Part 2 (2/2)

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 state 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, aress, position of religion, etc A little ti a period of history and a few of its great iven 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 co of Pitt to the ed because of the great statesman's wonderful personality The teacher ishes to make such a dramatic circumstance really vital to his class must have more inforar England with its incoovernreat 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 sa 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 h 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 thatthe relation of those facts to present-day conditions or institutions, a few advance questions calculated to bring out this relationshi+p enerally 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 exae 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 Doland 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 iven No opportunity should beof the past on present-day conditions Even if the events of the lesson exert no direct influence on affairs to-day, their significance ht home to the student by an illustration froives excellent occasion for a brief discussion of ue The efforts of Parliaes can be illustrated by soislatures John Ball's teachings suggest a brief discussion ofuilds and modern labor unions; the monopolies of Elizabeth's tie the Third's two hundred capital criy; the jealousy of Athens in guarding the privilege of citizenshi+p and the facility hich irants at present become A the ease hich the past and the present may be correlated

_He will be required to mening a lesson it is sometimes desirable to require certain matter to be learned _verbatim_ In American history the Preaovernment 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 ilish in such documents He is expected to understand the principles which they assert He may well be required to train his nments _verbatih 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 nition by nested possesses several advantages It makes it possible for the teacher to hold the class responsible for definite preparation, very ebra is able to do with the problened in advance

It forces the students to do ent use of the library in a ation If the pupil forgets ate 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 ti to secure a statement of howfor the student in recitation what he should have done for hi to class It substitutes for the pupil's snap judght 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 h school pupils to solve historical problems exteiven in the text are to be drawn, if stateh school student should be given time to prepare his answer

Aside from the injustice of any other procedure, it is a hopeless waste of tiathering negative replies and worthless judgned in advance_

It nment 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 eventson current history He should always have ready a fund of infor advance questions for distribution to the class the teacher is preparing his own lesson Heit a day or two earlier than he would otherwise do, but surely he is perfor 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 e schools andas many copies of the questions as desired If there is a commercial departrapher, or a willing student helper, the teacherthe 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 es of a carefully assigned lesson it nment 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 hi 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 rooht, poor ventilation, and inadequate seating capacity The blackboard space is ample for the whole class, the erasers and chalk are at hand, the lobe are where they can be used without stuive 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 ether that:--

1 So far as possible the at studied reat historical characters spoken of in the lesson may become for the student real men and women hom he will afterwards feel a personal acquaintance

3 The events described will be understood and properly interpreted in their relation to geography, and the econoress of the world

4 Causes and effects shall be properly analyzed

5 And that there shall be left sufficient tiood instruction