Colloquium on English - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

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specifics from the text in discussion and in written response. Teachers can help students observe ever more
carefully. In grade 9, avoid interpretation. Work only with what’s there. After the story-telling mood of the
lower school they need “firming up.” We can ask them to draw something from a description in the text or
map the story, being exactly true to the words of the book. This will not tax the memory but it will
strengthen the picture-forming capacity. Discussion can then be based on the picturing. Quizzing in 9 th
and 10 th grades on the small details helps school students in observing the details as they read. Ninth
graders can get the plot in Steinbeck’s The Pearl, for instance, but need help with metaphors. The teacher
gives the students ideas for questions that they should be asking. But, if we ask the questions all the time,
they don’t learn how to ask their own questions, which they should certainly be doing by high school. Still,
they need help early on formulating these.
The “how” questions work best in grade 10: “How does the poet create this effect?” “How does the
short story writer bring us to this conclusion?” Comparison of characters or motives or themes also works
well in grade 10.
In the 11 th grade, we can ask the students to understand the individual character through motivation
or relation to setting: “Why does Hamlet do this or that?” In 11 th and 12 th grades, they can then be
asked to write thoughtfully write on a question, supporting what they say with reference to the text.
By the 12 th grade, students are forming their own questions and are usually deeply engaged in
discussion. Our task then is to give them reasons to keep returning to the text. Even in Grade 12, there are
effective activities that can be assigned to help put things together, for example, working in groups to
outline a family tree for Tony Morrison’s Song of Solomon.
In Evolution’s End, Joseph Chilton Pearce says that adults must model for adolescents (in asking
questions, for example) so that they learn how to do it. Also, if we want the students to be imaginative, we
as teachers must live in pictures and imaginations and bring these into our teaching.
Vocabulary:
All teachers recognize that vocabulary building is an essential part of reading. There seem to be two
general approaches. Many teachers assign words from the reading that is being done in class, for example
from And There Was Light or A Tale of Two Cities. Students aren’t asked to define the words, but to use each
word in a meaningful way. At the end of a novel, one teacher has a vocabulary bee from the full list the class
has prepared over a number of lessons. Another teacher recommends that students buy a sturdy book for a
“Word Hoard” where they keep all the words, either over the year, or over the full four years.
Other teachers prefer a systematic way to teach vocabulary. Most teachers feel that knowing roots
from Latin and Greek are essential. Vocabulary from Classical Roots by Nancy and Norma Fifer is a series of
workbooks (grades 7 – 11) used by several schools.
Another approach is to give students several roots, prefixes, and suffixes each lesson and have them
discover how many words they can make. Once these words are listed on the board, choose ten for a test the
next week which will include questions on how to spell the word, how to use it in a sentence, and what the
root, prefix, or suffix means. For tests, students can work in groups with a rotating “tester and marker” each
week. The series of SAT vocabulary books can also be useful in the senior grades.
Other Types of Reading:
Many of us feel that it is part of our task as English teachers to help students cope with reading
things other than literature. When we read for information, usually in non-literary texts, we naturally focus
on comprehension and concept. For this purpose, it is necessary to help students to let go of the need to
read every word. They need to be taught how to skim and scan. Most exposition is set up in predictable
ways for ease in reading. For example: using an article of about 1500 words, ask students to preview for 90