Neilson, W: Manual for Teachers

Excerpt from Manual for Teachers: To Accompany a History of English Literature

A few class hours of sympathetic cooperative study between teacher and class are most helpful with almost any subject and especially with At the the history of English literature, which must necessarily beginning begin with the centuries most remote from the pupil's ordinary interests. Furthermore, this introductory class-room study is most desirable with any new textbook. Was enthusiasm in a subject ever aroused by the curt injunction, Buy such and such a book, and prepare the first ten pages? Is not the teacher's aid more helpful applied at the beginning Of a book than anywhere else? Let us look the book over together in the class. What is its title? Just what does that mean? Who are the authors? What do we learn from the Table Of Contents? Is there a preface? Let us hear it read aloud. And when we come to Chapter One, let us examine not only its contents but its form, its arrangement, its divisions, its marginal headings, its summary. The class may be prepared at the outset for an intelligent use and enjoyment of the book. Don't introduce the history as a taskmaster, but rather help the class to an acquaintance with it as a companion and guide.

The aims which have been set forth for the teaching Of the history of literature may be scrutinized again with their application to the history. First, it has to do with literature itself. There should be no such thing as the teaching Of the history of literature apart from teaching literature. Second, it has to do with history, not merely political history, but the history Of civilization. Third, it has to do with biography, for our interest in books can only rarely be separated from our interest in the men who wrote them. Fourth, it has to do with the present time, for the literature of the past has a Vital meaning for the youth of today.

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