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Riverside Educational Monographs
Edited by Henry Suzzallo
President of the University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
THE RECITATION
by
GEORGE HERBERT BETTS, Ph. D.
Professor of Psychology
Cornell College, Iowa
Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston New York Chicago San Francisco
The Riverside Press Cambridge
Copyright, 1910, by George Herbert Betts
Copyright, 1911, by Houghton Mifflin Company
CONTENTS
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
I. THE PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION
II. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION
III. THE ART OF QUESTIONING
IV. CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO A GOOD RECITATION
V. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON
OUTLINE
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
Teachers are not always clear as to what they mean when they speak of
the recitation. Many different meanings are associated with the term.
Some of these are suggestive but quite vague; and others, although
more definite, are but partial truths that hinder as much as they
help. It is not surprising that a confused usage of the term is
current among teachers.
From one point of view, the recitation is a recitation-period, a
segment of the daily time schedule. In this sense it is an
administrative unit, valuable in apportioning to each school subject
its part of the time devoted to the curriculum. Thus, we speak of five
recitations in arithmetic, three in music, or two in drawing, having
in mind merely the number of times the class meets for instruction in
a particular school study. A recitation here means no more than a
class-period, a more or less arbitrary device for controlling the
teacher's and pupils' distribution of energy among the various
subjects taught.
From another point of view, the recitation is a form of educative
activity rather than a mere time allotment. In this sense the
recitation is a process of instruction, a mode of teaching, wherein
pupils and teacher, facing a common situation, proceed toward a more
or less conscious end. It is a distinct movement in classroom
experience, so organized that a definite beginning, progression, and
end are clearly distinguishable. Thus we speak of the method of the
recitation, the five formal steps of the recitation, or the various
types of recitation. Such a usage makes "recitation" synonymous with
"lesson." Indeed, when we pass from general pedagogical discussion to
a detailed treatment of special methods of teaching, we usually
abandon the term "recitation" and use the word "lesson." Although
there is always some notion of a time-period in the curriculum in our
idea of a lesson, yet the term "lesson" is more intimately connected
with the thought of a teaching exercise in which ideas are developed
and fixed in memory. It is through the lesson or recitation that
pupils and teachers influence one another's thought and action; and
when this condition exists, there is always educative activity.
These two ways of thinking of the recitation, one primarily
administrative and the other primarily educative, need to be somewhat
sharply differentiated in our thinking. However closely related they
are in actual schoolroom work, however greatly they influence each
other in practice, they require a theoretic separation. Only by this
method can we avoid some of the error and confusion current in
teaching theory and practice. A single instance will suffice to show
the value of the distinction.
No one of us would deliberately assume that the teaching process
required for the instruction of a child would just cover the twenty,
thirty, or forty minutes allotted to the class-period, day after day
and year after year, regardless of the subject presented or the child
taught. Yet this is precisely the sort of assumption that is implied
throughout a considerable portion of our current discussion of the
teaching process. We talk about a "developmental-lesson" or a
"review-recitation" in, say, geography, as though it began and ended
with the recitation-period of the day. The daily lesson-plans we
demand of apprentice-teachers in training-schools are largely built
upon this basis.
Of course the fact that one must begin a theme at a given moment and
close at a similar arbitrary point affects the teacher's procedure
somewhat. He will always have to attack the problem anew at ten
o'clock and pull together the loose ends of discussion at ten-thirty,
if these happen to be the limits of time assigned him. But who will be
bold enough to assert that the psychological movement for the
development and solution of the particular problem at hand will always
be exactly thirty minutes long? It is possible, and quite probable,
that the typical movements in instruction--development, drill,
examination, practice, and review--may occur within a single
class-period, following fast upon the heels of each other as the
situation may demand. It is equally probable that in many cases any
one of them may reach across several class-periods. We need a more
flexible way of thinking of the recitation and of the teaching
activities involved in class-periods and of other administrative
factors which condition the effectiveness of teaching.
Such a clear, flexible treatment of the recitation is offered in this
volume. We feel that it will be particularly welcome to the practical
teacher since so many previous treatments of this subject have been
formal or obscure. Combining the training of a psychologist with the
experience of a class teacher, Professor Betts has given us a lucid,
helpful, and common-sense treatment of the recitation without falling
into scientific technicality or pedagogical formalism.
I
THE PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION
The teacher has two great functions in the school; one is that of
organizing and managing, the other, that of teaching.
In the first capacity he forms the school into its proper divisions or
classes, arranges the programme of daily recitations and other
exercises, provides for calling and dismissing classes, passing into
and out of the room, etc., and controls the conduct of the pupils;
that is, keeps order.
The organization and management of the school is of the highest
importance, and fundamental to everything else that goes on in the
school. A large proportion of the teachers who are looked upon as
unsuccessful fail at this point. Probably at least two out of three
who lose their positions are dropped from inability to organize and
manage a school. While this is true, however, the organizing and
managing of the school is wholly secondary; it exists only that the
_teaching_ may go on. Teaching is, after all, the primary thing.
Lacking good teaching, no amount of good management or organization
can redeem the school.
1. _The teacher and the recitation_
Teaching goes on chiefly in what we call the _recitation_. This is the
teacher's point of contact with his pupils; here he meets them face to
face and mind to mind; here he succeeds or fails in his function of
teaching.
Failure in teaching is harder to measure than failure in organization
and management. It quickly becomes noised abroad if the children are
not well classified, or if the teacher cannot keep order. If the
machinery of the school does not run smoothly, its creaking soon
attracts public attention, and the skill of the teacher is at once
called into question. But the teacher may be doing indifferent work in
the recitation, and the class hardly be aware of it and the patrons
know nothing about it. There is no definite measure for the amount of
inspiration a teacher is giving daily to his pupils, and no foot-rule
with which to test the worth of his instruction in the recitation.
And it is this very fact that makes it so necessary that the teacher
should study the principles of teaching as applied to the recitation.
The difficulty of accurately measuring failure in actual teaching
tends to make us all careless at this point. Yet this is the very
point above all others that is vital to the pupil. Inspiring teaching
may compensate in large degree for poor management, but nothing can
make up to a pupil for dull and unskillful teaching. If the
recitations are for him a failure, nothing else can make the school a
success so far as he is concerned.
_The ultimate measure of a teacher, therefore, is the measure taken
before his class, while he is conducting a recitation._
2. _The necessity of having a clear aim_
Any discussion of the recitation should begin with its aims or
purposes; for upon aim or purpose everything else depends. For
example, if you ask me the best method of conducting a recitation, I
shall have to inquire before answering, whether your purpose in this
recitation is to discover what the pupils have prepared of the work
assigned them; or to introduce the class to a new subject, such as
percentage in arithmetic; or to drill them, as upon the multiplication
table. Each of these purposes would demand a different method in the
recitation. Again, if your purpose is to show off a class before
visitors, you will need to use a very different method from what you
will employ if your aim is to encourage the class in self-expression
and independence in thinking.
There are three great purposes to be accomplished through the
recitation: _testing_, _teaching_, and _drilling_. These three aims
may all be accomplished at times in the same recitation, may even
alternate with each other in successive questions, but they are
nevertheless wholly distinct from each other, and require different
methods for their accomplishment. The skillful teacher will have one
or the other of these three aims before him either consciously or
unconsciously at each moment of the recitation, and will know when he
changes from one to the other and for what reason. Let us proceed to
consider each of these aims somewhat more in detail.
3. _Testing as an aim in the recitation_
Testing deals with ground already covered, with matter already
learned, or with powers already developed. It concerns itself with the
old, instead of progressing into the new. It seeks to find out what
the child knows or what he can do of that which he has already been
over in his work. Of course every new lesson or task attempted is in
some measure a test of all that has preceded it, but testing needs to
be much more definite and specific than this.
The testing discussed here must not be confused with what we sometimes
call "tests," but which really are examinations, given at more or less
infrequent intervals. Testing may and should be carried on in the
regular daily recitations by questions and answers either oral or
written, bearing on matter previously assigned; by discussions of
topics of the lesson assigned; or by requiring new work involving the
knowledge or power gained in the past work which is being tested. The
following are some of the principal things which we should test in the
recitation:--
_a. The preparation of the lesson assigned._--The preparation of every
lesson assigned should be tested in some definite way. This is of the
utmost importance, especially in all elementary grades. We are all so
constituted mentally that we have a tendency to grow careless in
assigned tasks if their performance is not strictly required of us. No
matter how careful may be the assignment of the lesson, and no matter
how much the teacher may urge upon the class at the time of the
assignment that they prepare the lesson well, the pupils must be held
responsible for this preparation day by day, without fail, if we are
to insure their mastery of it.
Nor is it enough to inquire, "How many understand this lesson?" or
"How many got all the examples?" It is the teacher's business to test
thoroughly for himself the pupil's mastery of the lesson or the
knowledge or power required for the examples, in some definite and
concrete way. It will not suffice to take the pupil's judgment of his
own preparation and mastery, for many will allow a hazy or doubtful
point to go by unexplained rather than confess before teacher and
class their lack of study or inability to grasp the topic. Further,
pupils seldom have the standards of mastery which enable them to judge
what constitutes an adequate grasp of the subject.
_b. The pupil's knowledge and his methods of study._--Entirely aside
from the question of the preparation of the lesson assigned, the
teacher must constantly test the pupil's knowledge in order that he
may know how and what next to teach him; for no maxim of teaching is
better established than that we should proceed from the known to the
related unknown. And this is only another way of saying that we should
build all new knowledge upon the foundation of knowledge already
mastered.
To illustrate: Pupils must have a thorough mastery and ready knowledge
of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division before we can
proceed to teach them measurements or fractions. And without doubt
much time is wasted in attempting to teach these subjects without a
ready command of the fundamental operations. Further, pupils must
know well both common and decimal fractions before they can proceed to
percentage. They must know and be able to recognize readily the
different "parts of speech" before they can analyze sentences in
grammar.
But not less important than what the pupil knows is _how_ he knows the
thing; that is, what are his methods of study and learning. The pupil
in a history class may be able to recite whole pages of the text
almost verbatim, but when questioned as to the meaning of the events
and facts show very little knowledge about them. A student confessed
to her teacher that she had committed all her geometry lessons to
memory instead of reasoning them out. She could in this way satisfy a
careless teacher who did not take the trouble to inquire how the pupil
had prepared her lessons, but she knew little or no geometry.
The mind has what may be called three different levels. The first is
the _sensory_ level, represented by the phrase "in at one ear and out
of the other." Every one has experienced reading a page when the mind
would wander and only the eyes follow the lines on down to the bottom
of the page, nothing remaining as to the meaning of the text. It is
easy to glance a lesson over just before reciting, and have it stick
in the memory only long enough to serve the purposes of the
recitation. Things learned in this way are not permanently serviceable
and really constitute no part of an education.
The second level of the mind may be called the _memory_ level. Matter
which enters the mind only to this depth may be retained for a
considerable time but is little understood and hence of small value.
All rules and definitions committed without knowing their meaning or
seeing their application, and all lessons learned merely to recite
without a reasonable grasp of their meaning, sink only as deep as the
memory level.
The third and deepest level is that of the _understanding_. Matter
which permeates down through the sensory and memory levels, getting
thoroughly into the understanding level, is not only remembered but is
understood and applied, and therefore becomes of real service in our
education. Of course it is clear that the ideal in teaching should be
to lead our pupils so to learn that most of what enters their memory
shall also be mastered by their understanding.
Therefore, in the recitation we should test not alone to see what the
pupil knows, but also to see _how he knows it_; not only to find out
whether he can recite, but also what are his methods of learning. We
should discover not alone whether the facts learned have entered the
memory, but whether they have sunk down into the understanding, so
that they can be used in the acquisition of further education.
_c. The pupil's points of failure and the cause thereof._--Every
teacher has been surprised many times to discover weak places in the
pupil's work when everything had seemingly been thoroughly learned.
With the best teaching these weak places will occasionally occur. It
is not less essential to know these points of failure than to know the
foundations of knowledge which the pupil has already mastered. For
these weak spots must be remedied as we go along if the later work is
to be successful. Very frequently classes are unable to proceed
satisfactorily because of lack of thoroughness in the foundation work
which precedes. To know where a pupil is failing is the first
requisite if we are to help him remedy his weakness.
But not only must the teacher know where the pupil is failing, but
also the cause of his failure. Only when we know this can we
intelligently apply the remedy for the failure. A physician friend of
mine tells me that almost any quack can prescribe successfully for
sickness if he has an expert at hand to diagnose the case and tell him
what is the matter. This is the hardest part of a physician's work and
requires the most skill. So it is with the teacher's work as well. If
we are sure that a certain boy is failing in his recitations because
he is lazy, it is not so difficult to devise a remedy to fit the case.
If we know that another is failing because the work is too advanced
for his preparation, we select a different remedy. But in every case
we must first know the cause of failure if we hope to prescribe a
remedy certain to produce a cure.
Some teachers prescribe for poorly learned lessons much after the
patent medicine method. A recent advertisement of one particular
nostrum promises the cure of any one of thirty-seven different
diseases. Surely with such a remedy as this at hand there will be no
need to diagnose a case of sickness to find out what is the trouble.
All we need to do is to take the regulation dose. And all patients
will be treated just alike whatever their ailment. This is the quack
doctor's method as it is the quack teacher's. If the teacher is
unskillful or lazy the remedy for poor recitations usually is, "Take
the same lesson for to-morrow." There is even no attempt to discover
the cause of failure and no thought put on the question of how best to
remedy the failure and prevent its recurrence.
4. _Teaching as an aim in the recitation_
While testing deals with the old,--reviewing and fixing more firmly
that which we have already learned,--teaching, by using the old, leads
on to the new. To _educate_ means to _lead out_--to lead the child out
from what he already has attained and mastered to new attainments and
new mastery. This is accomplished through teaching. It is not enough,
therefore, to employ the recitation as a time for testing the class;
the recitation is also the teacher's opportunity to teach. Teaching as
distinguished from testing becomes, therefore, one of the great aims
of the recitation.
Teaching should accomplish the following objects in the recitation:--
_a. Give the child an opportunity for self-expression._--"We learn to
do by doing," providing the doing is really ours. If the doing holds
our interest and thought nothing will serve to clear up faulty
thinking and partly mastered knowledge like attempting to express it.
One really never fully knows a thing until he can so express it that
others are caused to know it also.
Further, every person needs to cultivate the power of expression for
its own sake. Expression consists not only of language, but the work
of the hand in the various arts and handicrafts, bodily poise and
carriage, facial expression, gesture, laughter, and any other means
which the mind has of making itself known to others. These various
forms of expression are the only way we have of causing others to know
what we think or feel. And the world cares very little how much we may
know or how deeply we may feel if we have not the power to express our
thoughts and emotions.
The child should have, therefore, the fullest possible opportunity in
the recitation for as many of these different kinds of expression as
are suitable to the work of the recitation. Not only must the teacher
be careful not to monopolize the time of the class himself, but he
must even lead the children out, encouraging them to express in their
own words or through their drawings and pictures, or through maps they
make or through the things they construct with their hands, or in any
other way possible, their own knowledge and thought. The timid child
who shrinks from reciting or going to the blackboard to draw or write
needs encouragement and teaching especially. The constant danger with
all teachers is that of calling upon the unusually quick and bright
pupil who is ready to recite, thus giving him more than his share of
training in expression and robbing thereby the more timid ones who
need the practice.
_b. Give help on difficult points._--A complaint frequently heard in
some schools, and no doubt in some degree merited in all, is, "Teacher
will not help," or, "Teacher does not explain." No matter how
excellent the work being done by the class or how skillful the
teaching, there will always be hard points in the lessons which need
analysis or explanation. This should usually be done when the lesson
is assigned. A teacher who knows both the subject-matter and the class
thoroughly can estimate almost precisely where the class will have
trouble with the lesson, or what important points will need especial
emphasis. And in the explanation and elaboration of these points is
one of the best opportunities for good teaching. The good teacher will
help just enough, but not too much; just enough so that the class will
know how to go to work with the least loss of time and the greatest
amount of energy; not enough so that the lesson is already mastered
for the class before they begin their study.
But it is necessary to help the class on the hard points not only in
assigning the lesson, but also in the recitation. The alert teacher
will in almost every recitation discover some points which the class
have failed to understand or master fully. It is the overlooking of
such half-mastered points as these that leaves weak places in the
pupil's knowledge and brings trouble to him later on. These weak
points left unstrengthened in the recitation are the lazy teacher's
greatest reproach; the occasion of the unskillful teacher's greatest
bungling; and the inexperienced teacher's greatest "danger points."
_c. Bring in new points supplementing the text._--While the lesson of
the textbook should be followed in the main, and most of the time
devoted thereto, yet nearly every lesson gives the wide-awake teacher
opportunity to supplement the text with interesting material drawn
from other sources. This rightly done lends life and interest to the
recitation, broadens the child's knowledge, and increases his respect
for the teacher. In this way many lessons in history, geography,
literature--in fact, in nearly all the studies,--can have their
application shown, and hence be made more real to the pupils.
_d. Inspire the pupils to better efforts and higher ideals._--The
recitation is the teacher's mental "point of contact" with his pupils.
He meets them socially in a friendly way at intermissions and on the
playground. His moral character and personality are a model to the
children at all times. But it is chiefly in the recitation that the
_mental_ stimulus is given. The teacher who is lifeless and
uninspiring in the teaching of the recitation cannot but fail to
inspire his school to a strong mental growth, whatever else he may
accomplish.
Most pupils have powers far in excess of those they are using. They
only need to be inspired, to be wakened up mentally by a teacher whose
mind is alive and growing. They need to be made hungry for education,
and this can be accomplished only by a teacher who is himself full of
enthusiasm. Inspiration is caught, not taught.
_e. Lead pupils into good habits of study._--It is probably not too
much to say that one third or one half of the pupil's time is lost in
school because of not knowing how to study. Over and over pupils say
to the teacher, "I didn't know how to get this." Many times children
labor hard over a lesson without mastering it, simply because they do
not know how to pick out and classify its principal points. They work
on what is to them a mere jumble, because they lack the power of
analysis or have never been taught its use.
Very early in school life the pupil should be taught to look for and
make a list of the principal points in the lesson. If the lesson
starts with a Roman numeral I, the child should be taught to look for
II and III, and to see how they are related to I. An Arabic 1 usually
means that 2, and perhaps 3 and 4 are to follow; the letter _a_ at the
head of a paragraph should start the pupil to looking for _b_, _c_,
etc. And if the text does not contain such numbering or lettering, the
pupil should be led to search for the main divisions and topics of the
lesson for himself.
Of course these principles will not apply to spelling lessons, mere
lists of sentences to be analyzed or problems to be solved, but they
do apply to almost every other type of lesson. The best time to teach
the child to make the kind of analysis suggested is when we are
assigning the lesson. We can then go over the text with the class,
helping them to select the chief points of the lesson until they
themselves have learned this method of study.
5. _Drill as an aim in the recitation_
There is a great difference between merely knowing a thing and knowing
it so well that we can use it easily and with skill. Perhaps all of us
know the alphabet backwards; yet if the order of the dictionary were
reversed so that it would run from Z to A, we would for a time lack
the skill we now have in quickly finding any desired words in the
dictionary.
Certain fundamentals in our education need to be so well learned that
they are practically automatic, and can hence be skillfully performed
without thought or attention. We must know our spelling in this way,
so that we do not have to stop and think how to spell each word. In
the same manner we must know the mechanics of reading, that is, the
recognition and pronunciation of words, the meaning of punctuation
marks, etc.; and similarly multiplication and the other fundamental
operations in arithmetic. Pupils should come to know these things so
well that they are as automatic as speech, or as walking, eating, or
any other of the many acts which "do themselves." If this degree of
skill is not reached, it means halting and inefficient work in all
these lines farther on. Many are the children who are crippled in
their work in history, geography, and other studies because they
cannot read well enough to understand the text. Many are struggling
along in the more advanced parts of the arithmetic, unable to master
it because they are deficient in the fundamentals, because they lack
skill. And many are wasting time trying to analyze sentences when they
cannot recognize the different parts of speech.
Skill is efficiency in doing. It is always a growth, and never comes
to us ready-made. To be sure, some pupils can develop skill much
faster than others, but the point is, that _skill has to be
developed_. Skill is the result of repetition, or practice, that is,
of _drill_.
The following principles should guide in the use of drill in the
recitation:
_a. Drill should be employed wherever a high degree of skill is
required._--This applies to what have been called the "tools of
knowledge," or those things which are necessary in order to secure all
other knowledge. Such are the "three R's," reading, (w)riting, and
(a)rithmetic, to which we may add spelling. Without a good foundation
in these, all other knowledge will be up-hill work, if not wholly
impossible.
_b. Drill must be upon correct models, and with alert interest and
attention._--Mere repetition is not enough to secure skill. What
teacher has not been driven to her wits' ends to prevent the
successive lines in the copy book from growing steadily worse as they
increase in number from the copy on down the page! Surely drill with
such a result would be long in arriving at skill. Such practice is not
only wholly wasted, but actually results in establishing false models
and careless habits in the pupil's mind. Each line must be written
with correct models in mind, and with the effort to make it better
than any preceding one, if skill is to be the outcome.
Much of the value of drill is often lost through lack of interest and
attention. The child lazily sing-songing the multiplication table may
learn to say it as he would a verse of poetry, and yet not know the
separate combinations when he needs them in problems. What he needs is
drill upon the different combinations hit-and-miss, and in simple
problems, rapidly and many times over, with sufficient variety and
spice, so that his interest and attention are always alert. A certain
boy persisted in saying "have went" instead of "have gone." Finally
his teacher said, "Johnny, you may stay to-night after school and
write 'have gone' on the blackboard one hundred times. Then you will
not miss it again."
Johnny stayed after school and wrote "have gone" one hundred times as
the teacher had directed. When he had completed his task the teacher
had gone to another part of the building. Before leaving for home
Johnny politely left this note on the teacher's desk: "Dear Teacher: I
have went home." Plenty of drill, but it was not accompanied by
interest and attention, and hence left no effect.
_c. Drill must not stop short of a reasonable degree of efficiency, or
skill._--Most teachers would rather _test_ or _teach_ than _drill_.
Others do not see the necessity of drill. Hence it happens that a
large proportion of our pupils are not given practice or drill enough
to arrive at even a fair degree of skill. Set ten pupils of the
intermediate grades to adding up four columns of figures averaging a
footing of 100 to the column, and you will probably have at least five
different answers. And so with many of the fundamentals in other
branches as well. _We too often stop practice just short of
efficiency, and thereby waste both time and effort._
_d. Drill must be governed by definite aims._--Probably drilling
requires more planning and care on the part of the teacher than any
other work of the recitation. Drill applied indiscriminately wastes
time and kills interest. To study a spelling lesson over fifteen times
as some teachers require is folly. Every spelling list will contain
some words which the pupil already knows. He should put little or no
drill on these, but only on the troublesome ones. In learning and
using the principal parts of verbs it is always the few that cause the
difficulty. "He _done_ it"; "Has the bell _rang_?" "_Set_ down." These
and a few other forms are the ones which give the trouble; they should
receive the drill. Likewise in arithmetic, there are certain
combinations in the tables, and certain operations in fractions,
measurements, etc., which always make trouble. They are the "danger
points," and upon these the practice should be put.
The teacher must aim, therefore, to select the difficult and the
important points and drill upon these until they are mastered, being
careful not to stop at the "half-way house," but steadily to go on
until skill is obtained. He must be resourceful in methods and devices
which will relieve the monotony of repetition; he must be persistent
and patient, insisting on the attainment of skill, but realizing that
it takes time to develop it; he must possess a good pedagogical
conscience which will be satisfied with nothing short of success in
his aims.
6. _A desirable balance among the three aims_
The aims to be accomplished through the recitation are, then,
_testing_, _teaching_, and _drilling_. These three aims may, as said
before, all be carried on in the same recitation, or they may come in
different recitations, as the needs of the subject require. Not
infrequently they may alternate with each other within a few moments.
In every case, however, the teacher should have clearly in mind which
one of the three processes he is employing and why. Not that the
teacher must always stop to reason the matter out before he employs
one or the other, but that he should become so familiar with the
nature and use of each that he almost unconsciously passes from one to
the other as the need for it arises.
Not many teachers are equally skilled in the use of testing, teaching,
and drilling. Some have a tendency to put most of the recitation time
on testing whether the class have prepared the assignment, and devote
but little time to teaching or drilling. Others love to teach, but do
not like to test or drill. It is highly desirable that every teacher,
young or old in experience, should examine himself on this question
and, if he finds himself lacking in any one of the three, carefully
set to work to remedy the defect. The ideal for us all to reach is
equal skill in each of the three processes of the recitation, testing,
teaching, and drilling.
II
THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION
1. _Method varies with aim_
In the last chapter we discussed the aims or purposes of the
recitation. We now come to see how these aims affect the methods we
employ. For it is evident at the outset that the method we choose must
depend on the aim sought in the recitation. If we seek to-day to make
the recitation chiefly a test of how well the lesson has been
prepared, or how much of yesterday's work has been retained, we will
select a method suited for _testing_. If we aim to introduce the class
to the subject of percentage for the first time, the method must be
adapted to _teaching_. If we wish to make the recitation a drill in
the diacritical markings or the multiplication table, the method must
be still a different one. In other words, _the method must be planned
to accomplish certain definite ends if the teaching is to be
purposeful and effective._
2. _Fundamental principles of method_
There are certain fundamental principles of method which underlie all
teaching, and which, therefore, are to be sought in every recitation,
no matter what the special method used may chance to be. The first of
these principles may be stated as follows:--
_a. Interest is the first requisite for attention and all mental
activity._--A recitation without interest is a dead recitation.
Because it possesses no life it cannot lead to growth. Nothing can
take the place of interest. Fear may drive to work for a time, but it
does not result in development. Only interest can bring all the powers
and capacities of the child into play. Hence the teacher's first and
greatest problem in the recitation is the problem of interest. To
secure interest he must use every resource at his command. This does
not mean that he is to bid for the children's interest with
sensational methods and cheap devices. This is not the way to secure
true interest. It means, rather, that he is to offer to the class
subject-matter suited to their age and experience, and presented in a
way adapted to their capacity and understanding; that he is to have
all conditions surrounding the recitation as favorable as possible;
and that he is himself to be constantly a source of interest and
enthusiasm. If these conditions are all met the problem of interest
will present few difficulties.
_b. The natural mode of learning is to proceed from the known to the
related unknown._--This is a statement of what is known as the
principle of _apperception_ or the learning of the new by connecting
it with the old already in the mind. To make use of this principle it
is necessary to freshen up what the pupil knows on a topic by asking
him questions or otherwise causing him to think anew the facts
previously learned that are related to what he is about to learn. For
example, when beginning the subject of percentage, the subject of
decimals should be reviewed, since percentage is but an application of
decimals and can most easily be learned and understood as such.
Likewise in beginning the study of the Civil War, the question of
slavery and that of the doctrine of states' rights should be reviewed,
since these are fundamental to an understanding of the causes of the
war. In similar manner we might apply the illustration to every branch
of study, Indeed there is hardly a single recitation which should not
start with a brief review or a few questions to freshen up in the
minds of the pupils the points related to the coming lesson. Not only
will this insure that the lessons themselves shall be better
understood, but the entire subject will in this way come to possess a
unity instead of consisting of a series of more or less disconnected
lessons in the mind of the child.
3. _The use of special forms of method_
Having stated these two general principles of method, we will now
consider some of the special forms of method to be employed in the
recitation. In discussing these methods and comparing them it is not
to be forgotten that attention and interest are dependent in large
measure on change and variety. The same method used day after day in
the recitation palls upon a class and invites listlessness and
inattention. A teacher should never employ cheap or sensational
devices in a recitation just to have something new, but neither should
he work a good method to death by too constant use.
4. _The question-and-answer method_
The question-and-answer method is so familiar to every one that it
requires no formal definition. It is employed in all grades from the
primary to the university, and it is adapted alike to testing,
teaching, and drilling.
This method admits of wide modification to suit it to specific uses.
The questions asked may require but a short and simple answer, such as
can be given by a primary pupil. They may also require a long and
complex answer which will test the powers of the most advanced
student. The questions may be detailed and searching, covering every
point of the lesson, as when we are testing preparation. They may deal
only with certain related truths, as when we "develop" a new subject
intentionally by questions and answers. Or they may select only the
most important points upon which the class needs drill.
_a. When and where to employ the question-and-answer method._--The
question-and-answer method is particularly adapted to the lower
grades, in which the children have not yet developed the ability to
recite independently on long topics. This method allows the teacher to
encourage and draw out the child by what is really a conversation
between the two, the teacher asking simple questions and the child
responding to them. In more advanced grades the questions may be so
arranged as to require longer and more complex answers, and thus lead
up to the topical method of reciting.
The question-and-answer method is also suitable to employ at the
beginning of a recitation to recall to the minds of the class previous
lessons to which the lesson of the day is related. There is hardly one
recitation in a hundred that does not require an introduction of this
kind. The only true method in teaching is to build the new knowledge
on the related old knowledge which is already in the mind. This is
what is meant in pedagogy by "proceeding from the known to the
related unknown." And the known must always be fresh and immediately
present to the mind. Hence the necessity for the introductory review.
This method is also serviceable in reviewing former lessons. By the
use of well-selected questions a large number of important points
already passed over can be brought before the class in a short time.
On the whole, it is probable that we do not review frequently enough
in our recitation work. We review a subject when we have finished the
text upon it, or before examination time, but this is not enough.
Careful psychological tests have shown that the mind forgets within
the first three days a large proportion of what it will finally fail
to retain. Further, there is great economy in catching up a fading
fact before it gets wholly away from us. This would suggest the
constant use of the question-and-answer method to fix more firmly the
important points in ground we have already passed over.
One of the most important uses of this method is found in _inductive
teaching_. The famous "Socratic method" was simply the question-and-answer
method applied by Socrates to teaching new truths. This noted teacher
would, by a series of skillful questions calculated to call forth what the
pupil already knew, lead him on to new knowledge without actually telling
the youth anything himself. And this is the very height of good
teaching--the goal toward which we all should strive.
It is a safe maxim never to tell a child what one can lead him by
questioning to see for himself. To illustrate: Suppose an elementary
arithmetic class already know thoroughly how to find the area of a
rectangle by multiplying its base by its altitude, and that we are now
ready to teach them how to find the area of a triangle. Let us see
whether we can lead them to "develop" the rule instead of learning it
out of the text; that is, we will proceed inductively. First draw a
rectangle 4 by 6 on the board.
Q. What do we call this figure?
A. A rectangle.
Q. How shall we find its area?
A. Multiply its base 4 by its altitude 6; the area is 24.
Q. Now I draw a line diagonally across the rectangle; how
many figures are there?
A. Two. (Teacher here gives new word "triangle" and explains
it.)
Q. How do the base and altitude of the triangles compare
with the base and altitude of the rectangle?
A. They are the same.
Q. How do the two triangles compare in area?
A. They are equal; each is half of the rectangle.
Q. Then, if each is half of the rectangle, what must be the
area of one of the triangles?
A. The area of each triangle is 12, for the area of the
rectangle is 24, and the area of each triangle is half that
of the rectangle.
Q. Then, how may we find the area of a triangle?
A. Multiply the base by the altitude and take one half the
product.
Of course the teacher may have to supplement questions like the above
by others to assist the child in arriving at the desired answer, but
the method is the same in any case. The inductive method is the
child's natural way of learning, and should be applied to nearly all
school branches. Too many teachers have children learn rules and
definitions which mean little or nothing to them. This is not only
discouraging to the child and a serious waste of time, but it develops
bad habits of study by making the pupil think he is learning something
when he is not. Only when the fact or process learned is _understood_
is it true knowledge. The inductive method begins with what the child
already knows and, step by step, leads him to understand the new
truths. It comes last to the rule or definition after the meaning is
clearly seen.
_b. Dangers of the question-and-answer method._--No matter how good a
method may be, there are always some dangers connected with its use,
some points at which a teacher needs to be on guard to see that the
method is not misused or over-used. The question-and-answer method is
no exception to this rule.
One of the greatest dangers in the use of this method is that pupils
will come to depend on the questions as a crutch to help them along
mentally when they should be able to proceed by themselves. Not
infrequently do pupils say to the teacher when called upon for a
topical discussion, "If you will ask me questions upon the topic I can
answer them, but I cannot recite upon the topic." It is very much
easier to answer a series of questions upon a subject than to discuss
it independently. This method is well adapted to younger children; and
this very reason makes it a danger when over-used with more advanced
pupils. We need to learn to think a subject through and talk about
topics without the help of a teacher to stand by and ask questions; we
need to become independent in our thinking; we need practice in
organizing and expressing our thoughts for ourselves.
The second danger we note in the question-and-answer method is that it
does not give as much opportunity for training in self-expression as
the topical method. In teaching by the question-and-answer method, the
teacher occupies nearly or quite as much time with the questions as
the class do with the answers. This does not give opportunity for
practice enough in reciting on the part of the pupil, if the
question-and-answer method is employed exclusively. The only way for a
child to learn to recite well is by reciting; the only way to learn to
express one's self is by having opportunity for expression.
5. _The topical method_
The topical method is too familiar to require definition. In this
method the teacher suggests a topic of the lesson or asks a question
which requires the pupil to go on in his own way and tell what he can
about the point under discussion. There is really no hard and fast
line between the topical method and the question-and-answer method.
The fundamental difference between the two is this: In the
question-and-answer method, the question is definitely upon some fact
or point, and requires a specific answer bearing on the fact or point
of the question; in the topical method, the question or topic
suggested requires the pupil to decide upon what facts or points need
discussion, and then to plan his own discussion.
_a. Where the topical method is most serviceable._--As has already
been explained, the topical method requires more independence of
thought than the question-and-answer method, and will therefore find
its greatest use in the higher grades. We are not to think, however,
that the topical method is not to be used until some certain grade has
been reached, and that then the child will suddenly find himself able
to use it. The ability to think independently and speak one's thoughts
freely is a growth, and is not attained suddenly at a given age. Even
little children, telling their language stories, are using the topical
method, and should be encouraged in its use. As the grades advance,
however, the use of this method should increase, and the length and
difficulty of the topics should grow, so that recitation by topics can
be efficiently carried on in the higher intermediate and grammar
grades.
Probably the easiest forms of the topical recitation are found in
history or reading lessons, where _narration_ abounds. Narration deals
with a succession of events, and is always found one of the easiest
forms of discourse. In proof of this, one has but to note the fluency
and ease with which a child will narrate the events of a game, a trip,
or an accident, whereas if you call upon him for logical explanations
or even for description, as for example, "Just what kind of looking
team was it that ran away?" much more difficulty will be experienced
in telling about it.
Another great field for topical recitations is found in all lines
where _description_ is required. This applies to all nature study and
science, to geography, to certain phases of literature and history. To
describe even a commonplace object accurately and well is an art more
rare than most of us would think. Suppose you ask the first person you
meet to describe fully the house in which he lives or the sunset which
he has just seen. If he seriously tries to comply with your request,
you will probably be surprised both by the difficulty he has in his
attempt, and the little that he really can say upon these familiar
subjects. The interesting story teller is a rarity, which is only
another way of saying that the ability to narrate and describe needs
cultivation. There is no better opportunity possible than that of the
topical recitation.
The topical method can manifestly be used to supplement the
question-and-answer method in testing the pupils on the preparation of
the lesson, or in reviewing former lessons. It can also be well used
in teaching new subject-matter which does not particularly require the
developmental, or "Socratic," method. Illustrations of such material
are to be found in much of the work in history and in literature; also
in the descriptive parts of geography, nature study, and science.