APPENDIX C. I. Head Mr. Butler. LIST of CONVERSATIONAL READINGS to the STUDENTS in 1. On the objects which a Teacher should have in view in adopting his profession. 2. On the circumstances which make a Teacher happy in a school. 3. On some of the essential moral qualifications of Teacher. 4. On the essential intellectual qualifications of a Teacher. 6. On gaining ascendancy over the minds of children. 8. On routines of instruction and formation of plans. 9. On the monitorial system-its use and abuse. 10. On the selection of monitors. 11. On the training of monitors. 12. On the collective or simultaneous system. 13. On the art of teaching the elements of reading to very young children. 14. Illustrations of the mode of using the First Lesson Book. 15. On various methods of teaching spelling. 16. On the mode of using the Second Lesson Book. 17. On object-lessons for young children. 18. On the interrogative system, with illustrations. 19. On analytical teaching generally, with illustrations from the Third Lesson Book. 20. On synthetical teaching; illustrations from the Third Lesson Book. 21. On the art of reading with animation and expression. 22. On Scripture questioning, generally; on Scripture geography, and methods of teaching it. 23. On teaching writing. 24. On the use and nature of numbers. 25. On teaching arithmetic. 26. On the mode of using the Fourth Lesson Book. 27. On teaching geography. 28. On teaching grammar. 29. On teaching drawing. 30. On teaching vocal music. 31. On the philosophy of the human mind as applicable to education. 32. On attention and memory. 33. On association. 34. On conception. 35. On imagination. 36. On the principal writers on education. 37. On rewards and punishments. 38. On emulation. 39. On common errors relating to punishments, and on corporal punishments. 40. On moral and religious influence generally. 41. On the promotion of a love of truth, honesty, benevolence, and other virtues, among children. 42. On cleanliness and neatness, kindness to animals, and gentleness. 43. On promoting obedience to parents, respectful demeanour to elders, and general submission to authority. 44. On the private studies of a teacher. 45. On the course to be pursued in organizing a new school. 46. On keeping the various registers of attendance and progress. 47. On the ventilation of school-rooms and dwellings. 48. On school furniture generally. 49. On some of the circumstances which affect the condition of the labouring classes. 50. On the elements of political economy. 51. On machinery, and its results. 52. On cottage economy, and savings' banks. 53. On the duties of the Teacher to the parents of the children, and to the Committee. 54. On the formation of museums and collections of apparatus, and the management of school libraries. 55. On keeping up a connexion with old scholars. 56. On the order in which a Teacher should attempt to accomplish the various objects he has in view. 57. On school examinations generally. 58. On raising and filling a school, and on the circumstances which make a school popular. 59. On the various ways in which a Teacher may cooperate with other benevolent efforts, such as temperance societies and Sabbath-schools. 60. Brief summaries of the Teacher's duties in school, out of school, and in relation to the children, their parents, the Committee, and to society at large. APPENDIX C. I. Head Mr. Butler. Questions to test a School. The following questions have been drawn up for the use alike of Committees and Teachers. They indicate the points to APPENDIX C. which a Teacher should direct his attention, and the course a Committee should take in order to ascertain the condition of a school. The questions are supposed to be put to the teacher :: I. Head Mr. Butler. READING: Do you define and limit the portion to be read? Is the portion assigned of such moderate length as to allow of its being read three or four times? Do your Monitors question readily on the lessons that have been read? Have you the specimens, models, or diagrams, that are necessary to illustrate such lesson? Do you rest satisfied if one boy is reading in the draft, or do you see that every child is attentive while one is reading? Do you also forbid the Monitor approaching the boy who is reading, and require him always to stand where he has a view of the whole draft? Do you pay attention to the style of reading, particularly with the elder boys? Do you correct a bad style, by having very familiar sen tences read? By requiring the boys to tell you something, to write it down, and then to read it from their own writing? Do you teach the meanings of words in connexion with the reading, as found in sentences, rather than with the spelling in which the arrangements must be arbitrary? Do you point out on the map all the places occurring in the esson read? SPELLING: Do you sometimes teach and test spelling by the dictation of sentences to be written? Do the elder boys sometimes copy pieces of poetry and the exercises in grammar, with a view to improvement in spelling? Do you have the more difficult words that occur in your collective lessons spelt? INTERROGATION: Do you, or your Monitors, question on every subject taught? Do you occasionally require mutual questioning on the part of the elder boys? Does your questioning include the three different stages? 1. During reading the explanation of such words or allusions as are necessary to understanding the lesson? 2. After the books are closed, with a view to impressing the facts of the lesson on the memory? 3. The explanation of the etymologies APPEndix C. of words and the imparting of such incidental information as I. Head is naturally associated with it? Inspectors' Do you avoid indefinite questions, and such as by admit- Reports on ting of only "Yes!" or "No!" encourage guessing? WRITING: Are the books kept clean, free from blots, and without the corners being turned down ?* Do you furnish the boys with good copies, avoiding those which have improper contractions? Have you a black board on which you write in chalk a copy for the lower boys who are unable to write? ARITHMETIC: Do you teach arithmetic by the black board? Have you one in each draft? Do you in teaching arithmetic commence with and constantly refer to sensible objects? Are your numbers in your lower classes always those of little value? Do you invariably insist on every number being read to ascertain whether its value is understood? Do your Monitors question at every step in the process of a sume. g. Why do you carry only one when you borrow ten ? Are the terms and marks explained? What do £ s. d. mean? Why is the rule called compound subtraction? What are these "marks" used for? Do you connect the book knowledge of the more advanced boys with the objects around them? e. g. What is the quantity of timber in the trunk of a tree whose height and girth, both at the root and the part where it branches off, have been measured by themselves? The number of gallons the school water-butt will hold? The contents of a field, whose shape and sides they have ascertained? GRAMMAR: Do you explain every definition, rule, &c., before allowing the boys to commit them to memory? Do you make your boys understand that language determines grammar, and not grammar language? That the rules of grammar are only the recognised usages of language? The books may be kept smooth by tying them up between two pieces of board. Examination of Teachers. Mr. Butler. APPENDIX C. I. Head Mr. Butler. In explaining the etymologies of words are you extremely careful to give the right quantities, and terminations of the roots? GEOGRAPHY: Do you teach the physical features of any district first? In commencing geography do you require the boys to make a map of the play-ground, or some well-known part? Do you explain latitude and longitude by a reference to this map? Do you require the boys occasionally to point towards the place under consideration? e. g. When Dublin has been pointed out on the map, do you say, Now point to Dublin itself? Do DRAWING: you commence with chalk drawing on the black board? Are your Monitors so proficient as to be able to sketch off any object illustrative of their lesson? COLLECTIVE TEACHING: Do you abstain from teaching collectively those subjects which depend for their improvement on the amount of individual practice, as reading, spelling, &c. ? Do you test the efficiency of your collective teaching by individual questions? Do you sometimes require the elder boys to make a written abstract of their lesson? Is this looked over with a view to the spelling among other things? Do you make use of ellipses? the number varying inversely as the age of the child? Are your collective lessons to the whole school especially devoted to subjects connected with manners, morals, and religion? Do those to the younger boys relate to the various familiar objects, utensils, and operations about them? Are those to the elder boys given systematically? i. e. Is each lesson part of a system of knowledge? Is your collective teaching especially characterized by simplicity both of language and illustration, and by animation ?* In using numbers do you make them intelligible by referring them to known standards ? e. g. If you were stating * Many of the points suggested here are as important in connexion with other kinds of teaching as in collective; but as the evils of neglecting them would be increased in proportion to the number taught, it has been deemed advisable to throw them under this head. |