In order that the pupil may get the greatest benefit from the teacher’s correction of his themes, these should be returned for revision or rewriting as soon as possible. If the pupil does not receive his theme until a week or more after he has written it, the corrections and the revision and rewriting are much less interesting and valuable than if it is returned to him promptly. It is also easier for the teacher to correct themes as soon as they are received rather than to allow them to accumulate until their number makes the correction of them an exhausting task. In addition to the careful correction of compositions by the teacher, other methods may be used to call attention to the merits and faults of the pupils’ themes. The teacher may have the pupils copy on the blackboard the themes which they have prepared before coming to class, and the recitation period may be devoted to the criticism of these compositions by teacher and pupils. The pupils may occasionally be required to correct each other’s written work, either in or out of the class room. A recitation period can sometimes be used to advantage for the rewriting by the pupils of themes corrected by the teacher, who by passing from one pupil to another during this exercise can assist each in correcting and improving his work. While these methods often prove interesting and valuable, they should not be regarded as an adequate substitute for the prompt and accurate correction of themes by the teacher. 3. Filing of Themes After themes have been either rewritten or revised by pupils, they should be returned to the teacher, who must glance over them to be sure that the pupils have made the necessary changes. If the themes are rewritten, the original as well as the rewritten form should be returned to the teacher for the purpose of this comparison. It is also desirable to have some method of filing themes after they have been returned to the teacher. A simple method of keeping them is to use looseleaf note-books similar to the laboratory note-books in science. With this system the themes are first handed in on separate sheets of uniform size, and, after they have been corrected by the teacher and revised or rewritten by the pupil, are fastened in the note-book. If the themes are rewritten or corrected on the blank page of the note-book facing the original copy, the teacher can readily compare the two forms and can determine the character of the revision. Another plan adopted by a number of schools is to have a large filing case with a compartment for the themes of each pupil in the school. All the themes should be preserved until the end of the year, when they may be returned to the pupils. 4. Conferences on Written Work