without sufficient education. Our certificate requirements are low,
and many enter upon teaching with little or no more schooling than
that obtained in the schools where they begin teaching. Of course this
is radically wrong, but it is the fault of our school system and not
of the teacher. It behooves teachers entering upon their work with
this scanty preparation to recognize their limitations, however, and
to do their best to remedy them. Low grade of certificate, low
standings in any branches, or the teacher's own consciousness of lack
of mastery should be sufficient to send the sincere and earnest
teacher to school again, even if this must be to summer schools
instead of longer sessions. This sacrifice will not only pay
abundantly in higher salary, but also in greater teaching power and in
the sense of greater mastery and personal growth.
But no amount of preparation in a branch will relieve a teacher of the
necessity of daily preparation for the recitation. Dr. Arnold
expressed this thought when he said: "I prefer that my pupils shall
drink from a running stream, rather than from a stagnant pool." In
order that one may develop a line of thought easily it must be _fresh_
in his mind; it is not enough that he has once known it well. One of
the master teachers of our country, a university professor who is
recognized as a great authority in his chosen subject, Latin, recently
said to a group of Latin teachers: "I have taught Cicero for twenty
years, until I know it by heart. But yet, every day, one hour before
the time for my Cicero class, I go to my study and spend an hour with
Cicero, just to get into the spirit of it. I would not dare to meet my
class without this."
It is true that the teacher with twenty classes a day cannot spend an
hour on the preparation of each lesson. But most of the lessons will
not require so much--sometimes the preparation will be the making of
an outline or plan, sometimes reading the lesson over to freshen the
mind upon it, sometimes only thinking the lesson through, for its plan
and topics. It may at times, however, mean hard and serious study to
master the difficult points and their presentation. But whatever it
means, the conscientious and growing teacher will go to the lesson
prepared to teach it in such a way as to inspire to high standards and
mastery on the part of the pupils.
_b. Preparation by the class._--But in addition to the well-prepared
teacher, there must also be a well-prepared class. The teacher cannot
make bricks without straw. Every failure to recite when called upon is
a dead weight upon the progress of the recitation; and each failure
makes it easier for the next one to fail with impunity, or at least
without disgrace. It therefore behooves the teacher who would have
inspiring recitations to lead the pupils to a high standard of
preparation.
The pupil's preparation of the lesson should include two distinct
lines: (1) Mastery of the facts, thought, or meaning of the lesson;
and (2) thought or plans how best to express the lesson in the
recitation. Most pupils think they "have their lesson" when they have
memorized it or come to understand it. They must also be made to see
that an important part of their preparation lies in _the ability to
tell well what they have learned_.
4. _High standards in the recitation_
There is no more potent force than public opinion to compel to high
achievement or restrain from unworthy acts. A school in which the
standards of preparation and recitation are low presents a difficult
problem for the teacher in the recitation. In some schools pupils who
are diffident about reciting, or who do not care to take the trouble,
shake their heads in refusal almost before they hear the question in
full. Others sit in stolid silence when called upon, and make no
response of any kind. In still other cases the class smile or giggle
when several have been called upon and have failed to recite, thus
taking the failure as a joke.
Of course such a lack of standards proclaims the previous teaching to
have been weak and bungling. It shows the effects of a teacher without
standards or skill. But the immediate question is how to remedy such
an evil situation when one finds it existing in a school.
It is probable that low standards come as often from work that is too
difficult or too great in amount as from any other source. If the
child fails to understand the lesson, or has not had time to master
it, he cannot recite, however much he may desire to. All that is left
for him is to decline when called upon. He may be chagrined at first
over his failure; but if failure follows failure, he soon ceases to
care when unable to recite. The remedy suggests itself at once; assign
lessons that are within the child's ability, and also within the time
available for their preparation. Then _insist that the work be done
and the recitation be made_.
If the failure comes from laziness, lack of study, indulgence in
mischief, or any such cause, the remedy will be a different one. But a
remedy must be devised and applied. No school can run successfully
without good standards well maintained for the recitation. The teacher
who feels that the standards of the school are too low in this
particular should never be satisfied until the cause for such a
condition is discovered, and worthy standards instituted. This will be
one of the hardest tests upon the teacher's ingenuity and skill.
The public opinion of the school must be brought to take the
recitation seriously. It must not be a cause for levity when several
pupils fail. Failure must come to be looked forward to with
apprehension, and looked back upon with humiliation. And all this must
be done without scolding and bickering. It must be done with great
patience and good nature, but it must be done. The teacher must
himself have a high standard of excellence, and must persistently
impress this upon his class. Here again the ideals of the teacher are
contagious.
5. _A spirit of cooperation_
Much depends on the spirit with which class and teacher enter upon the
recitation. If the spirit of cooperation is lacking; if the relations
between teacher and pupils are strained or not cordial; if the class
look upon the recitation as a kind of game in which the teacher tries
to corner and catch the class, and the class try to avoid being
cornered and caught, then the recitation is certain to be a failure.
Under skillful teaching the pupils should come to look forward to the
recitation with pleasure and anticipation. It should be a time when
teacher and class work together in whole-hearted, enthusiastic effort,
with the common aim of bringing the class to master more fully the
matter of the lesson. There should be no feeling that the teacher has
one aim and the class another aim, or that their interests are in any
way antagonistic; no feeling that the teacher's highest ambition is to
catch pupils in errors, and the pupil's highest achievement to avoid
being caught. There should be no attempt at bluffing, or covering up
errors or points not understood.
Probably the greatest factor in establishing and maintaining a spirit
of cooperation between teacher and class is a deep-seated and
sympathetic desire on the part of the teacher to be helpful. If his
attitude is that of a friend and co-worker, and his criticisms and
corrections are all made in the spirit of helping to a better
understanding rather than in the spirit of fault-finding, this will go
far toward establishing a spirit of cooperation in the class.
This does not mean that the teacher shall be weak, and let mistakes or
failures go by unnoticed. Weak teachers are never liked or respected.
It only means that the teacher, in making corrections or calling
attention to failures, shall manifest the spirit of a helper and not
of a faultfinder. It means that no matter how many times a teacher may
have to correct or even punish a pupil, his attitude toward the pupil
will still be cordial and friendly. There are many persons who cannot
correct a fault without having some enmity arise toward the one
corrected. But what the teacher needs is to be able to correct, rebuke
or punish, and at the same time keep the heart warm toward the
wrongdoer. This will not only secure better results from the
corrections, but will also foster the spirit of helpfulness and
cooperation between teacher and school.
Finally, the class should be brought to see that the school is _their_
school, and not the teacher's school or the board's school. They
should realize that failure or low achievement is their loss, and not
the teacher's loss. They should feel that their interests and those of
the teacher, the board, and the taxpayers who support the school are
all _common interests_, and that only as the pupils do their part will
the interests of all be conserved.
V
THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON
1. _The importance of proper assignment_
Upon the proper assignment of the lesson depends much of the success
of the recitation, and also much of the pupils' progress in learning
how to study. The assignment of the lesson thus becomes one of the
most important duties of the recitation period. Too many times this is
left until the very close of the class hour, when there is no time
left for proper assignment, and the teacher can only say, "Take the
next four pages," or "Work out the next twenty problems."
2. _Good assignment and teaching the art of study_
We forget that children do not understand how to go to work at the
lesson as we know how. The result is that they come back to the next
recitation listless and uninterested, with the lesson not prepared.
Or, it may happen that the less timid ones, when they come to study
the lesson, call upon the teacher to show them how to go to work. The
teacher has then to take time needed for other things to show
different individuals what should have been presented to the entire
class when the lesson was assigned. Such a method is comparable with
giving a set of tools into the hands of novices who do not know how to
use them, and then, without any instruction in the use of the tools,
expecting them to turn out good work, without loss of time.
Little children are unfamiliar with books,--with the paragraphs,
outlines, divisions, and subdivisions of a subject. They hardly know
how to "gather thought" from a printed page, and yet we expect them to
"get their lesson" without being shown how to go at it. Much time is
lost in this way, and many children are discouraged in their work and
caused to dislike going to school.
The Germans far excel us in this feature of their school work. No
class of German children are ever sent to their seats with the simple
direction to take so many pages in advance. Teacher and class together
go over the next lesson, the teacher calling the attention of the
class to the points of the lesson, asking them to hunt out
subdivisions, etc., and instructing them how to prepare the lesson.
And the class, having this necessary help, are able to prepare their
lesson better and recite it better than the American children of the
same age.
3. _The teacher's preparation for assignment_
There are three chief reasons why teachers do not give more attention
to the assignment of the lesson: (1) Lack of time, (2) failure
themselves to prepare the lesson in advance so as to be able to assign
it, and (3) lack of understanding of proper methods of study.
Lack of time is not an adequate excuse for failure properly to assign
the lesson. If there is but fifteen minutes for the recitation, all
the more reason why this time should be used to the best advantage for
the pupils. If one third of this time should be taken for the
assignment of the next lesson (and this is usually not too large a
proportion in elementary classes), then this much time should be
taken. And, besides, if the lesson is well assigned, so that it is
better understood and prepared by the class, more can be accomplished
in ten minutes of actual reciting than in fifteen under the old
method.
It may sometimes be advisable to assign the advance lesson at the
beginning of the recitation, but usually it is better to wait until
the close; for then the connection between the present lesson and the
next can better be brought out.
Failure to look ahead in the textbook and become familiar with the
next lesson renders it impossible properly to make the assignment. The
teacher must know the scope of the lesson, its chief points, and the
main difficulties it will present to the class. How often teachers are
obliged to say to an unprepared class: "I did not realize how hard
that lesson was, or I would not have assigned so much"; or, "That
lesson was longer than I intended." All of which is a confession that
the teacher was unprepared to make the assignment properly. It is
true that the teacher is very busy and has many lessons to prepare;
but, on the other hand, the teacher who keeps a day ahead of the class
in his preparation will find that it abundantly pays in the greater
mastery of his subject and the time saved in reviewing it preparatory
to the recitation. This is not time lost, it is time saved.
The young teacher's lack of knowledge of the principles underlying the
art of study is a more serious matter, and a difficulty harder to
overcome. Every teacher should make a special study of the psychology
of attention and interest. He should also come to know how the mind
naturally approaches any new subject, first securing a _synthetic_ or
bird's-eye view of it as a whole; how next it _analyzes_ it into its
elements; and how finally it thinks them together, or _synthesizes_
them, into a new and better-understood whole.
4. _How to assign a lesson_
There may, of course, be some lessons that can properly be assigned in
a moment by telling the class how much to take in advance. This is
true of lessons that are only a continuation of matter with which the
class are already somewhat familiar, which they know how to study, and
which contains no special difficulties. For example, spelling lessons
presenting no new difficulties or especially hard words; arithmetic
lessons containing practice problems intended for drill, but no new
topics for study; grammar lessons consisting of applications of
principles or rules already mastered. But all lessons that are built
upon a logical outline, or contain new or difficult principles, or
involve especial difficulties of any kind should be assigned carefully
and with sufficient detail to make sure that the class know how to go
to work in preparing the lesson without loss of time and interest.
It is necessary, however, to observe a caution in this connection.
There is some danger of assigning lessons in such a way as to render
too much help, and thus relieve the pupil of the necessity of
mastering it for himself. It is difficult to say whether the mistake
of helping too much in the assignment, or not helping enough is the
more serious. The teacher must know his class and his textbook, and
then use the best judgment he has in making just such suggestions as
will result in the best effort and mastery by the pupils without
robbing them of the necessity for work.
5. _Principles governing the assignment_
The following are the chief points to be observed in assigning the
lesson:--
1. Go over the lesson with the class in such a way as to give them a
_bird's-eye view_ of the whole, a general idea of what the entire
lesson is about, or what it is meant to teach. Sometimes this can best
be done with the books open in the hands of the pupils, the teacher
calling attention to the topics treated. Occasionally the teacher may
himself state the aim or scope of the lesson without the use of the
text. Getting this synthetic view of the lesson enables the pupil to
begin study with better intelligence, and also helps him better to
understand the relation of the separate parts to the lesson as a
whole. In this bird's-eye view of the lesson its relation to the
lesson just recited, or other previous lessons, should be brought out
so as to unite the separate lessons into a continuous view of the
subject.
2. Suggestions should be given as to the analysis of the lesson into
its different topics. If the text uses a system of numerals in
designating the points, the pupils should form the habit of using
these in studying the lesson. For example, finding I, they should look
for II, III, etc., thus getting the main heads. Under these main topic
numerals will often be found a series of paragraphs numbered 1, 2, 3,
etc., indicating the different topics under each head. The system may
even extend to sub-topics lettered _a_, _b_, _c_, etc. The pupil
should early learn to look for and make use of these helps in the
analysis of the lesson. And even when the author does not introduce
any such system of numbering he still follows some outline more or
less logically arranged. No better training in analysis, and no better
method of mastering a lesson can be found than for the pupil himself
to make a written outline of the lesson, using such a system of
numbering the topics and sub-topics as that suggested above.
3. Children should be taught to make a final summary, or synthesis,
of the lesson after they have analyzed it into its separate points. Of
course a large proportion of the details learned and recited in any
lesson will finally be forgotten. But this does not mean that such
details were unnecessary. It rather means that their part was to help
in bringing out the few main facts or points and making them clear.
For most lessons can be reduced to a few chief points. These are the
ones to be remembered and used in further learning. It is these
important points which the pupil should summarize and fix in his
memory and understanding as the final act in preparing the lesson. Not
to do this is to fail to reap the best results from the work put upon
the lesson, for these more important points are lost almost as readily
as the less important details unless they are emphasized in some such
way as has been suggested.
It is of course not meant that this summary of points should be worked
out by the teacher when the lesson is being assigned. That is for the
pupils to do as a result of their analysis of the lesson. But the
teacher should specifically call attention to the necessity for such
a summary until the habit is so fixed that the pupils follow this
method of study without further direction. The pupil's summary of the
lesson should be tested in the recitation just as much as his analysis
of the facts of the lesson. This is done by few teachers.
4. Particularly difficult points, or points of importance as a basis
for later work, should be especially emphasized in the assignment of
the lesson. This will go far toward saving the fatal weakness on
fundamental points which is shown in later work by so many pupils. Not
having been over the ground before and therefore not realizing the
importance or difficulty of the critical points in a subject, the
pupils must of necessity be largely dependent on the teacher for such
suggestions.
5. Pupils need to be taught to look up and come to understand the
allusions and various references often used in history, reading, or
other lessons. The younger pupils will often have to be shown how to
do this. Therefore such points should be referred to in making the
assignment, and any necessary directions should be given.
6. Not infrequently new or unusual words or phrases are encountered by
pupils in preparing their lessons, and they are hampered in their
study by failing to understand the new terms. The teacher, knowing his
pupils, should be able to anticipate any trouble of this kind, and
give such explanations or help as may be necessary when assigning the
lesson.
7. In case written work is to constitute a part of the preparation,
the directions governing what is to be done should be so clear and
explicit that there is no possibility of their not being understood,
and the teacher's being interrupted next day to explain to members of
the class. Much time can be saved for both teacher and pupils, and
many distractions prevented from disturbing recitations if this simple
direction is followed.
8. If the principles suggested above are followed in assigning
lessons, there will be little excuse for a pupil's forgetting the
assignment. It will therefore be a safe rule not to repeat assignments
for the benefit of careless or inattentive pupils. The teacher who
will refuse to be interrupted during recitation hours to tell pupils
what the lesson is, but who will reassign the lesson for the pupil at
recess-time, or after school, will very soon find all such troubles
vanish, and will at the same time be giving his pupils valuable and
necessary training in attention and memory.
* * * * *
OUTLINE
I. THE PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION
1. The teacher and the recitation, 2
2. The necessity of having a clear aim, 3
3. Testing as an aim in the recitation, 5
_a._ The preparation of the lesson assigned, 6
_b._ The pupil's knowledge and his methods of study, 7
_c._ The pupil's points of failure and the cause thereof, 10
4. Teaching as an aim in the recitation, 12
_a._ Give the child an opportunity for self-expression, 13
_b._ Give help on difficult points, 15
_c._ Bring in new points supplementing the text, 16
_d._ Inspire the pupils to better efforts and higher ideals, 17
_e._ Lead pupils into good habits of study, 17
5. Drill as an aim in the recitation, 19
_a._ Drill should be employed wherever a high degree of skill is
required, 21
_b._ Drill must be upon correct models, and with alert interest and
attention, 21
_c._ Drill must not stop short of a reasonable degree of efficiency, or
skill, 23
_d._ Drill must be governed by definite aims, 23
6. A desirable balance among the three aims, 25
II. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION
1. Method varies with aim, 29
2. Fundamental principles of method, 30
_a._ Interest is the first requisite for attention and all mental
activity, 30
_b._ The natural mode of learning is to proceed from the known to the
related unknown, 31
3. The use of special forms of method, 32
4. The question-and-answer method, 33
_a._ When and where to employ the question-and-answer method, 34
_b._ Dangers of the question-and-answer method, 38
5. The topical method, 40
_a._ Where the topical method is most serviceable, 41
_b._ The question of standards in topical recitations, 44
6. The lecture, or supplemental, method, 45
_a._ How the lecture method is to be used, 46
_b._ Dangers from the lecture method, 47
7. The written recitation, 48
_a._ The use of the written recitation, 48
_b._ Dangers in the use of the written method, 49
III. THE ART OF QUESTIONING
1. The importance of good questioning, 55
2. Need of fundamental principles, 56
3. The principle of freedom from textbooks, 56
4. The principle of unity or continuity in questions, 61
5. The principle of clearness, 64
_a._ Freedom from ambiguity or obscurity of wording, 65
_b._ Adaptation to the age and understanding of the child, 66
_c._ Brevity, 67
6. The principle of definiteness, 68
7. Secondary principles of good questioning, 73
8. The treatment of answers, 76
IV. CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO A GOOD RECITATION
1. Freedom from distractions, 81
_a._ Distractions by the teacher, 82
_b._ Distractions by the class, 84
_c._ Distractions by the school, 86
_d._ Physical distractions, 87
2. Interest and enthusiasm, 89
_a._ The teacher's command of the subject-matter of the recitation, 90
_b._ The teacher's attitude toward his work, 91
_c._ The teacher's health, 91
_d._ Experience, 93
3. Well-mastered lessons, 94
_a._ Preparation by the teacher, 94
_b._ Preparation by the class, 97
4. High standards in the recitation, 98
5. A spirit of cooperation, 100
V. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON
1. The importance of proper assignment, 107
2. Good assignment and teaching the art of study, 107
3. The teacher's preparation for assignment, 109
4. How to assign a lesson, 111
5. Principles governing the assignment, 113
* * * * *
RIVERSIDE EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
Edited by HENRY SUZZALLO