reading as such. An infinite variety of procedure is possible and desirable. Pupils may work individually, or in groups, or as a unit. They may all use the same material, they may have different material, or each group may have its own material. They may make no preparation in advance, in which event the silent reading forms a part of the recitation. More often the silent reading will be done in advance of the recitation, setting free the class period for the consideration of content. Occasionally, depending upon the need of pupils, the recitation will be given to training in speed and comprehension or to the use of testing devices. TESTING FOR SPEED AND COMPREHENSION Experience shows that reasonable speed is an aid to comprehension. A slow pupil, by increasing his reading rate, improves his comprehension. Scientific tests prove that eye span has much to do with speed, and that the ability to take in larger groups of words, phrasing ability, is an important factor in reading efficiency. Drill on phrases will help to increase eye span. Rapid, efficient readers, as compared with poor readers, make fewer eye-pauses and proceed with rhythmic forward eyemovements instead of irregular movements. Pupils may read so rapidly that they fail to get the thought, or they may gain in comprehension at the expense of reasonable speed. It is the teacher's problem to determine for each pupil a reasonable, economic rate of reading. Obviously, this individual rate will vary according to the degree of difficulty the material has for the pupil and the purpose in mind for which the selection is to be read. The standard silent-reading rate for eighthgrade pupils has been variously estimated: Starch, 240 words per minute; Gray, 240; Courtis, 280; Oberholtzer, 288; O'Brien, 393. In general, reading efficiency is best attained when the material is not too difficult. Graphs made for a certain selection or for one of the standard tests, showing at a glance the rating of each pupil and the record of the class as a whole, will enable the individual pupil to see for himself just where he stands in the class and whether or not he needs to improve his rate. (See page 564.) Reading has for its chief purpose the gaining of thought from the printed page. How much of the main idea the child has grasped is the test of all reading. Devices for testing thought-comprehension are valuable to the degree in which they register the fullest content the pupil has gained from his reading. The chief value of tests is found in the stimulus they give pupils to fix the habit of always reading as rapidly as possible and always reading for thought. Because of this fact they may be used more or less sparingly, depending upon the pupil's need for stimulus. At least once during the school year one of the standard tests, such as Gray's, Thorndike's, etc., may be used to advantage. It should prove a helpful check against the individual judgment of the teacher. Vocabulary limitations, lack of organizing ability, and lack of ability to reproduce what has been read, have been found to be the chief factors, under the teacher's control, in low comprehension scores. This Reader makes the acquiring of an adequate vocabulary a matter of daily practice; ample vocabulary material and suggested methods for building a vocabulary are provided. Throughout the Reader and the Manual the teacher will find suggestions for teaching the organization of specific selections, by studying and making outlines, finding the main ideas and subordinating the minor ones, comparing selections on the same subject to find likenesses and differences, etc. If the suggestions in the Reader are followed for creating situations that will make recalling what has been read vital, the pupils will receive valuable training in this important factor in silent reading. This Reader provides a number of ways of testing the ability of pupils in thought-getting. There is nothing particularly new about the use of such devices for testing pupils. Thoughtful teachers have always used means for finding out how much of the content children have gained from their reading. The use of questions designed to bring out the important facts in the selections or the main thread of the story has long been a favorite device. The following are possible ways of testing pupils : 1. By using either questions or incomplete statements to be filled in, covering the most important facts or ideas contained in the selection; or by having a pupil prepare a set of questions or statements for some classmate to use in testing his thoughtgetting ability and by using a companion's set for a comprehension check. (a) Questions (page 576). (b) Completion tests (page 577). 2. By telling the story briefly from a given outline or by preparing an outline to guide in telling the story (see outline page 39). Telling the substance of a story is a rigorous type of test, involving as it does understanding, organization and logical sequence, memory, and ability to reproduce. The fact that it is difficult to score with any degree of accuracy should not deter a teacher from using this method in her daily work. An interesting social exercise may be had by assigning the several topics of the outline to small groups, to be reported on in class, each group giving a brief abstract of the story-unit assigned. These reports will present a brief, orderly resumé of the selection. For example, in the Outline on page 39, assign ́topics (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) to eight groups of pupils, each group to prepare and present in class a brief abstract of the story-unit assigned. RECORDING RESULTS Each pupil should keep a record of his reading rate and his thought-getting ability in his notebook. The following form will suggest a way to record the results of informal tests: THE ELSON READERS, BOOK EIGHT STUDY HABITS The Reader and the Manual emphasize the importance of having pupils approach each lesson with some definite, conscious purpose or problem. In studying "Satan, the War Dog That Saved a Town," for example, the pupils are asked to read in order to find out what three qualities were most characteristic of Satan's nature. Such reading aims should not deal with details, or with detached facts, but should go to the heart of the selection and cover its main theme. In the silent-reading lesson the pupil reads with definite aims in view-questions to answer, judgments to form, opinions to express, problems to solve, etc.; and he knows that not only is he going to be required to show exactly how thoroughly he has understood the selection in hand, but also that he will have opportunity for the interesting give-and-take of a conversation that radiates from the reading lesson into his outside reading and into his daily experience. The teacher who is to guide this interesting and stimulating discussion cannot trust to learning what the lesson is all about from listening to the children's reading, for they do not read aloud; she must be forearmed with a thorough knowledge of the selection to be discussed and with a full equipment of questions and suggestions that will serve, on the one hand, actually to test the pupils' silent reading, and, on the other hand, to develop to the utmost the ethical and artistic possibilities of the literature studied. Thus the assignment and preparation are of the utmost importance. The teacher may always, to the greatest advantage, use a larger part of the recitation period than is possible under the oral-reading method in providing an interesting setting for the selection to be read, and in stimulating curiosity and a desire to read it. |