The McGuffey Third Reader is an introduction to the understanding of poetry and prose writing. The second reader, as previously stated, is the second step in understanding narratives. It is a basic understanding and comprehension of short stories. As the children move up into the third reader they are introduced into prose and poetry. This book starts by teaching the basics of reading and speaking poetry. It still contains the previous books key points, like pointing out common errors and new words at the end of each story. Eventually, they are taught to reflect and ponder the deeper meanings of each piece of writing. This is a step up from earlier books because they have to seek out the meaning of stories and understand complex figurative…show more content… Biblical passages are spread throughout the book as steps in the lesson. Each passage from scripture is introed with a “RULE” for reading, which is the lesson being taught. Focused on teaching children how to understand poetry and prose, the third reader is full of scriptural writings. It displays an example of prose by giving the story of Solomon and his wise decisions (McGuffey 129-132). The scriptural prose is used in the common classroom to show examples of the solomn style. The McGuffey readers use scripture to show examples of poetry as well. It shows many examples from the Psalms. For example, McGuffey on page 157 describes the importance of not clipping words short through Psalms 40, which focuses on the goodness of God. McGuffey also uses Psalm 19 to present the importance of tone (213). He emphasizes that tone is to reflect what is being read. Finding more examples of prose and poetry, McGuffey turned to Isaiah. He uses Isaiah 55 to present the idea of emphasis of important ideas (238). Using the correct manner of speech to highlight the name of God, yet not create an awkward drawl. The third McGuffey reader shows how a teacher can use scripture as a subtle tool for teaching common English lessons. Teachers can integrate faith into basic learning skills easily when using the scriptures for what it is, well-written
