THE TEACHING OF HISTORY
by
ERNEST C. HARTWELL, M.A.
Superintendent of Schools, Petoskey, Mich.
Riverside Educational Monographs
Edited by Henry Suzzallo
Professor of the Philosophy of Education
Teachers College, Columbia University
Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston, New York and Chicago
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1913
CONTENTS
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE
III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON
IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION
V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW
VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS
VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS
OUTLINE
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
This volume is offered as a guide to history teachers of the high school
and the upper grammar grades. It is directly concerned with the teaching
methods to be employed in the history period. The author assumes the
limiting conditions that surround classroom instruction of the present
day; he also takes for granted the teacher's sympathy with modern aims
in history instruction. All discussions of purpose and content are
therefore subordinated to a clear presentation of the details of
effective teaching technique.
The reader into whose hands this volume falls will be deeply interested
in the ideals of teaching implied in the concrete suggestions given in
the following pages, for after all the value of any system of special
methods rests, not merely on its apparent and immediate psychological
effectiveness, but also on the social purposes which it is devised to
serve. It must be recognized at the outset that history has a social
purpose. However much university teaching may be interested in truth for
its own sake, an interest necessarily basic to the service of all other
ends, the teaching of the lower public schools must take into account
the relevancy of historical fact to current and future problems which
concern men and women engaged in the common social life. So the
elementary and secondary school teachers of the more progressive sort
recognize that the way in which historical truths are selected and
related to one another determines two things: (1) Whether our group
experiences as interpreted in history will have any intelligent effect
upon men's appreciations of current social difficulties, and (2) whether
history will make a more vital appeal to youth at school.
Certainly children, whose interests arise not alone from their innate
impulses, but also from the world in which they have lived from the
beginning, will be eager to know the past that is of dominant concern to
the present. It is clear gain in the psychology of instruction if
history is a socially live thing. The children will be more eager to
acquire knowledge; they will hold it longer, because it is significant;
and they will keep it fresh after school days are over because life will
recall and review pertinent knowledge again and again. There can be no
separation between the dominant social interests of community life and
effective pedagogical procedure; the former in large part determines the
latter.
Such educational reforms in history teaching as have already won
acceptance confirm the existence of this vital relation between current
social interests and the learning process. The barren learning of names
and dates has long since been supplanted by a study of sequences among
events. The technical details of wars and political administrations have
given way to a study of wide economic and social movements in which
battles and laws are merely overt results reinforcing the current of
change. History, once a self-inclosed school discipline, has undergone
an intellectual expansion which takes into account all the aspects of
life which influence it, making geographical, economic, and biographical
materials its aids. All these and many other minor changes attest the
fact that a vital mode of instruction always tends to accompany that
view of history which regards the study of the past as a revelation of
real social life.
The author's suggestions will, therefore, be of distinct value to at
least two groups of history teachers. Those who believe in the larger
uses of history teaching, so much argued of late, will find here the
procedures that will express the ideals and obtain the results they
seek. Those who are not yet ready to accept modern doctrine, but who
feel a keen discontent with the older procedure, will find in these
pages many suggestions that will appeal to them as worthy of
experimental use. It may be that the successful use of many methods here
suggested may be the easy way for them to come into an acceptance of the
larger principles of current educational reform.
THE TEACHING OF HISTORY
I
SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
_Assumptions as to the teacher of history_
This monograph will make no attempt to analyze the personality of the
ideal teacher. It is assumed that the teacher of history has an adequate
preparation to teach his subject, that he is in good health, and that
his usefulness is unimpaired by discontent with his work or cynicism
about the world. It is presupposed that he understands the wisdom of
correlating in his instruction the geography, social progress, and
economic development of the people which his class are studying. He is
aware that the pupil should experience something more than a
kaleidoscopic view of isolated facts. He recognizes the folly of
requiring four years of high school English for the purpose of
cultivating clear, fluent, and accurate expression, only to relax the
effort when the student comes into the history class. He knows that the
precision, logic, and habit of definite thinking exacted by the pursuit
of the scientific subjects should not be laid aside when the student
attempts to trace the rise of nations. Let us go so far as to assume a
teacher who is both pedagogical and practical; scholarly without being
musty; imbued with a love for his subject and yet familiar with actual
human experience.
_Actual conditions confronted by the teacher_
There are from one hundred and eighty to two hundred recitation periods
of forty-five minutes each, minus the holidays, opening exercises,
athletic mass meetings, and other respites, in which to teach a thousand
years of ancient history, twenty centuries of English history, or the
story of our own people. The age of the student will be from thirteen to
eighteen. His judgment is immature; his knowledge of books, small; his
interest, far from zealous. He will have three other subjects to prepare
and his time is limited. Also, he is a citizen of the Republic and by
his vote will shortly influence, for good or ill, the destinies of the
nation.
The purpose of this monograph is to discuss the means by which the
teacher can engender in this student a genuine enthusiasm for the
subject, stimulate research and historical judgment, correlate history,
geography, literature, and the arts, cultivate proper ideals of
government, establish a habit of systematic note-taking, and possibly
prepare the student for college entrance examinations.
II
HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE
Very obviously each moment of the child's time and preparation should be
wisely directed. Each recitation should perform its full measure of
usefulness, in testing, drilling, and teaching. There will be no time
for valueless note-taking, duplication of map-book work, ambiguous or
foolish questioning, aimless argument, or junketing excursions.
_What should be done on the day of enrollment_
The day that the child enrolls in class should begin his assigned work.
In the first ten minutes of the first meeting of the class, while the
teacher is collecting the enrollment cards, he should also gather some
data as to his students' previous work in history. This information will
be of considerable assistance to the teacher in letting him know what he
may reasonably expect of his new pupils. The class should not depart
without a definite assignment for the next day. Let the preparation for
the first recitation consist in answering such questions as:--
1. What is the name of the text you are to use? (Know its precise
title.)
2. What is the name, reputation, and position of the author?
3. Of what other books is he the author?
4. Read the preface of the book.
5. What do you think are the purposes of the subject you are about
to take up?
6. Give the titles and authors of other books on the same period of
history.
7. What has been your method of study in other courses of history?
_What should be done at the first meeting of the class_
On the second day when the class assembles, let as many of the students
as possible be sent to the board to answer questions on the day's
assignment. The pupil will immediately discover that the teacher
purposes to hold the class strictly responsible for the preparation of
assigned work. The teacher will face a class prepared to ask intelligent
questions about the course they are entering upon. The class will
discover that work is to begin at once. The inertia of the vacation will
be immediately overcome.
_Necessity for definite instruction in methods of preparing a lesson_
Having secured, by class discussion and the work at the board,
satisfactory answers to the first six questions, and having assigned the
lesson for the next day, the remainder of the hour and, if necessary,
the rest of the week should be spent in outlining for the student a
method of study. That very few students of high school age possess
habits of systematic study, needs no discussion. In spite of all that
their grade teachers may have done for them, their tendency is to pass
over unfamiliar words, allusions, and expressions, without troubling to
use a dictionary. The average high school student will not read the fine
print at the bottom of the page, or use a map for the location of places
mentioned in the text without special instruction to do so. He will set
himself no unassigned tasks in memory work. It is the first business of
the good instructor to teach the student _how_ to study. The first step
in this process is to impress on the student's mind that systematic
preparation in the history class is as necessary as in Latin, physics,
or geometry. Then let the following or similar instructions be given
him:--
1. Provide yourself with an envelope of small cards or pieces of
note paper. Label each with the subject of the lesson and the
date of its preparation. These envelopes should be always at
hand during your study and preparation. They should be preserved
and filed from day to day.
2. Read the lesson assigned for the day in the textbook, including
all notes and fine print.
3. Write on a sheet of note paper all the unfamiliar words,
allusions, or expressions. Later, look these up in the
dictionary or other reference.
4. Record the dates which you think worthy to be remembered.
5. Discover and make a note of all the apparent contradictions,
inconsistencies, or inaccuracies in the author's statements.
6. Use the map for all the places mentioned in the lesson. Be able
to locate them when you come to class.
7. In nearly every text there is a list of books for library use,
given at the beginning or end of each chapter. Make yourself
familiar with this bibliography.
8. Read the special questions assigned for the day by the teacher.
9. Go to the library. If the book for which you are in search is
not to be found, try another.
10. Learn to use an index. If the topic for which you are looking
does not appear in the index, try looking for the same thing
under another name; or under some related topic.
11. Having found the material in one book, use more than one if
your time permits. When you feel that you have secured the
material which will make a complete answer to the question,
_write the answer on one of your cards for keeping notes._
12. Remember that the teacher will ask constantly _what_ was done,
_when_ was it done, and, most important of all, _why_ it was
done. Make a list of the questions which you think most likely
to be asked on the lesson and ascertain whether you can answer
them without the use of your notes or text.
13. If possible practice your answers aloud. It will make you the
more ready when called on in class.
14. Keep a list of things which are not clear to you and about
which you wish to ask questions.
15. Before completing your preparation, read over these instructions
and be sure that you have complied with them.
It may be claimed that no high school student can be expected to follow
such instructions and that to secure such a daily preparation is
impossible; in answer to which it must be admitted that merely a
perfunctory talk on methods of preparation will accomplish little. If
the instruction just suggested is to bear fruit, the teacher must take
pains to see that it is followed. Carefully to prepare his lesson
according to a definite plan must become a _habit_ with the student.
Facility, accuracy, and thoroughness are impossible otherwise. Haphazard
methods are wasteful of time and unproductive of results. The teacher
can afford to emphasize method during the first few weeks of the course.
The time thus spent in assisting the pupil to develop definite habits of
study will pay rich dividends for the remainder of the student's life.
Daily inquiry as to the method of study pursued, frequent examination of
the student's notes, questions on the important dates selected, the
books used for preparation, new words discovered, and so on, will keep
the importance of the plan before the class and do much to foster the
habit of systematic preparation.
_The question of note-taking_
On the question of notebook work, there will always be a considerable
difference of opinion. It is much easier to state what notebook work
should not be than to outline precisely how it should be conducted.
Certainly it should not be overdone. It should not be an exercise
usurping time disproportionate to its value. It should not be required
primarily for exhibition purposes, although such notes as are kept
should be kept neatly and spelled correctly.
Students should be encouraged to keep their envelope of note paper
always at hand during recitation and while reading. The habit of jotting
down facts, opinions, statistics, comparisons, and contradictions _while
they are being read_ is most desirable and worthy of cultivation. The
student should be taught the wisdom of keeping his notes in a neat,
legible, and easily available form. Shorthand methods should be
discouraged. With a little tactful direction early in the year, the
student may be led to form a most useful habit. The greater the
proportion of intelligent note-taking that is done without compulsion,
the better. No more notes should be _required_ than the teacher can
honestly look over, correct, and grade. It is better to require no notes
at all than to accept careless, superficial inaccuracies as honest work.
One curse of high school history teaching is the tendency of young
teachers trained in college history classes to assign more work than the
student can honestly do or the teacher properly correct.
As has already been intimated, history notes should not be kept in a
book. The required notes should be kept on separate sheets of paper. The
topics should be clearly indicated at the top of each sheet. The
authorities used in arriving at the answer should always be given, with
the volume, chapter, and page. The notes on related topics should be put
into an envelope and properly labeled. After the recitation the student
can make any necessary corrections in his notes without spoiling their
appearance. He will simply substitute a new sheet for the old. If the
teacher discovers in his periodic examination of the notes that some of
the matter asked for has not been properly covered or that errors have
not been corrected, the notes needing revision can be detained for use
in a conference with the student, while the others are returned. If at
any time after completing his high school work the student desires to
use the data contained in his notes or to add to them matter which he
may later read, they are in available form. For convenience and
neatness, for present use, and future reference this device is far
superior to the formal notebook. It has the further advantage of
accustoming the student to the method of note-taking which will be
required of those who go to college.
It would save much valuable time, at present frequently wasted in
writing useless notes, if the teacher constantly squared his notebook
requirements with questions such as these:--
1. Is the notebook work as I am conducting it calculated to develop
the habit of critical reading?
2. Does the time spent in writing up notes justify itself by fixing
in the child's mind new and really relevant information not
given in the text?
3. Is it teaching students to combine facts, opinions, and
statistics, to form conclusions really their own?
4. Is the amount of work required reasonable when it is remembered
that the child has three other subjects to prepare, that he is
from thirteen to eighteen years of age, and more or less
unfamiliar with a library?
5. Am I able carefully and punctually to correct all the notes
required?
Whatever the method the teacher thinks best to be used should be
explained early in the course and thereafter the student should be held
scrupulously responsible for such requirements as are made.
_Instruction in the use of the library and indexes_
Having discussed with the class the questions assigned on the day of
enrollment and explained the method of study recommended for their use,
it will be well for the teacher to devote some time to instruction in
the use of the library. It is possible that the older classes will
require very little of this, but there are few classes where an hour, at
least, cannot well be spent in a discussion of indexes, titles, and
relative value of the works on various subjects. This hour need not be
the regular recitation period. A session before or after school could be
devoted to the purpose. The teacher's instruction, however, will be
greatly assisted if the students are asked to prepare answers before
coming to class to such questions as the following:--
1. How much previous work have you done in the library?
2. Of what use do you think the library should be to you in the
course you are just entering?
3. What is a source book? Of what use are source books?
4. What source books on this period of history are in the library?
5. What do you think will be the best references for questions on
the artistic, industrial, political, social, economic, and
military phases of the history you are about to study?
6. What encyclopedias and works of general reference are in your
library?
The preparation of answers to such questions as these will present to
the student some of the difficulties inevitable to his future library
work and will send him to class prepared to ask intelligent questions.
It will enable the teacher accurately to gauge how much his students
already know about a library and its uses.
The value and advantage of library work should be carefully explained to
the class. It is a great error to allow pupils to think of their
library work as drudgery, assigned solely to keep them busy or to make
the course difficult. There are too few boys to-day with a genuine love
of books, partly no doubt due to the fact that a reference library has
become for them, not a rich mine of interesting matter, but a
hydra-headed interrogation point. A great good has been done the student
who has been taught the pleasure of using books. Nor is such a thing
impossible. Nothing gives greater satisfaction to the normal high school
boy than to find an error in the text, the teacher's statements, or the
map. He takes pleasure in confuting the statistics or judgments quoted
in class, by others of opposite trend, encountered in his reading. He
enjoys asking keen questions. If the student is told that the library
work is for the purpose of cultivating his powers of investigation and
adding to the matter in the text many interesting details; if the
library requirements are reasonable and wisely directed; if he is given
an opportunity to _use_ the information he has gathered from his
reading, his interest in books will steadily increase.
The teacher should explain the value of remembering accurately the
titles and the authors of books used for reference. The silly habit of
referring to an authority as "the book bound in green" or "the large
book by what's his name" is easily prevented if taken in time.
The teacher should discover by assignments made in class what degree of
proficiency in the use of an index is already possessed by his pupils.
There are few classes where the use of an index is thoroughly
understood. Time should be taken to demonstrate the quickest possible
methods of finding what a book contains. The use of the catalogue and
card index should be carefully explained and illustrated.
Attention should be called to the best sources on the various phases of
the history to be studied. There ought to be no poor histories in the
library, but if there are any to which the students have access, warning
should be given against their use.
The value of periodicals and current literature for work in history
should be illustrated and the use of _Poole's Index_ and the _Readers
Guide_ explained.
The class should be acquainted with the rules of the library and
cautioned against the misuse of books. The necessity of leaving
reference books where all the class can use them should be made
apparent.
Direction in the use of the library, like instruction in the method of
study, is a prerequisite to the best results in high school history
classes, for no matter how conscientious the teacher, the recitation
will be deadly if the student has no working knowledge of the library
nor proper method of preparation. A class unable to ask intelligent
questions about the work is not ready for the presentation of additional
matter by the teacher. It is no difficult matter for a teacher to
entertain his class for an hour with interesting incidents of the period
in which the lesson occurs. A history teacher who cannot talk
interestingly for an hour on any of the great periods of history has
surely missed his calling. But to keep a class quiet, to retain their
attention, to amuse and entertain, is far from making history vital. If
the recitation is to be really vital, the students must do most of the
talking, the criticizing, and the questioning. There can be none of
these worth while without proper preparation.
III
THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON
_Careful assignment will reveal to the student the relation of geography
and history_
The recitation can never hope to achieve its maximum helpfulness unless
the lesson be intelligently assigned. The work required must be
reasonable in amount, and not so exacting as to discourage interest.
Daily direction to look up unfamiliar words, expressions, and allusions
must be given until the habit becomes fixed. Warning against possible
geographical misconceptions should be given when necessary, together
with directions to use the map for places, routes, and boundaries. A few
questions asked in advance, with the purpose of bringing out the
relation of the geography to the history in the lesson, will be of great
assistance. For example, if the class are to study the Louisiana
Purchase, the full significance of that revolutionary event will be made
much clearer if the student is asked to prepare answers before coming to
class to such questions as the following:--
1. What States are included in the purchase?
2. What is its area? How does it compare with the area of the
original thirteen States?
3. What geographical reasons caused Napoleon to sell it?
4. What influence did the purchase have on our retention of the
territory east of the Mississippi? Why?
5. How many people live to-day in the territory included in the
purchase?
_His power of analysis and criticism will be stimulated_
A lesson should be so assigned that the student will read the text with
his eye critically open to inconsistencies, contradictions, and
inaccuracies. With a text of six hundred pages, and with a hundred and
eighty recitations in which to cover them, it is not too much to expect
that the average of three or four pages daily shall be studied so
thoroughly that the student can analyze and summarize each day's lesson.
The teacher should not make such analysis in advance of the recitation,
but he should so assign the lesson that the student will be prepared to
give one when he comes to class. A word in advance by the teacher will
prompt the student who is studying the American Revolution, to classify
its causes as direct and indirect, economic and political, social and
religious. There is no difficulty in finding good authorities who
disagree as to the effect on America of the English trade restrictions.
Callendar's _Economic History of the United States_ quotes five of the
best authorities on this point, and covers the case in a few pages. A
reference by the teacher to this or some other authority will bring out
a lively discussion on the justice of the American resistance. Let the
class be asked to account for the colonial opposition to the Townshend
Acts, when the Stamp Act Congress had declared that the regulation of
the Colonies' external trade was properly within the powers of
Parliament. Let the class be asked to explain a statement that the
Declaration of Independence does not mention the real underlying causes
of the Revolution. A few suggestions and advanced questions of this sort
will stimulate a critical analysis of the statements in the text, and
send the student to class keen for an intelligent discussion.
Ordinarily, when a class is averaging three or four pages of the text
daily, it is an error for the teacher to point out in advance certain
dates and statistics that need not be memorized. Such selection should
be left to the student. During the recitation the teacher will discover
what dates, statistics, and other matter the student has selected as
worthy to be memorized, and if correction is necessary it may then be
made. It dulls the edge of the pupil's enthusiasm to be told in advance
that some of the text is not worthy to be remembered. Furthermore such
instruction does nothing to develop the student's sense of historical
proportion, for it substitutes the judgment of the teacher for that of
the pupil.
Advance questions asking explanation of statements made in the text, or
by other authors dealing with the same period, insure that the lesson
will be read understandingly and that the author's statements will be
carefully analyzed. Such declarations as the following are illustrations
of statements whose explanation might profitably be required in
advance:--
1. "The Constitution was extracted by necessity from a reluctant
people."
2. "Oregon was a make-weight for Texas."
3. "The greatest evil of slavery was that it prevented the South
from accumulating capital."
4. "The day that France possesses New Orleans we must marry
ourselves to the British fleet."
5. "The cause of free labor won a substantial triumph in the
Missouri Compromise."
6. "The second war with England was not one of necessity, policy,
or interest on the part of the Americans; it was rather one of
party prejudice and passion."
_The conditions in other countries will add to his comprehension of the
facts in the lesson_
In so far as the next lesson requires an understanding of the history or
conditions of another country, the attention of the class should be
directed in advance to such necessity. Special references or brief
reports may be advisable. A few well-selected advance questions will
send the class to recitation prepared to discuss what otherwise the
teacher must explain. A few questions on the character of James II, his
ideals of government, the chief causes of the revolution of 1688, and
its most important results will do much to explain the colonial
resistance to Andros. A few questions designed to bring out the
imperative necessity of English resistance to Napoleon will make clear
the hostile commercial decrees, impressment, and interference with the
rights of neutral ships. Such questions reduce the necessity of
explanation by the teacher to a minimum.
_His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged_
If the teacher expects the class to deal more intensively than the text
with the matters discussed in the lesson, a few advance questions will
be of great assistance. Suppose, for example, that the text contents
itself with saying that for political reasons the first United States
Bank was not rechartered, and shortly after informs the reader that the
second United States Bank was rechartered because the State banks had
suspended specie payments. The student may or may not be curious about
the failure of the first bank to receive a new charter, the operation of
State banks, or why they suspended payment in 1814. If he has been
properly taught, he probably will be, but if the teacher wishes to
discuss these considerations in detail at the next recitation it will be
infinitely better to have the facts contributed by the class than for
the teacher to do the reciting. It is quite possible that the individual
answers to advance questions assigned with such a purpose will be
incomplete, but the interest of the class will be incalculably greater
if they themselves furnish the bulk of the additional matter required.
Collectively the class will usually secure complete answers to
reasonable questions. The teacher has his opportunity in supplying such
important facts as the students fail to find.
Until the student may reasonably be expected to know the books of the
library having to do with his subject, the teacher in giving out an
advance lesson should mention by author and title the books most helpful
in the preparation of assigned questions; otherwise the student in a
perfectly sincere effort to do the work assigned may spend an hour in
search of the proper book.
It may be urged that this search is a valuable experience, but it is
obviously too costly. As the year advances and the pupil learns more and
more about the uses of books and methods of investigation increasingly
less specific instruction as to sources should be given by the teacher.
Early in the year, with four lessons to prepare daily, the pupil cannot
afford an hour simply to search for a book. He needs that hour for
preparation of other work, and if by some fortunate conjunction of
circumstances his other work is not sufficiently exacting to require it,
he cannot hope to appear in history class with a well-prepared lesson
if an hour of his time has been spent in simply looking for a book.
It is frequently worth while to spend a few minutes of the recitation in
characterizing the epoch in which the events of the lesson take place or
in listening to a brief character sketch of the men contributing to
these events. Care should of course be taken that biography does not
usurp the place of history, but it materially adds to the interest of
the recitation if the kings, generals, and statesmen cease to be merely
historical characters and become human beings.
_His acquaintance with the great men and women of history will be
vitalized_
It is needless to say that characterizations of men or epochs should not
be assigned without instruction as to how they should be prepared. In
the case of a great historical character, what is needed for class
purposes is not a biography with the dry facts of birth, marriage,
death, etc. The report should be brief, but bristling with adjectives
supported in each case by at least one fact of the man's life. These may
be selected from his personal appearance, private life, amusements,
education, obstacles overcome, public services, political sagacity, or
military prowess. The sketch may close with a few brief estimates by
biographers or historians of his proper place in history.
If a characterization of a period of history is to be required, the
teacher should explain that such a characterization should be an
exercise in the selection of brief statements of fact reflecting the
ideals, institutions, and conditions of the period being described. From
histories, source books, fiction, and literature, let the student select
facts illustrating such things as the spirit of the laws, conditions at
court, public education, amusements of the people, social progress,
position of religion, etc. A little time spent in characterizing a
period of history and a few of its great men will assist in changing the
recital of the bare facts given in the text to an intelligent
understanding of conditions and a vital discussion of events. For
instance, the ordinary high school text, in dealing with the French and
Indian war, speaks briefly of the lack of English success during the
early part of the struggle and then says that with the coming of Pitt to
the ministry the whole course of events was changed because of the great
statesman's wonderful personality. The teacher who wishes to make such a
dramatic circumstance really vital to his class must have more
information with which to work. A picture of the coarse, vulgar England
with its incompetent army and navy, apathetic church, and corrupt
government, followed by a stirring character sketch of the great Pitt,
will cost but a few minutes of the recitation and will metamorphose a
moribund attention to a vital interest.
Care should be taken that the characterizations given in class be
properly prepared. To this end it will be well to assign the preparation
of these sketches at least a week in advance, at the same time arranging
a conference with the student a day or two before the recitation. In
this conference the teacher should make such corrections in the pupil's
method of preparation and selection of matter as seem necessary. The
characterizations should not be read, but delivered by the student
facing the class, precisely for the moment as though he were the
teacher. Future tests and examinations should hold the class responsible
for the facts thus presented. If, as is too often the case in work of
this sort, the student giving the report is the sole beneficiary of the
exercise, the time required is disproportionate to the benefit derived.
_He will correlate the past and the present_
If there are facts recounted in the lesson that may be clinched in the
student's mind by showing the relation of those facts to present-day
conditions or institutions, a few advance questions calculated to bring
out this relationship may well be assigned.
It is generally conceded that one chief purpose of history instruction
is to enable us to interpret the present and the future in the light of
the past, but it all too often happens that current history is forgotten
in the recital of facts that are centuries old. Candidates for teachers'
certificates in their examinations in United States history show far
less knowledge about the great problems and events of the present day
than they do of colonial history. The student in English history in our
high schools to-day knows all about the Domesday Book, but almost
nothing of the recent history of England. Quite possibly the text has
nothing to say about it, and it is equally likely that the class may
fail to cover the text and miss the little that is actually given. No
opportunity should be missed to indicate the bearing of the past on
present-day conditions. Even if the events of the lesson exert no direct
influence on affairs to-day, their significance may be brought home to
the student by an illustration from current history. The account of the
Black Death gives excellent occasion for a brief discussion of modern
sanitation and the war on the White Plague. The efforts of Parliament to
fix wages can be illustrated by some of the minimum wage laws passed by
recent legislatures. John Ball's teachings suggest a brief discussion of
modern socialism, daily becoming more active in its influence. The
medieval trade guilds and modern labor unions; the monopolies of
Elizabeth's time and the anti-trust law of to-day; George the Third's
two hundred capital crimes and modern methods of penology; the jealousy
of Athens in guarding the privilege of citizenship and the facility with
which immigrants at present become American citizens are only a few
illustrations, indicating the ease with which the past and the present
may be correlated.
_He will be required to memorize a limited amount of matter verbatim_
In assigning a lesson it is sometimes desirable to require certain
matter to be learned _verbatim_. In American history the Preamble to the
Constitution, the principles of government contained in the Declaration
of Independence, the essential doctrine in the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions, certain clauses of the Constitution, and extracts from
other historical documents may well be required to be memorized
accurately. It is scarcely to be supposed that the student can improve
on the clarity and definiteness of the English in such documents. He is
expected to understand the principles which they assert. He may well be
required to train his memory to accuracy by learning certain assignments
_verbatim_. If memory work received a little more attention in our high
schools to-day, we should be less likely to hear the statement of a
political creed neutralized by the omission of an important word. We
should be less likely to see the classic words of Lincoln mangled beyond
recognition by messy misquotation.
The assignment of advance questions such as have been suggested
possesses several advantages. It makes it possible for the teacher to
hold the class responsible for definite preparation, very much as the
teacher in algebra is able to do with the problems assigned in advance.
It forces the students to do most of the talking. It encourages an
intelligent use of the library in a manner calculated to develop the
student's powers of investigation. If the pupil forgets most of his
history, but retains the ability to investigate carefully, thoroughly,
and critically, the plan has more than justified itself. The plan
enables the teacher to spend his time in explanation of what the pupil
has been unable to do for herself, and thus effects a considerable
saving in time. It would be interesting to secure a statement of how
much of the teacher's time is ordinarily spent in doing for the student
in recitation what he should have done for himself before coming to
class. It substitutes for the pupil's snap judgment, given without much
thought and too frequently influenced by the inflection of the teacher's
voice, an opinion that has resulted from research and deliberation
unbiased by the teacher's personal views.
It is too much to expect high school pupils to solve historical problems
extemporaneously. If inferences and contrasts other than those given in
the text are to be drawn, if statements are to be defended or opposed,
the high school student should be given time to prepare his answer.
Aside from the injustice of any other procedure, it is a hopeless waste
of time to spend the precious minutes of the recitation in gathering
negative replies and worthless judgments.
_Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance_
It may be urged that such an assignment of a lesson as that proposed is
too ambitious and that it exacts too much of the teacher's time. In
answer it should be said that specialists in history ought surely to
have read widely enough and studied deeply enough to be _able_ to select
intelligent questions of the sort suggested. We have assumed that the
teacher has made adequate preparation for his work. Certainly, then, he
should be ready to explain the social, geographical, and economic
relation of the events mentioned in the lesson. He should know their
bearing on current history. He should always have ready a fund of
information, additional to that given in the text. In preparing advance
questions for distribution to the class the teacher is preparing his own
lesson. He may be doing it a day or two earlier than he would otherwise
do, but surely he is performing no labor additional to what may
reasonably be expected of him. As to the time required to prepare copies
of the questions for distribution when the class convenes, it may be
said that a neostyle or mimeograph, with which all large schools and
many small ones are equipped, makes short work of preparing as many
copies of the questions as desired. If there is a commercial department
in connection with the school, an available stenographer, or a willing
student helper, the teacher may easily relieve himself of the work of
supplying the copies. If none of these expedients are possible, it is no
Herculean task to write each day on the board the few questions for the
next lesson. It will entail no great loss of time if the class are asked
to copy them when they first come to recitation. If it is possible to
copy them after the recitation, so much the better. And beyond the
obvious advantages of a carefully assigned lesson it must be remembered
that in the assignment of special topics, in private conferences with
the student, in the correction of notes, in giving assistance in the
library, the teacher has an opportunity to cultivate a sympathetic
relation between himself and the class of inestimable service in
securing the best results.
IV
THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION
_Assumptions as to the recitation room_
Let us now assume that the recitation will be held in a quiet room free
from the distracting influence of poor light, poor ventilation, and
inadequate seating capacity. The blackboard space is ample for the whole
class, the erasers and chalk are at hand, the maps, charts, and globe
are where they can be used without stumbling over them. The teacher can
give his whole attention to the class. Discipline should take care of
itself. The pupil who is interested will not be seriously out of order.
_What the teacher should aim to accomplish_
The problem, then, is so to expend the forty-five minutes in which the
teacher and class are together that:--
1. So far as possible the atmosphere and setting of the period
being studied may be reproduced.
2. The great historical characters spoken of in the lesson may
become for the student real men and women with whom he will
afterwards feel a personal acquaintance.
3. The events described will be understood and properly interpreted
in their relation to geography, and the economic and social
progress of the world.
4. Causes and effects shall be properly analyzed.
5. And that there shall be left sufficient time for the occasional
review necessary to any good instruction.
_Work at the blackboard_
The first five minutes may profitably be spent at the board, each member
of the class being asked to write a complete answer to one of the
assigned questions. Whatever may happen later in the recitation each
student has had at least this much of an opportunity for
self-expression, and his work should be neat, workmanlike, complete, and
accurate. By this device the alert teacher will secure in the first five
minutes of the recitation hour a fairly accurate idea of each student's
preparation, the weak spots in his understanding of the lesson, and the
errors to be corrected. He may even be able to record a grade for the
work done.
_Special reports_
The class having taken their seats, the next order of business should be
the reports on special topics assigned for the purpose of making the
period of history under discussion more interesting and vital. As has
been said, these reports should not be read, but delivered by the pupil
facing the class. The class should be encouraged to ask questions on the
report when finished and the student responsible for the report should
be expected to answer any reasonable inquiry. If other students are able
to contribute to the topics reported on, they should be encouraged to do
so. Let the teacher be sure that he has sounded the depths of the
students' information and curiosity before he himself discusses the
report. If the device of reports delivered in class is to justify
itself, the matter contained in them must be so arranged and discussed
that the whole class receives real benefit. The ingenious teacher will
be able to establish a tradition in his course for a careful preparation
and critical discussion of these reports. The rivalry of students for
excellence in this work is not difficult to stimulate. A premium should
be put on criticism which finds mentioned in the characterization
qualities inconsistent with the facts recorded in the text, or omissions
which the facts of the text seem to justify.
_Fundamental principles of good questioning_
It is not likely that the teacher will find it advisable to require
reports at every recitation nor that the reports and their discussion
will consume, at the most, longer than ten or fifteen minutes of any
class period. There must always be time for direct oral questioning on
the facts of the lesson; questioning that will test the student's
memory, ability to analyze, and powers of expression. Certain principles
are fundamental to good questioning in any recitation.
1. The questions should be brief.
2. They should be prepared by the teacher before coming to
recitation. This will insure rapidity. A vast deal of time is
lost by the unfortunate habit possessed by many teachers of
never having the next question ready to use.
3. They should precede the name of the pupil required to answer it.
4. They should not be leading questions to which the pupil can
guess the answers.
5. They should be grammatically stated with but one possible
interpretation.
6. Except for purposes of rapid review they should not be
answerable with yes or no.
7. They should be asked in a voice loud enough to be heard by all
the class, and only once.
8. They should be asked in no regular order, but nevertheless in
such a way that every member of the class will have a chance to
recite.
_Some additional suggestions for teachers of history_
There are additional suggestions particularly applicable to the teacher
of history.
1. In all the questioning remember the purposes of the recitation.
Ask questions knowing exactly what you wish as an answer. There
is no time for aimless or idle questioning.
2. Inquire frequently as to the books used in preparation of the
lesson. Let no allusion or statement in the text go unexplained.
Let none of the author's conclusions or opinions go
unchallenged. Ask the student for inconsistencies, inaccuracies,
or contradictions in the text. Put a premium on their discovery.
Insist on the student's authority for statements other than
those given in the text.
3. Do not use the heavy-typed words frequently found at the head of
the paragraph or the topical heads furnished by the text, if it
can be avoided. The pupil should not be allowed to remember his
history by its location in the text.
4. Be sure that the class have an opportunity to recite on the
questions assigned for their advance preparation. Nothing is
more discouraging to a student than carefully to prepare the
work required and then fail of an opportunity either to recite
upon or to discuss it.