All this, of course, requires thought, judgment, care, and, above all, previous preparation; and a pupilteacher who has not prepared his writing lesson will break down before an inspector who knows his duty, and does it, just as much as in his reading lesson.

Another important matter which the inspector will note is whether the teacher has any regular and systematic method of correcting the writing which is being done by his class. Some teachers think that it is sufficient for this purpose if they go about through the class the whole time of the writing lesson and correct each child's mistakes in turn. But this is a most inadequate way of effecting the desired purpose. It is insufficient for the bad writers, and wasteful of time and power for the good. Some children's books require to be looked at much oftener than those of others. Some may safely be allowed to write from four to six lines without correction; others cannot be trusted to write one line. Some are hasty, and require checking; others require hastening. It is, of course, well that a teacher should sometimes go round his class during a writing lesson, in order to enforce the proper holding of the pen, and to see from the best point of view how each boy is doing the mechanical part of his work. But this should not be done too much. The golden rule that a teacher should be before, and not among, his class, should always be violated as little as possible. And a far better and more systematic way of correcting the books of a class, is to have a rule that no boy may write more than a certain number of lines without standing up and turning round his copybook, so as to show it, for correction. By this means, regular and sys

tematic correction of the writing is secured, hasty writing is discouraged, merit is brought to the front, the teacher is forced to keep his attention fixed on his work, and matter for collective instruction is more prominently suggested. The number of lines which may be written without being offered for correction may be increased to good and careful writers, and diminished to the careless or nervous. And thus the pupil-teacher will have his whole class well in hand; and, what is most important, the principal teacher, as he goes his ordinary rounds, will be able easily to see whether he is doing good work.

To these points I may add that, in girls' schools, the inspector will, of course, look to see that no scholar is, under any pretence, ever permitted to write in that vulgar and slovenly form called "ladies' angular hand."

23. Class Instruction in Writing.—If satisfied on these, or some of these, points, the inspector will then look to see how far the pupil-teacher is capable of giving class instruction (as opposed to individual instruction) in writing; that is to say, whether he knows how to draw from the work of each boy, as he sees it in turn, general lessons of warning and illustration for the collective benefit of the whole class; or is merely capable of the far inferior art of correcting each individual boy separately.

Every teacher in giving a writing lesson, whether on slates or in copy-books, ought to have in front of his class, and in such a position that it can be seen by all, a black-board for the purpose of this class instruction. If the lesson is one on slates, from a copy set on a black-board, the

teacher should have before the class a second blackboard for that purpose. When he observes that any boy sits at the desk in an improper attitude, or is faulty in his mode of handling his pen or pencil, or of forming or shaping any given letter, or of connecting any letters together, or is too slow or too quick in writing, or has any tricks or undesirable habits, he should (of course without acrimony) call the attention of the whole class to such faults, and show them how they are to be avoided. Illustrating with his chalk on the black-board, he should show how each faulty letter is best formed, and how letters should be joined, and should make the class see, by actual comparison of examples of good and bad work on the board, what is the standard at which they should aim. If the inspector, standing by a writing lesson for five or six minutes during its course, hears no word of collective teaching addressed to the class, and sees no use made of the black-board, he will of course suspect something defective in the pupil-teacher's training; and will either ask him whether he has prepared any collective instruction to be given on the copy-head which is being done by the class, or (at any rate, in the case of a third or fourth year pupil-teacher) will call upon him to comment orally, and with black-board illustrations, upon any defects which he has observed in the work of the class, or of any members of it. If no such collective instruction has been prepared, or the pupil-teacher, on being so called upon, breaks down and shows want of training, the inspector will, of course, make this a matter of remark to the principal teacher, at the close of his inspection (see § 62). As one important part of this question, of the pupilteacher's power to instruct his class as a whole, the

inspector will look to see how far he has advanced in ability to write well on the black-board. This writing on the black-board is a distinct art from writing on paper at a desk, and pupil-teachers require special and careful training for it.

24. Summary of Points in a Writing Lesson. To sum up, the following are briefly such points as an inspector will bear in mind, when inspecting the instruction in writing :

(1.) Does the pupil-teacher teach, or does he examine only?

(2.) Does he correct mechanical faults in the scholars?

(3.) Is any scholar working with a pen before he is fit to do so, or writing small hand before he is qualified to do so, or using a copy-book which has no large hand in it?

(4.) Is the work of the class systematically corrected, so as to regulate pace, as well as to test by results?

(5.) In a girls' school, does any scholar write "ladies' angular hand?"

(6.) Can the teacher write well with chalk on the black-board?

(7.) Does he know how to give to a class collective instruction in writing?

(8.) Has he prepared his lesson ?

25. Preparation for Inspection of Senior PupilTeachers. Having thus inspected the teaching of the two junior pupil-teachers, and seen the school dismissed for recreation, the inspector will turn to the two senior pupil-teachers, and inquire as to the lessons which they have prepared to give before him. He will not only call upon the fifth year pupil-teacher to produce the notes which he has made in prepara

tion for the lesson on English grammar, which he is going to give before him (see § 20); but will also request him, and the third and fourth year pupilteachers as well, to produce their note-books of the past year, in order that he may see what sort of work they have been doing in the way of preparing for collective lessons. In regard to these note-books, and to the notes of lessons written by the pupilteachers at the collective examination, and to those obvious faults in manner and matter, which are the first things to be noticed and corrected by the inspector when he inspects any collective lesson, the remarks which I have already made respecting the collective teaching of infants by the principal teacher and pupil-teacher apply here also (see §§ 11, 12).

26. Teaching of Grammar, Geography, and History:--Effect of the Revised Code.-But there are some remarks which I wish to make in this place, on the teaching of those three subjects, English grammar, geography, and history, which, by the Code of 1875, were again authoritatively declared part of the ordinary subjects of instruction in a school (see Appendix I.); and particularly on the teaching of grammar. I say, again declared to be part of such ordinary instruction, because the minutes issued to the inspectors in September, 1862, after the introduction of the Revised Code, show that such instruction was always intended to be kept up in elementary schools, and to be tested and reported upon by the inspectors. It is no doubt the fact, that such instruction was largely dropped in the schools, on the introduction of the Revised Code, as is admitted in the Report to Her Majesty of the Committee of Council for Education, for the year 1874 (Blue-Book of the Education Department