The authors substantiate the importance of working in Russian language and literature lessons on the Russian speech (rhetorical) ideal, which is ontologically connected with national culture, the history of the people and Orthodoxy. Key idea of the text: at all stages of schooling, work on the Russian speech ideal is an important part of the educational process, and the concept of “speech ideal” in the scientific paradigm is considered as a methodological category. The goals and content of work on the speech ideal are given: in elementary school - the formation of the child’s initial ideas about the Russian speech ideal, in primary school - the acceptance of the Russian speech ideal as a personal guideline, and in secondary school - awareness of the national and cultural specifics of the speech ideal. Analysis of scientific and practical pedagogical experience, ethical and philological analysis of children's literature texts allowed the authors to substantiate the potential of literary texts in introducing schoolchildren to the Russian speech ideal. The principle of orientation towards the speech ideal is defined as the basis for teaching dialogue; its implementation is possible through the use of fragments of literary texts that describe standard and destructive speech behavior (fragments of the works of A.S. Pushkin, A.P. Chekhov, F.M. Dostoevsky). During the analysis of texts, students should be drawn to the rules of harmonizing communication, respect for the interlocutor, to the task of speech self-education, and taught to respond ethically to the speech behavior of others; introduce the concept of speech ideal, types of speech culture and criteria for its assessment, demonstrate the connection of speech ideal with culture, Orthodox tradition, and the history of the country.