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Manuals
Conduct of Christian Schools:
SECOND PART - CHAPTER 2
MEANS OF ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING ORDER IN SCHOOLS
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CHAPTER 2
Signs Which are Used in the Christian Church
It would be of little use for teachers to apply themselves to making the students keep silent if teachers did not do so themselves. Teachers will better teach students this practice by example than by words. The teacher's own silence will do more than anything else to produce good order in school, giving teachers the means of watching more easily over both themselves and their students. However, as there are many occasions on which teachers are obliged to speak, a great many signs have been established in the Christian Schools. To make it easier for teachers to keep silence and to reduce these signs to some order, the signs have been classified according to those practices and activities which most ordinarily occur in schools. An iron instrument used by the teachers and called the signal is employed to give most of these signs.
All of the signals used in all of the Houses will be of the same form. Nothing is to be changed or added. All of the teachers will make use of the same signs. The signs in use are explained in the following articles.
ARTICLE I
Signs Used during Meals
To have the prayers said, the teachers will clasp their hands.
To indicate that the responses of Holy Mass are to be repeated, teachers will strike their breast.
To indicate that the Catechism is to be recited, teachers will either make the sign of the cross or indicate with the signal the place in the classroom where the Catechism is usually recited.
To discover whether a student is attentive during recitations, teachers will strike the signal once to stop the one who is speaking. Teachers will then point the signal to the other student, thus indicating that the student is to repeat what a previous student has just said.
ARTICLE II
Signs Concerning Lessons
To make the sign to the students to prepare to begin a lesson, teachers will tap their hand once on the closed book in which they are to begin reading.
To stop a student who is reading, teachers will strike the signal once. All students will immediately look at the teacher, who will then point with the signal to another student, thus giving that student the sign to begin.
To make the sign to a student who is reading to repeat something when the student has read badly or has mispronounced a letter, a syllable, or a word, the teacher will strike the signal rapidly twice. If, after having been given the sign two or three times, the student does not correct the mistake, the teacher will strike the signal once, as is done when the reading is to stop. All the students will look at the teacher, who will immediately make a sign to another student to read aloud the letter, the syllable, or the word which the previous student has read badly or mispronounced. If, after the sign has been given two or three times, the reader, (having gone several words beyond the mistake before being called to order), does not find and repeat the word which has been badly read or mispronounced the teacher will strike the signal three times in rapid succession. This is a sign for the reader to begin to read further back. The teacher will continue to make this sign until the reader finds the word which has been said incorrectly.
The sign to speak louder is to point upward with the tip of the signal. The sign to speak lower is to point the tip of the signal down.
To warn one or more students not to speak so loudly when they are following the lesson or studying, the teacher will slightly raise the hand carrying the signal, as though wishing to touch the ear.
Teachers will make the same sign when they hear any noise in the school. If it is on their right that the noise is being made, they will raise their right hand. If it is on their left, they will raise their left hand.
For the sign to read calmly, the signal is struck twice, separately and distinctly.
To make the sign to spell a word which a beginning reader does not pronounce properly, teachers will place the tip of the signal once on the book which they have in their hands.
To indicate to a student spelling or reading by syllables, that the pauses are not long enough between two letters or syllables, teachers will slowly touch the tip of the signal several times on the book which they are holding.
To indicate to students reading with pauses that they are not pausing long enough at a comma, a colon, or a period, the teacher will place the tip of the signal on the passage that is being read and hold it there.
To signal that a reader has paused in the wrong place, or too long, the teacher will move the signal over the open book. The same sign will be given to one who drawls while spelling or reading by syllables.
To make the sign to change from one subject to another, teachers will slap the open book. At once, the reader will say aloud, "Blessed be God for ever and ever." All the students must remove their hats at once and make ready their books or lessons. All of this should be done in an instant.
To make the sign to finish the last lesson and to put the books away, the teachers will strike their hand twice on the book which is being held and which, at that time, is being read.
ARTICLE III
Signs Used in the Writing Lesson
To start the lesson after the papers have been distributed, the signal will be sounded once for each of the separate steps. At the first sound, students will take out their writing cases and place them so that they will all be seen. At the second sound, they will open their writing cases, take out their pens and their penknives if they have any, and place them similarly. At the third, they will dip their pens in the ink and begin to write, all at the same time.
When students lean on the table or assume some other unseemly posture when writing, the teacher will raise a hand and move it from the right to the left. This is the sign to the students to place their bodies in a proper posture.
When students do not hold their pens correctly, teachers will demonstrate how to do so. If teachers notice a student who is not writing, they will give a sign by looking steadily at the offender. They will then raise their hand and move their fingers. If they again see that the same student is not writing, they will assign a penance.
ARTICLE IV
Signs Used during Catechism and Prayers
To signal to students to cross their arms, teachers will look fixedly at them and at the same time cross their own arms. To remind students to hold their bodies erect, the teacher will look at them and then stand or sit up straight, with feet properly arranged.
When a student has not properly made the sign of the cross, teachers will place their own hand on their forehead in order to make the student begin again. To make a sign to students to lower their eyes, the teachers will look at them fixedly and at the same time lower their own eyes.
For the signal to fold hands, teachers will, while looking at the students, fold their own hands. In a word, on all these occasions and on all other similar ones, the teacher, while looking at the students, will do what the students are to do or observe.
ARTICLE V
Signs Used in Reference to Corrections
All of the signs referring to corrections will be reduced to five. The teachers will make sure the students understand for which of these five things they are to be punished.
The five things for which corrections will be given in school are, (1) for not having studied; (2) for not having written; (3) for having been absent from school or for having come late; (4) for having been inattentive during Catechism; and (5) for not having prayed to God.
These five things will be expressed in written rules which will be hung in various places in each classroom. Each of these rules will be expressed in the following terms:
1. Students must never be absent from school or come late without permission.
2. Students must apply themselves in school to studying their lessons.
3. Students must always write without losing time.
4. Students must be attentive during Catechism.
5. Students must pray to God with piety in church and in school.
When teachers wish to correct a particular student, they will call the student's attention by a signal, and will then indicate with the signal the rule against which the student has offended, at the same time giving the student a sign to approach. If it is to administer the ferule, the teacher will make the student a sign to extend the left hand. If it is to give a correction, the teacher will show the student with the signal the place where it is received.
When a teacher wishes to alert students to possible punishment, the signal shall be sounded once. When all of the students are attentive, the teacher shall point out the rule for the violation of which the teacher is threatening correction.
ARTICLE VI
Signs That Are Used Only on Special Occasions
When students seek permission to speak, they will stand at their place, with arms crossed and eyes lowered. They will make no sign. To permit them to speak, teachers will give a sign to approach by pointing the end of the signal toward themselves. The same sign will be used every time that the teacher has to speak to a student. To refuse permission to speak, the signal will be pointed down, toward the ground in front of the teacher.
When a student asks permission to attend to the wants of nature, the student will remain seated and will raise a hand. To grant this permission, the teacher will point the signal toward the door. To refuse it, the teacher will give a sign to remain still by pointing the signal toward the ground.
To make a student kneel, the teacher will point with the signal to the middle of the classroom. To make one rise who is kneeling, the teacher will raise a hand slightly while holding the signal.
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