacher, like Mark Hopkins, may be able to succeed with no apparatus but a log. There is no reason, however, why he should be required to get on with such limited equipment. A recent investigation by a committee of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English shows that in the best schools he has a great deal in addition to his desk and chair. This committee reports as follows: Excluding schools outside of the State, 135 high schools were addressed. Forty-five of these had enrollments of less than 150, 30 of less than 300, 25 of less than 600, and 30 had enrollments ranging from 600 to 2,000. Seventy-one replies were received (55 per cent); 26 of Class I, 16 of Class II, 16 of Class III, and 12 of Class IV responded. Recitation rooms.-Only 25 per cent of Class I have a separate recitation room for English work, and but 50 per cent of Class II. In one school of Class IV, having an enrollment of 900, the English recitations are held in whatever room the pupils are seated for study, the teachers passing from room to room. This method, however, is uncommon. The seating capacity of the reci tation room averaged 30. Committee and rehearsal rooms.-Thirty-three per cent have a room, or rooms, suitable for committee, debate teams, or dramatic practice. per cent of these are near or adjoin the English recitation rooms. Dramatic facilities.— A. Stage in assembly room B. Dressing rooms adjoining D. Curtain____ E. Scenic properties F. Furniture properties G. Costumes___. Only 10 Per cent. 70 25 48 40 20 25 Fourteen per cent have a smaller room equipped with a platform in which less ambitious dramatic work may be done before a small audience. Filing cabinets.-The filing cabinet is just beginning to gain ground. Eight per cent use the cabinet for filing themes, 5 per cent for individual home-reading cards, 7 per cent for consultation cards, 12 per cent for topical clippings from periodicals, 18 per cent for illustrative pictures for class use, 35 per cent for course outlines for teachers' guidance, and 27 per cent for class grade cards. Maps.-Sixty-five per cent have in the recitation room a map of America, 78 per cent a map of England, 28 per cent a liteary map of Scotland. Notebooks.—The laboratory size, loose-leaf notebooks are used in 60 per cent of the schools, with ruled paper about 8 by 10 inches in dimension; 90 per cent of the schools use ruled paper; 45 per cent ask the pupil to provide a small pocket notebook for assignments. Lanterns. Twenty per cent have projection lanterns; 30 per cent stereopticons. Moving-picture machines.-Only 2 of the 71 schools responding have movingpicture machines. Victrolas.-Fifty per cent have a Victrola or similar machine, a rather large average. Duplicator or mimeograph.-Eighty-five per cent have either one or both of these devices. Typewriters.—Ten per cent have a typewriter for the exclusive use of the English department. Bookcases. Sixty per cent of the recitation rooms are equipped with book cases. Teachers' desks.-Ninety-five per cent of the English teachers have an individual desk. The committee recommends the following as essentials in the equipment of any high school: 1. One or more recitation rooms properly equipped for English. 2. A small stage with curtains, dressing rooms, etc. 3. A file for themes and other records. 4. Maps of England, America, and Europe. 5. Loose-leaf notebooks. 6. A projection lantern or stereopticon with slides. 7. A Victrola. 8. A duplicator. 9. A working library supervised intelligently. 10. Three magazines of general interest, four of technical nature; a daily newspaper. 11. A serviceable collection of books for home reading, at least one-fourth of contemporary authorship. 12. Several copies of the more useful reference books and one copy of the less valuable. 13. Filed pictures for illustrative class use. 14. A few attractive pictures for wall decoration and a few casts. 15. Writing materials in the recitation room. 16. Informal seating arrangements. 17. Devices of various sorts to make the recitation rooms attractive places for recitation, conference, and reading.1 That the providing of such equipment would not entail a cost out of proportion to that now common in the case of several other subjects is clearly shown in the report of the committee on English equipment which was presented to the National Council of Teachers of English in November, 1912. The following table sets forth the main facts: Average teaching cost and equipment cost per pupil in the high schools reporting. From this table it appears that 10 of the 15 subjects reported on involve a larger equipment cost per pupil than English both in the total and in the average annual increase, though it can hardly be argued that these subjects are of greater value or that they require an equipment so disproportionally greater. 10. STANDARDS AND MEASURES OF ATTAINMENT. In no respect has there been more rapid advance in the last decade than in the matter of setting up definite standards of attainment and the working out of objective measures of ability. For the most part, however, these have had their application rather to the elementary 1 Information as to the carrying out of several of these recommendations will be found in an article by Miss Mary Crawford entitled The Laboratory Equipment of the Teacher of English, which appeared in the English Journal for March, 1915. 2 See English Journal for March, 1913. school than to the high school. There have been pleas for the determination of minimum standards in English, and actual attempts have been made to set up such standards, as in the case of a committee of the Boston schools, under the chairmanship of Miss Carolyn Gerrish. The findings of this committee were as follows: A graduate of a high school should meet the following requirements: 1) To write original compositions-whether they be narration, description, (3) To write any common type of business or social letter with technical accuracy and with simplicity and directness. (4) To find and organize material for an original composition of 1,000 words upon business, political, historical, literary, or scientific subjects. (5) To read aloud, at sight, with intelligence and clear enunciation, anything from a newspaper to a classic of ordinary difficulty. (6) To tell why a piece of literature (like a standard novel, or essay, or a lyric poem such as may be found in the Golden Treasury) has merit. (7) To quote either orally or in writing 200 lines (not necessarily consecutive) of classic prose or poetry. B. He should have a working knowledge of the course of both English and American literature, of their great names and great books, and of some of the most significant influences in history and life that have molded such literature. C. In addition to regular prescribed work in literature he should have read (from A List of Books for Home Reading, prepared for the Latin and high schools by the English council, or from the college-entrance requirement list) four good books of short stories, five good novels, three good plays, two good biographies, two good books of history or travel. The need of more definite standards for measuring results has been made evident by such investigations as those carried on by Starch and Eliot at the University of Wisconsin. It is now well known that an English composition submitted to a group of teachers will, in all probability, receive marks ranging in value from 60 to 95 on a scale of 100. To reduce this variation, Profs. Hillegas and Thorndike worked out their now famous "Scale for the measurement of quality in English composition by young people." This, however, has not proved entirely successful in actual use, the chief difficulty being that the compositions are not typical of the work of pupils and are of widely varying types. In an attempt to overcome both these difficul 1 See Reynolds, Minimum Standards, English Journal, 4: 349, June, 1915. 2 See Education, 36: 95, October, 1915. Starch, Daniel, and Eliot, Edward C. Reliability in the Grading of High-School Work in English. School Review, 20:7, Sepetmber, 1912. See also Kelly, F. J. Teachers' Marks: Their Variability and Standardization. Teachers College, Columbia University Contributions to Education, No. 66, 1914. Humphries, Florence Y. Effort vs. Accomplishment. English Journal, December, 1914. |