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Title: The Recitation
Author: George Herbert Betts
Release Date: June 26, 2006 [eBook #18698]
Language: English
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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.
When the topical method is being employed it will nearly always need
to be supplemented by questions and answers. Very rarely will a pupil
recite upon any important topic with such accuracy and completeness
that nothing more needs to be said concerning it. Hence, after the
pupil has completed his topical discussion, the teacher can round out
the subject, impress the more important points, or correct wrong
impressions, by a few questions to be answered either by the pupil who
has had the discussion or by the remainder of the class.
The topical method gives the teacher the best opportunity to teach the
pupils how to study. It is safe to say that most pupils consider that
they "have their lesson" when they understand it, or think they can
remember it. But if the child is to be taught expression, as well as
given knowledge, it is evident that this is not enough. Not only
should a pupil be sure that he understands his lesson and can remember
it, but also he should think how best to express it in the recitation.
The teacher can help the class in this when assigning the topics by
showing the pupils how to pick out the main points of the topics, and
arrange them in order for discussion. This is, of course, really
training in analysis--a power that all pupils need to cultivate.
_b. The question of standards in topical recitations._--The success of
the topical method will depend much on the teacher's standards of
thoroughness applied to its use. Children, particularly of the lower
grades, have not yet developed much grasp of mind, and consequently
are not able to judge when they have sufficiently covered a topic
given them for recitation. They are likely to think that if they stand
up and say _something_ about the topic, this is sufficient.
It is at this point that the teacher needs to exercise great care. The
child must not be discouraged by harsh criticism, but neither must an
incomplete recitation be accepted as a complete one. The teacher must
judge carefully how full a discussion should be expected from a child
of the given age, taking into account the treatment of the topic in
the pupil's textbook. Then by questions, further discussion by other
pupils, kindly criticisms, and helpful suggestions, the standard
should be placed as high as the class can attain. Nor is it to be
forgotten that the standard is to be a constantly advancing one.
6. _The lecture, or supplemental method_
The lecture method is rather too formal a name for the method in which
the teacher talks to the class instead of asking them to recite. He
may either take the entire period in a lecture, or talk, or he may
only supplement now and then the answers or topical recitations of the
pupils. This method is almost exclusively used in many universities
and colleges, but is not suited for extensive use in more elementary
schools.
_a. How the lecture method is to be used._--While the lecture method
should be employed sparingly in the elementary school, yet it is most
valuable to supplement other methods. First, in introducing a class to
a new subject or section of work, it is frequently desirable that the
teacher should take a part or the whole of a recitation period to
explain the nature of the work or to interest the pupils in it. For
example: In taking up the discovery of America, the teacher can create
interest by telling the class of the wonderful events going on in
Europe during the fifteenth century, of the life of Columbus as a boy,
of the ships then in use, comparing them with our present steamships,
etc. Similarly for almost every new section taken up in any study.
The lecture method is also useful in supplementing the recitations of
the pupils. The teacher's knowledge must be much broader than the
textbook; and a little explanation added, an incident told, or an
application of the lesson made will often do much to broaden the
pupil's knowledge of the subject, and will at the same time lend
interest to the recitation, besides increasing respect for the
teacher's education. There is nothing more deadening to the recitation
than a mechanical plodding through the questions and answers of a
textbook without any explanation or amplification, and often without
much comprehension on the part of the class. The teacher who has
nothing of his own to add is incapable of _teaching_ in the true sense
of the word. At best he can only _test_ as to the preparation from the
textbook.
_b. Dangers from the lecture method._--While we justly condemn the
teacher who has nothing of his own to add to the recitation, we must
not forget that there is a danger on the other side. Ask any
assemblage of teachers how many think that, in general, their own
teachers used to talk too much in the recitation, thereby monopolizing
the time, and two thirds will blame their former teachers for
over-using the lecture method. Most people, when they are sure of an
audience, like to talk, and probably teachers are no exception to the
rule.
The teacher who is full of information and enthusiasm for the
recitation is led by this very fact into temptation. Some point in the
lesson suggests an interesting story or illustration, or some
additional bit of information, and the teacher starts to tell it to
the class. He becomes himself so interested in it that the lesson is
forgotten and the class period ended long before the story is
completed. This may do occasionally; but, once it becomes a habit, it
is fatal to good teaching. The recitation as prepared by the class
should be the chief interest of the class period. The teacher must
learn to supplement without monopolizing.
7. _The written recitation_
The written recitation can hardly be called a method, since it can be
itself applied to any or all of the methods of reciting. Like all
other methods, the written recitation has its strong points of
excellence and also its dangers.
_a. The use of the written recitation._--The written recitation is
especially useful in cases where all of the class should recite upon
all of the lesson. It is easy to see that by having each of a class of
ten answer ten questions, a far larger amount of answering is done in
the aggregate than if only one could answer at a time, as in oral
recitation.
There are certain kinds of knowledge that are seldom used except in
writing. For example, we are never called upon to spell or to use
letter forms, business forms, punctuation marks, etc., except in
writing. It is safe to say that matter of such kinds should usually be
taught by having it written.
The written recitation also leads to accuracy and precision of thought
and expression. We all formulate more carefully what we write than
what we speak.
The written recitation also gives an opportunity for training in
verbal expression. Every person needs to be able to express himself
easily and forcibly in writing. But this requires much practice, and
there is no better practice than in formulating in writing the
thoughts of the daily lessons.
_b. Dangers in the use of the written method._--Valuable as the
written method is, there are certain cautions to be observed in its
use.
This method does not ordinarily possess the interest and spontaneity
of the oral recitation. There is no opportunity for the teacher to
supplement with points brought in. Misconceptions are not cleared up
in the minds of the pupils, at least during that recitation period,
unless the written papers are read at once. Usually time does not
permit this. Many children do not like to write, and hence find the
lesson tiresome, especially if continued for a whole class period.
The amount of writing required of children may be too great. Few
pupils can write long at a time without eye-strain, muscle cramp, and
bad bodily positions. Where this is the case, over-fatigue results if
the amount of written work required is large. It is not unusual to
find schools in which children are required to spend almost half of
their school hours in some form of written work. This is a serious
mistake both educationally and from the standpoint of health.
There is also still another side of the matter to consider. One of the
great advantages of written work is that the pupil may have his errors
shown him, so that he may reflect upon them and correct them. But not
infrequently, where the amount of written work is too large, the
errors are not carefully corrected by the teacher, and not corrected
at all by the pupil. This is why many pupils will keep on making the
same error time after time on their papers. The correction has not
sufficiently impressed them.
All written work, with perhaps rare exceptions, should be carefully
gone over by the teacher, and all serious or oft-repeated errors
corrected by the pupils who make them. Not infrequently may children
be seen to glance over a paper upon which the teacher has put precious
time and some red ink in making corrections, and then crumple the
paper and throw it into the waste basket. Sometimes this is done in
sheer carelessness, and sometimes in petulance because of the many
corrections. This is all a loss of time and opportunity. The teacher
should have tact enough to show the pupils that corrections are made
on their papers for their benefit, and not as a punishment. And then
the pupils should take the trouble to correct the errors, that they
may not occur again. Better a thousand times correct carefully an old
paper than write a new one containing the same errors.
III
THE ART OF QUESTIONING
1. _The importance of good questioning_
Skill in the art of questioning lies at the basis of all good
teaching. When we were children it looked so easy for the teacher to
sit and ask the questions which we were expected to answer. When we
become teachers we find that it is much harder to ask the questions
than to answer them. For to question well, one must not only know the
subject thoroughly, but must also constantly interpret the mind of the
pupil to discover what question next to ask, and whether he is
mastering what we are teaching him.
Good questioning stimulates thought, leads to inquiry, and results in
understanding and mastery. Poor questioning leaves the mental powers
unawakened, cripples thought, and results in inefficiency and lack of
mastery.
2. _Need of fundamental principles_
Good questioning is dependent upon the teacher's having a firm command
of a few essential principles which apply to all questioning used in
teaching. The teacher's constant self-criticism in the light of these
will greatly improve his control of discussion in the class room.
3. _The principle of freedom from textbooks_
The questions of the recitation must of course deal with the matter of
the textbook and be directly suggested by it. Yet there are two
dangers to be avoided in this connection: (1) Questions should not
follow the language of the text, and (2) the teacher should not be
dependent on the textbook to suggest the question itself or to
determine the correctness of the answer.
The teacher who has not the lesson well prepared, or who is mentally
lazy, has a constant temptation to ask questions in the words of the
book. This is much easier than to know the subject and the textbook
both well enough to formulate original, appropriate questions. An
illustration of what is meant is found in the following account of a
recitation conducted from "Montgomery's American History," the lesson
being on the landing of the Pilgrims (pp. 77, 78):--
Q. On a morning late in November, what did the Pilgrims do?
A. They sighted Cape Cod.
Q. Two days later, where did the Mayflower come to anchor?
A. In Provincetown Harbor.
Q. While the Mayflower remained at anchor, what did Captain
Standish and a boatload of men do?
A. They went out to explore.
Q. On the shore of Plymouth harbor what is there lying?
A. A granite bowlder.
It is seen that each of these questions follows the words of the text,
and that the answer but completes the sentence of which the question
is a part. Questions of this kind only suggest to the memory the
statement of the text, and do not cause the pupil to use his own
thought in realizing the actual event. Hence they arouse little
interest and leave little impression. They train the verbal memory,
but leave imagination, thought, and understanding untouched. How much
better such questions as these:--
When did the Pilgrims first sight land?
What land did they see?
What was its appearance?
Have you ever seen a stretch of shore like this one?
Why did not the Pilgrims land at this point?
Where did they finally anchor?
What measures did they take to see whether this was a
suitable place to land?
Why is the name "Plymouth Rock" so famous in American
history?
These questions cover just the same ground as the ones above, but they
suggest living pictures and actual events rather than the language of
the textbook.
The unprepared or lazy teacher is also in danger of relying on the
textbook for his questions even when he does not formulate them in the
language of the printed page. Not infrequently teachers conduct the
whole of a recitation with the text open before them, hardly taking
their eyes from the book, and seeming to have no inspiration or
questions not immediately gleaned from the page before them. In
extreme cases of unpreparedness they may even have to test the
correctness of the answers given by the class by reference to the
text. Of course this is all the highest degree of inefficiency. It
should not be called teaching at all, for no one can teach another
that which he does not himself possess as a part of his own mental
equipment. Nothing can be more deadening to a class than to see a
teacher, whom they look upon as their intellectual leader, floundering
in such a vain attempt to teach something that he does not himself
know.
The eyes and the mind of the teacher must both be free in the
recitation--the eyes to look interest and encouragement into the eyes
of the class, the mind to marshal the points of the lesson and watch
the effects of their presentation on the minds of the pupils. A
recitation at its best consists of an animated and interesting
conversation between teacher and class. And no conversation can be
live and interesting when one of its participants has mind and eyes
riveted to a book; for conversation involves an interchange of
expression, of spirit, and of personality as well as of words.
It is not meant that a teacher must never have a textbook open before
him during a recitation. Often it is not only desirable, but necessary
that he should do so; but only for suggestion and reference, and never
to supply questions and test answers.
It is certainly much better to have the textbook before one than to
teach the lesson after a disconnected and haphazard fashion from lack
of familiarity with its points. An excellent substitute for the text,
however, is an outline, or plan of the lesson embodying the main
points, illustrations, and applications to be made. Such an outline
will save the teacher from wandering too far afield in the
discussions, will insure unity in the lesson, and make certain that
important points shall not be overlooked.
A desirable rule for the teacher to set for himself would be so to
prepare for the recitation by mastery of the subject, and by lesson
plan or outline, _that he does not need to have the textbook open
before him when the pupils do not also have their books open_. The
teacher who will heroically meet this standard will soon find growing
in himself a feeling of mastery of his subjects and of joy in his
teaching.
4. _The principle of unity or continuity in questions_
Questions should be so planned that they develop or bring out the
unity of the lesson. It is possible for questions to be so haphazard
and disconnected that the pupil receives the impression of a series of
unrelated facts, rather than a unified and related subject. In good
questioning, one question naturally grows out of another, so that the
series develops step by step the truth contained in the lesson, and
brings it to the mind of the child as a complete whole.
This means that the teacher must know the whole subject so thoroughly
that the right questions come to him easily and naturally, and in the
right order to bring out the successive steps of the lesson in their
logical relations.
The difference between a related series of questions and an unrelated
is shown in two lists which follow. Both deal with the same
subject-matter, a physiology lesson on respiration. The questions of
the first list are not themselves faulty, but there is no continuity
among them; one does not grow out of another so as to "develop" the
subject in the minds of the class.
What change takes place in the air while in the lungs?
What change takes place in the blood while in the lungs?
How many cubic inches of air will the lungs contain?
How much of this cannot be expelled by breathing out?
How many times do we naturally breathe in a minute?
What are some of the effects of breathing impure air?
How is the oxygen carried by the blood?
What is animal heat?
What is the temperature of the body?
These questions were all answered fairly well by the class, but the
answers contained only so many bits of isolated information, and the
pupils did not understand the subject after they had recited upon it.
Another teacher asked the following questions:
Why must the body have air to breathe?
Of what use is oxygen in the body?
Where does this oxidization, or burning up of worn-out
cells, take place?
But how is the oxygen carried to every part of the body and
brought into contact with the tissues?
Where do the corpuscles of the blood get their loads of
oxygen?
What gas do they give up in exchange for the oxygen?
Where do they get the carbon dioxide?
How does air entering the lungs differ from air leaving
them?
What corresponding change takes place in the blood while it
is in the lungs?
Explain how the change is effected in each case.
Suppose we breathe air that contains too little oxygen, what
will be the effect on the corpuscles?
What will be the effect on oxidization in the tissues?
And what is the effect of poor oxidization on physical
vitality?
On mental vitality?
The class that answered these questions not only had the information
belonging to each separate question, but also understood the lesson as
a whole, because each question grew out of the ones that preceded it,
thus making the recitation a unified whole.
5. _The principle of clearness_
Questions must be made clear, so that their meaning may be understood.
This is not always an easy task, and the teacher frequently misses
being wholly clear. This is evidenced by the fact that often when a
pupil fails to answer a question asked in one way, he can answer it
easily when the wording is changed. This means that the difficulty for
the pupil existed in the question, and not in the answer.
Clearness in questioning involves three factors: (1) Freedom from
ambiguity or obscurity of wording; (2) adaptation to the age and
understanding of the pupil; (3) reasonable brevity.
_a. Freedom from ambiguity or obscurity of wording._--This is
fundamentally a matter of the use of good English. It requires such a
choice and arrangement of words and clauses that there can be no doubt
as to the meaning to be conveyed. Assuming a fair command of the
language and care in its use, the basis of clearness at this point is
thorough mastery of the subject-matter of the questions, so that the
teacher himself understands clearly just what he means to ask.
The following illustrations show some questions that are faulty from
the standpoint of obscurity of meaning:--
What caused Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863?
(Not clear whether question means why did he issue the Emancipation
Proclamation at all, or why did he issue it in 1863 instead of at some
other time.)
What are the effects of attention to a moving object? (Not clear
whether question means effects on the person attending or the effect
which the moving of an object has in making itself seen.)
Who chased whom down what valley?
Why has a cat fur and a duck feathers?
_b. Adaptation to the age and understanding of the child._--Questions
that are perfectly clear to an adult may be hazy or incomprehensible
to a child because he does not understand the terms used in the
question, or because it deals with matters beyond his grasp. The
teacher must keep within the vocabulary of the child in formulating
his questions. Where it is necessary or desirable to introduce new
words into questions, care must be taken that the child knows fully
the meaning of the new terms. A teacher asked a class in elementary
physiology, "What measures would you take to resuscitate a person
asphyxiated with carbon dioxide?" The class all looked blank. No one
seemed to know what to do. It chanced that the superintendent was
visiting the school, and he said to the teacher, "Let me try." Then he
asked the class, "What would you do for a person who had been
smothered by breathing coal gas?" The class brightened up, and every
hand was raised indicating readiness to answer the question.
Another teacher bewildered his class by asking, "Which phenomena of
the fratricidal strife in the American Republic were most
determinative of the ultimate fate of the nation?" No one knew. Had he
asked his question in plain terms, no doubt the class could have
answered it.
In an elementary history class, a teacher propounded this question:
"What American institutions have been founded on the principle of
social democracy?" Not only the terms of the question, but the thought
also is beyond the comprehension of children. Such questions are not
only useless as a means of testing, teaching, or drilling, but serve
to confuse and discourage the child, and cause him to lose interest in
school.
_c. Brevity._--No matter how well a question is worded, or how well it
is adapted to the age and capacity of the pupil, it may fail in
clearness because it is too long and disjointed, or because it deals
with too many points. Far better break a complicated question up into
several simple ones, concerning whose meaning there can be no doubt.
A teacher who had not yet mastered the art of questioning asked his
physiology class a question somewhat like this: "Do you consider it
advisable, taking into account the fact that none of the vital
processes go on as vigorously during sleep as during the waking hours
(you remember that the breathing and the pulse are less rapid and the
temperature of the body also lower), to eat just before retiring at
night, especially if one is very tired and exhausted--a condition
which still further lowers the vitality and hence decreases the powers
of digestion and assimilation, and would your answer be different if
it is understood that the food taken is to be light and easily
digested?"
It is needless to say that the class found themselves lost in the maze
of conditions and parenthetical expressions and did not attempt an
answer. The question contains material for a dozen different
questions, and probably the class could have answered them all had
they been properly asked.
6. _The principle of definiteness_
Questions should be definite, so that they can have but one meaning.
It is possible to ask a question so that its general meaning is clear
enough, but so that its _precise_ meaning is in doubt. Such questions
leave the pupil puzzled, and usually lead to indirectness or guessing
in the answer. Failure to make questions definite, so that they can
have but one meaning is responsible for much of the difference of
opinion on disputed questions.
Many a stock question upon which amateur debating societies have
exercised their talents would admit of no debate at all, if once the
question were made definite. For the ground for debate lies in the
difference in interpretation of the question and not in the facts
themselves. For example: If a cannon ball were to be fired off by some
mechanical device a million miles from where there was any ear to
hear, would there be any sound? The lack of definiteness here which
permits difference of opinion lies in the word "sound." If we add
after the word "sound" the phrase, "in the sense of a conscious
auditory sensation," the answer would obviously be, No, since there
can be no auditory sensation without an ear to hear it. If, on the
other hand, instead of the above phrase we add, "in the sense of
wave-vibrations in the air," the answer will obviously be, Yes, since
the wave-vibrations in the air do not depend on the presence of an
ear to be affected by them.
Likewise, in the question, If a man starts to walk around a squirrel
which is clinging to the limb of a tree, and if, as the man circles
the tree, the squirrel also circles the tree so that he constantly
faces the man, when the man has gone completely around the tree, has
he gone around the squirrel? Here the indefiniteness lies in the
meaning of to "go around." With this indefiniteness remedied, there is
no longer any possibility of difference of opinion.
Indefiniteness may come from the use of certain words that from their
very nature are indefinite in meaning. Such are the verbs _be_, _do_,
_have_, _become_, _happen_, and the prepositions _of_ and _about_.
Examples of indefiniteness growing out of such colorless words are
found in the following questions, which are types of many asked in our
schools daily:--
What does water _do_ when heated? (Expands, evaporates,
boils.)
What _happens_ when it lightnings? (Thunder, discharge of
electricity, flash.)
What must immigrants coming into this country _have_?
(Money, freedom from disease, character.)
What did Arnold _become_? (A traitor, a British general, an
outcast, a repentant man.)
What _is_ the cow? (A mammal, a quadruped, a producer of
milk, butter, and beef; an herbivorous animal.)
What _about_ the Monroe Doctrine? (A dozen different
things.)
What _of_ the animals in the temperate zone?
Questions may be so general as to be indefinite. The teacher asks,
"Where is Chicago?" The class may answer, "In Illinois on Lake
Michigan; in North America; in Cook County." The teacher should know
just what answer he desires, and then ask, "In what State; on what
continent; on what lake; or in what county?"
Other illustrations of vagueness coming from the use of words of too
general a meaning are found in such questions as, What _kind_ of man
was George Washington?
_When_ does a person need food?
_How_ does tobacco grow?
_What_ do birds like?
All indefinite questions deserve and usually receive an indefinite
answer, and hence lead to and encourage guessing. If the answers to
such questions as the above are not indefinite, they must be purely
memoriter, merely reproducing the words of the text without
comprehension of any real meaning.
Indefinite questioning usually comes from a lack of clear thinking on
the part of the questioner. The teacher himself does not know
precisely what he means to ask, and hence cannot be definite. It is
safe to say that the teacher's questions covering a subject will never
be any more clear or definite than the subject itself is in his mind.
Indeed it is hard for one to be wholly definite in questioning even
when he is a perfect master of his subject. Certainly, then, eternal
vigilance will be the price of clearness and definiteness on the part
of the young teacher who is as yet striving for mastery of what he is
teaching.
7. _Secondary principles of good questioning_
Besides the foregoing fundamental principles underlying the art of
questioning, there are a few secondary principles, some of which are
of hardly less importance:--
1. Questions should be asked naturally, and in a conversational tone,
and not explosively _demanded_ of pupils.
2. Usually the question should be addressed to the entire class and,
after all have had a moment to think, some one then designated to
answer. The reason for this is obvious. If the one who is to answer is
designated before the question is asked, the incentive to the rest of
the class to think the answer is greatly lessened.
3. No regular order should be followed in calling on pupils. If such
an order is established, the lazy and uninterested ones have a
tendency to remain inactive until called upon. By the hit-and-miss
method of calling no one knows at what moment he may be the next one,
hence there is a strong incentive to attend to the lesson. It is also
desirable to call on a pupil occasionally the second time very soon
after he has previously been called upon. This prevents him from
thinking that as soon as he has recited once he can then safely relax
his attention.
4. Inattentive or mischievous pupils should be the mark for frequent
questions. If it comes to be known that any inattention is sure to
bring questions to the pupil at fault, the battle for attention is
half won. There is a strong tendency on the part of the teacher to ask
for the answer to a question from those whose eyes show that they are
attentive and ready with an answer. While this readiness and attention
should be rewarded by giving an opportunity to answer, it must not
lead the teacher to neglect those who may need the question more than
the more ready ones. The questions should be impartially distributed
among the bright and the dull pupils.
5. It is highly important that questions shall be asked so that they
demand thought in answering, and usually so that the answer must be
given in a full statement. Seldom should a question be asked in such
form that a simple Yes or No will answer it. This does not require
sufficient thought on the part of the pupil, it permits guess-work,
and fails to cultivate ability in expression. Answers that may be
given in a word or two, or by Yes or No, may be accepted in rapid
drill or review work, and also in the inductive questioning used in
developing a new subject, but should be used very sparingly in other
places in the recitation.
6. The "pumping" question should not be used. In this type of
question, the teacher formulates the answer and leaves only the key
word for the pupil to supply. The teacher sometimes goes so far as to
suggest the necessary word by pronouncing the first syllable or two of
it. A dialogue like the following was heard in one school:--
Q. "Columbus was an ----?"
A. "Explorer."
Q. "No, he was an It----?"
A. "Oh, an Italian."
Such an attempt at teaching would be amusing, were it not so serious
for the child.
8. _The treatment of answers_
The teacher's treatment of the answers given is of hardly less
importance than the formulation of the questions themselves. It is to
be remembered that the recitation is an interchange of thought and
expression between teacher and class. To this end, the response must
be mutual. Not alone when the question is being asked is the teacher
to be animated and interested, but likewise while the answer is being
given. It is neither good pedagogy nor good manners for a teacher to
sit unresponsive and inattentive when a pupil is reciting. Not that
the teacher needs always to comment on an answer, or say that it is
correct; it is rather a matter of manner, of attention and interest to
the answer. We find it embarrassing either in a recitation or out of
it to talk to a person who seems not to be listening.
Right at this point, however, there lurks an insidious danger. It
comes easily and naturally to one to give some sign of assent or
disapproval as to the correctness of the answer while it is being
spoken. The slightest inclination of the head, the dropping of the
eyelids, or a certain expression of the face, comes to be read by the
pupil as a signboard to guide him in his statements. This is, of
course, all wrong. The teacher should give absolutely no sign while
the answer is going on. Thus to help the child leads him to depend on
the teacher instead of relying on his own knowledge. It leads to
guessing, and so skillful does this sometimes become that a bright but
unprepared pupil is able to steer through a recitation guided by the
unsuspecting teacher.
Answers should not be repeated by the teacher. This is a very common
fault, and a habit that is usually acquired before the teacher is
aware of it. The tendency to repeat answers probably arises at first
from a mental unreadiness on the part of the teacher. He has not his
next question quite ready, and so bridges over the interval by saying
over the answer just given by the pupil. It is a method of gaining
time, but really finally results in great loss of time in the
recitation. By actual count, many teachers have been found to repeat
as many as 75% of the answers given in the recitation. Besides the
great waste of time, the repetition of answers is a source of
distraction and annoyance to pupils. No one enjoys having his words
said over after him constantly. Of course answers may sometimes need
to be repeated to emphasize some important point. But when repetition
has become a habit, no emphasis is gained by the repetition.
Finally, answers should be required in good English, clear and
definite, like the questions. Pupils who say, "An improper fraction is
'where' the numerator is greater than the denominator"; "A compound
sentence is 'when' it has two or more independent clauses," should be
led to restate their answers in clear and correct language.
IV
CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO A GOOD RECITATION
We have now discussed the aim of the recitation, its methods, and the
principles governing the art of questioning. But no matter how well
defined the aim for the recitation, no matter how excellent its
method, no matter how skilled the teacher may be in the art of
questioning, these things alone cannot make a good recitation. Certain
other fundamental conditions must obtain if the recitation is to be a
success. Let us now discuss the more important of these conditions.
1. _Freedom from distractions_
Distractions of any nature result in a double waste. First, a waste of
power through preventing concentration and continuity of thought. Try
as hard as one may, he cannot secure the best results from his mental
effort, if his stream of thought is being broken in upon. The loss by
this process is comparable to that involved in running a train of
cars, stopping it every ten rods instead of every ten or every one
hundred miles. But this form of waste is not all. There is also a
serious waste of interest and enthusiasm resulting from interrupted
recitations. Every teacher has at times felt the sudden drop in
attention and interest on the part of the class after some
interruption which took the minds of the class off the subject. Try as
hard as the teacher may, it is impossible to go back to the same level
of efficiency after such a break. The following show some of the chief
sources of distractions:--
_a. Distractions by the teacher._--Strange as it may seem, many
teachers are to be criticised on this point. Any striking feature or
peculiarity of manner, dress, or carriage which attracts the attention
of the class is a distraction. A loud or ill-modulated voice, tones
too low or indistinct to be heard well, the habit of walking up and
down the aisles or back and forth before the class, assuming awkward
positions standing or sitting before the class--these are all
personal factors which the teacher needs to keep constantly under
surveillance.
The teacher may also distract the class by answering questions asked
by the pupils at their seats, or by rebuking misdemeanors seen among
those not in the recitation. Most of such interruptions are wholly
unnecessary, and could be avoided by a little foresight and
management. The lesson should be so clearly assigned that the pupils
can have no excuse to ask later about the assignment, and then there
should be a penalty for forgetting it. The drinks of water should be
had and the errands attended to between classes. The pencils should be
supplied and sharpened before the session begins. The mischievous
culprits should be taught that it is a serious offense to interrupt a
recitation. The teacher who permits these distractions by the school
has not yet learned the secret of good management, and could hardly
advertise his inefficiency in this regard any more effectively than by
permitting such interruptions to continue.
It is also possible for the teacher to distract the person reciting
by interrupting when there is a slight pause to think of the next
point, or a hesitation before pronouncing a word. Teachers sometimes
even interrupt a pupil who is reciting and themselves offer
explanations, make remarks, or continue the discussion, leaving the
child standing and not knowing whether he is excused or not. Of course
this is bad manners on the part of the teacher, and it is even worse
pedagogy. It is not encouraging to the pupil to feel that he may be
interrupted at any moment, and few can think clearly or recite well
when expecting such interruptions. The pupil should not expect to be
allowed to think out a lesson or a point when he is reciting, which he
should have thought out before coming to class. On the other hand, the
teacher must remember that the child's mind is working on what to him
is new and difficult matter, and hence cannot move as rapidly as the
teacher's.
_b. Distractions by the class._--Inattention, restlessness, and
mischief are great sources of distraction from the class themselves.
All these things have a tendency to be contagious, and in any case
always break in upon the train of thought of the recitation. Because
of this the teacher _must_ win the inattentive and restless, and
_must_ check the restless, if he would save his recitation.
Not infrequently, in the more elementary classes, a certain kind of
distraction is fostered and encouraged by the teacher with the aim of
securing the attention of the whole class to the one who is reciting.
This form of distraction consists in having the whole class watch the
one who is reciting, and, if they observe an error in the recitation,
at once raise their hands, when the one reciting must stop. This is a
mistake from almost every standpoint, and has very little to redeem
it. It may result in closer attention on the part of the class; but
the motive which prompts the attention is bad. It leads to elation and
rejoicing over the mistakes and failures of another, and it centres
attention on the mistakes rather than on the facts to be brought out.
Attention should be trained so that it will not have to depend on this
kind of motive, and the memory should be trained to note and hold a
correction until the one reciting has finished. Further, it is a most
serious distraction to the one who is reciting to be expecting that a
forest of hands may at any moment be wildly waving about his ears,
gleefully announcing that he has made an error. Condemnation of this
method of securing attention can hardly be too severe.
_c. Distractions by the school._--In any busy school there is bound to
be more or less of hum and confusion. In many schools, however, there
is much more than is warranted. It is true that children get tired of
sitting still for an entire session, and that they find relief in
going for a drink, or going to the dictionary, or on some other errand
about the room. In some schools, one or more pupils may be found
walking about the room at almost any time of the day, and not
infrequently several are on errands at the same time. This, as
previously noted, is usually a fault in management on the part of the
teacher. The larger part of these interruptions can just as well be
saved by a little foresight and firmness.
Some teachers even leave the class which they are hearing to answer
questions or give help to pupils in the school who have not been
trained to wait for their requests until the class is dismissed.
Usually, only a very small percentage of these questions should have
been asked at all, or would have been with the proper management of
the school. And all the necessary questions and requests should almost
without exception be held for the interval between recitations. The
school should be taught that nothing short of the direst necessity
will warrant asking a question or making a request during a
recitation.
Likewise in the case of misdemeanors. The class which is reciting
should not be interrupted for minor misdemeanors which occur during
the recitation. This does not mean that the misdemeanor is to go by
unnoticed. On the contrary, the settlement for it may be all the more
severe for having to wait until the class is dismissed.
_d. Physical distractions._--Distractions from the physical
environment may be of several kinds.
Not infrequently, especially in the older schoolhouses, the seats are
so placed with reference to windows that the light strikes the eyes of
the pupils, instead of the pages of the books; or it may be that a
stray sunbeam strikes athwart the class and dazzles the eyes. It need
hardly be suggested that no such distraction as this should go
unremedied.
In the rural schools the recitation seats are often near the stove,
where the temperature becomes unbearably hot when the stove must be
generously fired to heat the remainder of the room. Not infrequently
the ventilation is bad, and the room is filled with foul air, from
which the major part of the oxygen has been exhausted. No matter how
good the intentions of the class or how zealous the teacher, such
conditions will kill the recitation.
Whatever may be the cause of physical discomfort or unrest should be
remedied. One's body should be so comfortable and healthy that it does
not attract attention to itself, except when needing food or other
care, and it is the duty of the school to do all possible to bring
this condition about.
2. _Interest and enthusiasm_
Interest is the foundation of all mental activity. Its very nature is
to lead to thought and action. Grown ardent, interest becomes
enthusiasm, "without which," says Emerson, "nothing great was ever
accomplished." On the other hand, the absence of interest leaves the
pupil lifeless and inert mentally, his work a bore and achievement
impossible. Interest is, therefore, a first consideration in the
recitation.
Interest is contagious. No one ever saw an interested and enthusiastic
teacher with a dull and lifeless class. Nor can interest and
enthusiasm on the part of a class continue in the presence of a
mechanical and lifeless teacher. The teacher is the model, and he sets
the standard and pace for his class. Unconsciously the pupils come,
under the influence of the teacher's personality, to reflect his type
of mind and attitude toward the work of the school. The teacher's
interest and vivacity in the recitation depend on many factors, some
of which are largely under his own control.
_a. The teacher's command of the subject-matter of the recitation._--A
teacher whose grasp of the lesson is doubtful, who does not feel sure
that he is a master of all its points, who fears that questions may be
asked that he cannot answer or points raised that he cannot explain,
can hardly possess an attitude of true interest toward the recitation.
His mind is too full of worry and strain and embarrassment. He lacks
the sense of ease and freedom which comes from a feeling of mastery.
Command of the subject-matter of the recitation depends, _first_ on
the teacher's general mastery of the branch, and, _second_, on being
freshly prepared upon it. It behooves every young teacher, therefore,
to strive for mastery as he teaches.
But no matter how good the preliminary preparation, this cannot take
the place of the fresh daily review, which gives the mind a new
readiness and grasp on the subject. Let the teachers who feel that
their recitations are slow and dull, seek the cause first of all in
their own lack of preparation in one of the two lines mentioned.
_b. The teacher's attitude toward his work._--If the teacher looks
upon teaching as a mechanical process; if he looks on the recitation
as "hearing the class recite"; if he realizes nothing of the
opportunities and responsibilities connected with teaching children,
then he can command little interest and no enthusiasm. If, on the
other hand, teaching is to the teacher a joy; if he loves to watch the
minds of children unfold; if he rejoices in his opportunities and
responsibilities as a teacher, then he is sure to develop an interest
which will soon intensify with enthusiasm.
_c. The teacher's health._--All have experienced the mental depression
and lack of interest in things which comes from over-fatigue. The most
interesting occupation palls on us when we are fagged, or when our
vitality is low from derangement of health. A case of indigestion may
sweep us out of our usual cheery mood into a mood of discouragement
and pessimism. Frayed nerves and an ill-nourished or exhausted brain
are fatal to enthusiasm.
Teaching is found to be a very trying occupation on the general
health, and particularly on the nervous system. Many girls break down
or develop a chronic nervous trouble in a few years in the schoolroom.
The combined work and worry prove too much for their strength; and not
infrequently, also, the teacher who boards and carries a cold luncheon
to school fails to secure the right kind of food. This is especially
true in the rural schools. Farmers have enough to eat, but often the
food suitable for men engaged in heavy manual labor is wholly unsuited
for one who works with the brain and does not have a large amount of
out-door exercise.
Nor do teachers always secure enough pure air. The air of schoolrooms
is usually vitiated to such a degree that one on coming in from the
out-door air can detect a foul odor. But the air of a room ceases to
be fit to breathe long before an odor can be detected from its
impurities.
These are some of the chief factors which are proving so fatal to the
health of many of our teachers, and to interest and enthusiasm on the
part of the teacher in his work. Both for the sake of his health and
his work, every teacher should seek to control these three factors as
far as possible. Strain and worry and wear of nerves can be greatly
lessened by careful planning of work, by good organization and careful
management, and by exercise of the will to prohibit worry over matters
large or small when worry will not help solve them. The teacher can in
some degree determine what food he will eat, even if it means a change
of boarding-place. And surely every teacher can control the supply of
fresh air for the schoolroom and his bedroom, and this is perhaps the
most important of all.
_d. Experience._--The young teacher, without experience, may from
sheer embarrassment and lack of mastery fail to show the enthusiasm
which he feels, for embarrassment of any kind and enthusiasm do not
thrive well together. But if the teacher is really fundamentally
interested in his teaching, the enthusiasm will soon come. And better
a thousand times the young teacher who is earnestly fighting for
freedom and mastery in the recitation, than the old teacher who has
grown wearied of the routine and has made out of the recitation a
machine process.
3. _Well-mastered lessons_
Probably the worst of all drawbacks to good recitations is poorly
prepared lessons. One of the greatest criticisms to which our
educational system is open is that teachers try to teach and pupils
try to recite lessons which are badly or indifferently prepared by
both. There is nothing more stupefying to the mind, or more fatal to
interest in school work than the halting, stumbling, ineffective
recitations heard in many schools. Teachers who try to teach lessons
with which they are not thoroughly familiar are but blind leaders of
the blind, and both they and their pupils are sure to fall into the
ditch.
_a. Preparation by the teacher._--The teacher is the key to the
situation. If he himself lacks in preparation, he can neither lead nor
compel his pupils to the preparation of their lessons. He sets the
standard. A stream does not rise higher than its source.
The teacher's preparation has two different aspects: (1) The general
fundamental knowledge of the subject as a whole obtained by previous
study; and (2) the daily preparation by study, thought, or reading for
the recitation.
In general it is safe to say that teachers enter upon their vocation
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 coöperation_
Much depends on the spirit with which class and teacher enter upon the
recitation. If the spirit of coöperation 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 coöperation 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 coöperation 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
coöperation 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 coöperation, 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
Andress's The Teaching of Hygiene in the Grades
Atwood's The Theory and Practice of the Kindergarten
Bailey's Art Education
Betts's New Ideals In Rural Schools
Betts's The Recitation
Bloomfield's Vocational Guidance of Youth
Cabot's Volunteer Help to the Schools
Cole's Industrial Education in the Elementary School
Cooley's Language Teaching in the Grades
Cubberley's Changing Conceptions of Education
Cubberley's The Improvement of Rural Schools
Dewey's Interest and Effort in Education
Dewey's Moral Principles in Education
Dooley's The Education of the Ne'er-Do-Well
Earhart's Teaching Children to Study
Eliot's Education for Efficiency
Eliot's Concrete and Practical In Modern Education
Emerson's Education
Evans's The Teaching of High School Mathematics
Fairchild's The Teaching of Poetry in the High School
Fiske's The Meaning of Infancy
Freeman's The Teaching of Handwriting
Haliburton and Smith's Teaching Poetry in the Grades
Hartwell's The Teaching of History
Haynes's Economics in the Secondary School
Hill's The Teaching of Civics
Horne's The Teacher as Artist
Hyde's The Teacher's Philosophy
Jenkins's Reading in the Primary Grades
Judd's The Evolution of a Democratic School System
Kendall and Stryker's History in the Elementary Grades
Kilpatrick's The Montessori System Examined
Leonard's English Composition as a Social Problem
Lewis's Democracy's High School
Maxwell's The Observation of Teaching
Maxwell's The Selection of Textbooks
Meredith's The Educational Bearings of Modern Psychology
Palmer's Ethical and Moral Instruction in the Schools
Palmer's Self-Cultivation in English
Palmer's The Ideal Teacher
Palmer's Trades and Professions
Perry's Status of the Teacher
Prosser's The Teacher and Old Age
Russell's Economy in Secondary Education
Smith's Establishing Industrial Schools
Snedden's The Problem of Vocational Education
Stockton's Project Work in Education
Stratton's Developing Mental Power
Suzzallo's The Teaching of Primary Arithmetic
Suzzallo's The Teaching of Spelling
Swift's Speech Defects in School Children
Terman's The Teacher's Health
Thorndike's Individuality
Tuell's The Study of Nations
Weeks's The People's School
* * * * *
RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION
_General Educational Theory_
AVERILL: Psychology for Normal Schools
FREEMAN: Experimental Education
FREEMAN: How Children Learn
FREEMAN: The Psychology of the Common Branches
PERRY: Discipline as a School Problem
SMITH: An Introduction to Educational Sociology
THOMAS: Training for Effective Study
WADDLE: An Introduction to Child Psychology
_History of Education_
CUBBERLEY: The History of Education
CUBBERLEY: A Brief History of Education
CUBBERLEY: Readings in the History of Education
CUBBERLEY: Public Education in the United States
_Administration and Supervision of Schools_
AYRES, WILLIAMS, WOOD: Healthful Schools
CUBBERLEY: Public School Administration
CUBBERLEY: Rural Life and Education
HOAG AND TERMAN: Health Work in the Schools
MONROE: Introduction to the Theory of Educational Measurements
MONROE: Measuring the Results of Teaching
MONROE, DEVOSS, KELLY: Educational Tests and Measurements
NUTT. The Supervision of Instruction
RUGG: Statistical Methods Applied to Education
SEARS: Classroom Organization and Control
SHOWALTER: A Handbook for Rural School Officers
TERMAN: The Hygiene of the School Child
TERMAN: The Measurement of Intelligence
TERMAN: The Intelligence of School Children
_Methods of Teaching_
BOLENIUS: Teaching Literature in the Grammar Grades and High School
KENDALL, MIRICK: How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects
KENDALL, MIRICK: How to Teach the Special Subjects
STONE: Silent and Oral Reading
TRAFTON: The Teaching of Science in the Elementary School
WOOFTER: Teaching in Rural Schools
_Secondary Education_
BRIGGS: The Junior High School
INGLIS: Principles of Secondary Education
SNEDDEN: Problems of Secondary Education
THOMAS: The Teaching of English in the Secondary School
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
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