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diff --git a/14577-0.txt b/14577-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c005c97 --- /dev/null +++ b/14577-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1750 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14577 *** + +THE TEACHING OF HISTORY + +by + +ERNEST C. HARTWELL, M.A. + +Superintendent of Schools, Petoskey, Mich. + +Riverside Educational Monographs +Edited by Henry Suzzallo +Professor of the Philosophy of Education +Teachers College, Columbia University + +Houghton Mifflin Company +Boston, New York and Chicago +The Riverside Press Cambridge + +1913 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + + I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS + + II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE + +III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON + + IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION + + V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW + + VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS + +VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS + +OUTLINE + + + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + + +This volume is offered as a guide to history teachers of the high school +and the upper grammar grades. It is directly concerned with the teaching +methods to be employed in the history period. The author assumes the +limiting conditions that surround classroom instruction of the present +day; he also takes for granted the teacher's sympathy with modern aims +in history instruction. All discussions of purpose and content are +therefore subordinated to a clear presentation of the details of +effective teaching technique. + +The reader into whose hands this volume falls will be deeply interested +in the ideals of teaching implied in the concrete suggestions given in +the following pages, for after all the value of any system of special +methods rests, not merely on its apparent and immediate psychological +effectiveness, but also on the social purposes which it is devised to +serve. It must be recognized at the outset that history has a social +purpose. However much university teaching may be interested in truth for +its own sake, an interest necessarily basic to the service of all other +ends, the teaching of the lower public schools must take into account +the relevancy of historical fact to current and future problems which +concern men and women engaged in the common social life. So the +elementary and secondary school teachers of the more progressive sort +recognize that the way in which historical truths are selected and +related to one another determines two things: (1) Whether our group +experiences as interpreted in history will have any intelligent effect +upon men's appreciations of current social difficulties, and (2) whether +history will make a more vital appeal to youth at school. + +Certainly children, whose interests arise not alone from their innate +impulses, but also from the world in which they have lived from the +beginning, will be eager to know the past that is of dominant concern to +the present. It is clear gain in the psychology of instruction if +history is a socially live thing. The children will be more eager to +acquire knowledge; they will hold it longer, because it is significant; +and they will keep it fresh after school days are over because life will +recall and review pertinent knowledge again and again. There can be no +separation between the dominant social interests of community life and +effective pedagogical procedure; the former in large part determines the +latter. + +Such educational reforms in history teaching as have already won +acceptance confirm the existence of this vital relation between current +social interests and the learning process. The barren learning of names +and dates has long since been supplanted by a study of sequences among +events. The technical details of wars and political administrations have +given way to a study of wide economic and social movements in which +battles and laws are merely overt results reinforcing the current of +change. History, once a self-inclosed school discipline, has undergone +an intellectual expansion which takes into account all the aspects of +life which influence it, making geographical, economic, and biographical +materials its aids. All these and many other minor changes attest the +fact that a vital mode of instruction always tends to accompany that +view of history which regards the study of the past as a revelation of +real social life. + +The author's suggestions will, therefore, be of distinct value to at +least two groups of history teachers. Those who believe in the larger +uses of history teaching, so much argued of late, will find here the +procedures that will express the ideals and obtain the results they +seek. Those who are not yet ready to accept modern doctrine, but who +feel a keen discontent with the older procedure, will find in these +pages many suggestions that will appeal to them as worthy of +experimental use. It may be that the successful use of many methods here +suggested may be the easy way for them to come into an acceptance of the +larger principles of current educational reform. + + + + +THE TEACHING OF HISTORY + +I + +SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS + + +_Assumptions as to the teacher of history_ + +This monograph will make no attempt to analyze the personality of the +ideal teacher. It is assumed that the teacher of history has an adequate +preparation to teach his subject, that he is in good health, and that +his usefulness is unimpaired by discontent with his work or cynicism +about the world. It is presupposed that he understands the wisdom of +correlating in his instruction the geography, social progress, and +economic development of the people which his class are studying. He is +aware that the pupil should experience something more than a +kaleidoscopic view of isolated facts. He recognizes the folly of +requiring four years of high school English for the purpose of +cultivating clear, fluent, and accurate expression, only to relax the +effort when the student comes into the history class. He knows that the +precision, logic, and habit of definite thinking exacted by the pursuit +of the scientific subjects should not be laid aside when the student +attempts to trace the rise of nations. Let us go so far as to assume a +teacher who is both pedagogical and practical; scholarly without being +musty; imbued with a love for his subject and yet familiar with actual +human experience. + + +_Actual conditions confronted by the teacher_ + +There are from one hundred and eighty to two hundred recitation periods +of forty-five minutes each, minus the holidays, opening exercises, +athletic mass meetings, and other respites, in which to teach a thousand +years of ancient history, twenty centuries of English history, or the +story of our own people. The age of the student will be from thirteen to +eighteen. His judgment is immature; his knowledge of books, small; his +interest, far from zealous. He will have three other subjects to prepare +and his time is limited. Also, he is a citizen of the Republic and by +his vote will shortly influence, for good or ill, the destinies of the +nation. + +The purpose of this monograph is to discuss the means by which the +teacher can engender in this student a genuine enthusiasm for the +subject, stimulate research and historical judgment, correlate history, +geography, literature, and the arts, cultivate proper ideals of +government, establish a habit of systematic note-taking, and possibly +prepare the student for college entrance examinations. + + + + +II + +HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE + + +Very obviously each moment of the child's time and preparation should be +wisely directed. Each recitation should perform its full measure of +usefulness, in testing, drilling, and teaching. There will be no time +for valueless note-taking, duplication of map-book work, ambiguous or +foolish questioning, aimless argument, or junketing excursions. + + +_What should be done on the day of enrollment_ + +The day that the child enrolls in class should begin his assigned work. +In the first ten minutes of the first meeting of the class, while the +teacher is collecting the enrollment cards, he should also gather some +data as to his students' previous work in history. This information will +be of considerable assistance to the teacher in letting him know what he +may reasonably expect of his new pupils. The class should not depart +without a definite assignment for the next day. Let the preparation for +the first recitation consist in answering such questions as:-- + + 1. What is the name of the text you are to use? (Know its precise + title.) + + 2. What is the name, reputation, and position of the author? + + 3. Of what other books is he the author? + + 4. Read the preface of the book. + + 5. What do you think are the purposes of the subject you are about + to take up? + + 6. Give the titles and authors of other books on the same period of + history. + + 7. What has been your method of study in other courses of history? + + +_What should be done at the first meeting of the class_ + +On the second day when the class assembles, let as many of the students +as possible be sent to the board to answer questions on the day's +assignment. The pupil will immediately discover that the teacher +purposes to hold the class strictly responsible for the preparation of +assigned work. The teacher will face a class prepared to ask intelligent +questions about the course they are entering upon. The class will +discover that work is to begin at once. The inertia of the vacation will +be immediately overcome. + + +_Necessity for definite instruction in methods of preparing a lesson_ + +Having secured, by class discussion and the work at the board, +satisfactory answers to the first six questions, and having assigned the +lesson for the next day, the remainder of the hour and, if necessary, +the rest of the week should be spent in outlining for the student a +method of study. That very few students of high school age possess +habits of systematic study, needs no discussion. In spite of all that +their grade teachers may have done for them, their tendency is to pass +over unfamiliar words, allusions, and expressions, without troubling to +use a dictionary. The average high school student will not read the fine +print at the bottom of the page, or use a map for the location of places +mentioned in the text without special instruction to do so. He will set +himself no unassigned tasks in memory work. It is the first business of +the good instructor to teach the student _how_ to study. The first step +in this process is to impress on the student's mind that systematic +preparation in the history class is as necessary as in Latin, physics, +or geometry. Then let the following or similar instructions be given +him:-- + + 1. Provide yourself with an envelope of small cards or pieces of + note paper. Label each with the subject of the lesson and the + date of its preparation. These envelopes should be always at + hand during your study and preparation. They should be preserved + and filed from day to day. + + 2. Read the lesson assigned for the day in the textbook, including + all notes and fine print. + + 3. Write on a sheet of note paper all the unfamiliar words, + allusions, or expressions. Later, look these up in the + dictionary or other reference. + + 4. Record the dates which you think worthy to be remembered. + + 5. Discover and make a note of all the apparent contradictions, + inconsistencies, or inaccuracies in the author's statements. + + 6. Use the map for all the places mentioned in the lesson. Be able + to locate them when you come to class. + + 7. In nearly every text there is a list of books for library use, + given at the beginning or end of each chapter. Make yourself + familiar with this bibliography. + + 8. Read the special questions assigned for the day by the teacher. + + 9. Go to the library. If the book for which you are in search is + not to be found, try another. + + 10. Learn to use an index. If the topic for which you are looking + does not appear in the index, try looking for the same thing + under another name; or under some related topic. + + 11. Having found the material in one book, use more than one if + your time permits. When you feel that you have secured the + material which will make a complete answer to the question, + _write the answer on one of your cards for keeping notes._ + + 12. Remember that the teacher will ask constantly _what_ was done, + _when_ was it done, and, most important of all, _why_ it was + done. Make a list of the questions which you think most likely + to be asked on the lesson and ascertain whether you can answer + them without the use of your notes or text. + + 13. If possible practice your answers aloud. It will make you the + more ready when called on in class. + + 14. Keep a list of things which are not clear to you and about + which you wish to ask questions. + + 15. Before completing your preparation, read over these instructions + and be sure that you have complied with them. + + +It may be claimed that no high school student can be expected to follow +such instructions and that to secure such a daily preparation is +impossible; in answer to which it must be admitted that merely a +perfunctory talk on methods of preparation will accomplish little. If +the instruction just suggested is to bear fruit, the teacher must take +pains to see that it is followed. Carefully to prepare his lesson +according to a definite plan must become a _habit_ with the student. +Facility, accuracy, and thoroughness are impossible otherwise. Haphazard +methods are wasteful of time and unproductive of results. The teacher +can afford to emphasize method during the first few weeks of the course. +The time thus spent in assisting the pupil to develop definite habits of +study will pay rich dividends for the remainder of the student's life. +Daily inquiry as to the method of study pursued, frequent examination of +the student's notes, questions on the important dates selected, the +books used for preparation, new words discovered, and so on, will keep +the importance of the plan before the class and do much to foster the +habit of systematic preparation. + + +_The question of note-taking_ + +On the question of notebook work, there will always be a considerable +difference of opinion. It is much easier to state what notebook work +should not be than to outline precisely how it should be conducted. +Certainly it should not be overdone. It should not be an exercise +usurping time disproportionate to its value. It should not be required +primarily for exhibition purposes, although such notes as are kept +should be kept neatly and spelled correctly. + +Students should be encouraged to keep their envelope of note paper +always at hand during recitation and while reading. The habit of jotting +down facts, opinions, statistics, comparisons, and contradictions _while +they are being read_ is most desirable and worthy of cultivation. The +student should be taught the wisdom of keeping his notes in a neat, +legible, and easily available form. Shorthand methods should be +discouraged. With a little tactful direction early in the year, the +student may be led to form a most useful habit. The greater the +proportion of intelligent note-taking that is done without compulsion, +the better. No more notes should be _required_ than the teacher can +honestly look over, correct, and grade. It is better to require no notes +at all than to accept careless, superficial inaccuracies as honest work. +One curse of high school history teaching is the tendency of young +teachers trained in college history classes to assign more work than the +student can honestly do or the teacher properly correct. + +As has already been intimated, history notes should not be kept in a +book. The required notes should be kept on separate sheets of paper. The +topics should be clearly indicated at the top of each sheet. The +authorities used in arriving at the answer should always be given, with +the volume, chapter, and page. The notes on related topics should be put +into an envelope and properly labeled. After the recitation the student +can make any necessary corrections in his notes without spoiling their +appearance. He will simply substitute a new sheet for the old. If the +teacher discovers in his periodic examination of the notes that some of +the matter asked for has not been properly covered or that errors have +not been corrected, the notes needing revision can be detained for use +in a conference with the student, while the others are returned. If at +any time after completing his high school work the student desires to +use the data contained in his notes or to add to them matter which he +may later read, they are in available form. For convenience and +neatness, for present use, and future reference this device is far +superior to the formal notebook. It has the further advantage of +accustoming the student to the method of note-taking which will be +required of those who go to college. + +It would save much valuable time, at present frequently wasted in +writing useless notes, if the teacher constantly squared his notebook +requirements with questions such as these:-- + + 1. Is the notebook work as I am conducting it calculated to develop + the habit of critical reading? + + 2. Does the time spent in writing up notes justify itself by fixing + in the child's mind new and really relevant information not + given in the text? + + 3. Is it teaching students to combine facts, opinions, and + statistics, to form conclusions really their own? + + 4. Is the amount of work required reasonable when it is remembered + that the child has three other subjects to prepare, that he is + from thirteen to eighteen years of age, and more or less + unfamiliar with a library? + + 5. Am I able carefully and punctually to correct all the notes + required? + +Whatever the method the teacher thinks best to be used should be +explained early in the course and thereafter the student should be held +scrupulously responsible for such requirements as are made. + + +_Instruction in the use of the library and indexes_ + +Having discussed with the class the questions assigned on the day of +enrollment and explained the method of study recommended for their use, +it will be well for the teacher to devote some time to instruction in +the use of the library. It is possible that the older classes will +require very little of this, but there are few classes where an hour, at +least, cannot well be spent in a discussion of indexes, titles, and +relative value of the works on various subjects. This hour need not be +the regular recitation period. A session before or after school could be +devoted to the purpose. The teacher's instruction, however, will be +greatly assisted if the students are asked to prepare answers before +coming to class to such questions as the following:-- + + 1. How much previous work have you done in the library? + + 2. Of what use do you think the library should be to you in the + course you are just entering? + + 3. What is a source book? Of what use are source books? + + 4. What source books on this period of history are in the library? + + 5. What do you think will be the best references for questions on + the artistic, industrial, political, social, economic, and + military phases of the history you are about to study? + + 6. What encyclopedias and works of general reference are in your + library? + +The preparation of answers to such questions as these will present to +the student some of the difficulties inevitable to his future library +work and will send him to class prepared to ask intelligent questions. +It will enable the teacher accurately to gauge how much his students +already know about a library and its uses. + +The value and advantage of library work should be carefully explained to +the class. It is a great error to allow pupils to think of their +library work as drudgery, assigned solely to keep them busy or to make +the course difficult. There are too few boys to-day with a genuine love +of books, partly no doubt due to the fact that a reference library has +become for them, not a rich mine of interesting matter, but a +hydra-headed interrogation point. A great good has been done the student +who has been taught the pleasure of using books. Nor is such a thing +impossible. Nothing gives greater satisfaction to the normal high school +boy than to find an error in the text, the teacher's statements, or the +map. He takes pleasure in confuting the statistics or judgments quoted +in class, by others of opposite trend, encountered in his reading. He +enjoys asking keen questions. If the student is told that the library +work is for the purpose of cultivating his powers of investigation and +adding to the matter in the text many interesting details; if the +library requirements are reasonable and wisely directed; if he is given +an opportunity to _use_ the information he has gathered from his +reading, his interest in books will steadily increase. + +The teacher should explain the value of remembering accurately the +titles and the authors of books used for reference. The silly habit of +referring to an authority as "the book bound in green" or "the large +book by what's his name" is easily prevented if taken in time. + +The teacher should discover by assignments made in class what degree of +proficiency in the use of an index is already possessed by his pupils. +There are few classes where the use of an index is thoroughly +understood. Time should be taken to demonstrate the quickest possible +methods of finding what a book contains. The use of the catalogue and +card index should be carefully explained and illustrated. + +Attention should be called to the best sources on the various phases of +the history to be studied. There ought to be no poor histories in the +library, but if there are any to which the students have access, warning +should be given against their use. + +The value of periodicals and current literature for work in history +should be illustrated and the use of _Poole's Index_ and the _Readers +Guide_ explained. + +The class should be acquainted with the rules of the library and +cautioned against the misuse of books. The necessity of leaving +reference books where all the class can use them should be made +apparent. + +Direction in the use of the library, like instruction in the method of +study, is a prerequisite to the best results in high school history +classes, for no matter how conscientious the teacher, the recitation +will be deadly if the student has no working knowledge of the library +nor proper method of preparation. A class unable to ask intelligent +questions about the work is not ready for the presentation of additional +matter by the teacher. It is no difficult matter for a teacher to +entertain his class for an hour with interesting incidents of the period +in which the lesson occurs. A history teacher who cannot talk +interestingly for an hour on any of the great periods of history has +surely missed his calling. But to keep a class quiet, to retain their +attention, to amuse and entertain, is far from making history vital. If +the recitation is to be really vital, the students must do most of the +talking, the criticizing, and the questioning. There can be none of +these worth while without proper preparation. + + + + +III + +THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON + + +_Careful assignment will reveal to the student the relation of geography +and history_ + +The recitation can never hope to achieve its maximum helpfulness unless +the lesson be intelligently assigned. The work required must be +reasonable in amount, and not so exacting as to discourage interest. +Daily direction to look up unfamiliar words, expressions, and allusions +must be given until the habit becomes fixed. Warning against possible +geographical misconceptions should be given when necessary, together +with directions to use the map for places, routes, and boundaries. A few +questions asked in advance, with the purpose of bringing out the +relation of the geography to the history in the lesson, will be of great +assistance. For example, if the class are to study the Louisiana +Purchase, the full significance of that revolutionary event will be made +much clearer if the student is asked to prepare answers before coming to +class to such questions as the following:-- + + 1. What States are included in the purchase? + + 2. What is its area? How does it compare with the area of the + original thirteen States? + + 3. What geographical reasons caused Napoleon to sell it? + + 4. What influence did the purchase have on our retention of the + territory east of the Mississippi? Why? + + 5. How many people live to-day in the territory included in the + purchase? + + +_His power of analysis and criticism will be stimulated_ + +A lesson should be so assigned that the student will read the text with +his eye critically open to inconsistencies, contradictions, and +inaccuracies. With a text of six hundred pages, and with a hundred and +eighty recitations in which to cover them, it is not too much to expect +that the average of three or four pages daily shall be studied so +thoroughly that the student can analyze and summarize each day's lesson. +The teacher should not make such analysis in advance of the recitation, +but he should so assign the lesson that the student will be prepared to +give one when he comes to class. A word in advance by the teacher will +prompt the student who is studying the American Revolution, to classify +its causes as direct and indirect, economic and political, social and +religious. There is no difficulty in finding good authorities who +disagree as to the effect on America of the English trade restrictions. +Callendar's _Economic History of the United States_ quotes five of the +best authorities on this point, and covers the case in a few pages. A +reference by the teacher to this or some other authority will bring out +a lively discussion on the justice of the American resistance. Let the +class be asked to account for the colonial opposition to the Townshend +Acts, when the Stamp Act Congress had declared that the regulation of +the Colonies' external trade was properly within the powers of +Parliament. Let the class be asked to explain a statement that the +Declaration of Independence does not mention the real underlying causes +of the Revolution. A few suggestions and advanced questions of this sort +will stimulate a critical analysis of the statements in the text, and +send the student to class keen for an intelligent discussion. + +Ordinarily, when a class is averaging three or four pages of the text +daily, it is an error for the teacher to point out in advance certain +dates and statistics that need not be memorized. Such selection should +be left to the student. During the recitation the teacher will discover +what dates, statistics, and other matter the student has selected as +worthy to be memorized, and if correction is necessary it may then be +made. It dulls the edge of the pupil's enthusiasm to be told in advance +that some of the text is not worthy to be remembered. Furthermore such +instruction does nothing to develop the student's sense of historical +proportion, for it substitutes the judgment of the teacher for that of +the pupil. + +Advance questions asking explanation of statements made in the text, or +by other authors dealing with the same period, insure that the lesson +will be read understandingly and that the author's statements will be +carefully analyzed. Such declarations as the following are illustrations +of statements whose explanation might profitably be required in +advance:-- + + 1. "The Constitution was extracted by necessity from a reluctant + people." + + 2. "Oregon was a make-weight for Texas." + + 3. "The greatest evil of slavery was that it prevented the South + from accumulating capital." + + 4. "The day that France possesses New Orleans we must marry + ourselves to the British fleet." + + 5. "The cause of free labor won a substantial triumph in the + Missouri Compromise." + + 6. "The second war with England was not one of necessity, policy, + or interest on the part of the Americans; it was rather one of + party prejudice and passion." + + +_The conditions in other countries will add to his comprehension of the +facts in the lesson_ + +In so far as the next lesson requires an understanding of the history or +conditions of another country, the attention of the class should be +directed in advance to such necessity. Special references or brief +reports may be advisable. A few well-selected advance questions will +send the class to recitation prepared to discuss what otherwise the +teacher must explain. A few questions on the character of James II, his +ideals of government, the chief causes of the revolution of 1688, and +its most important results will do much to explain the colonial +resistance to Andros. A few questions designed to bring out the +imperative necessity of English resistance to Napoleon will make clear +the hostile commercial decrees, impressment, and interference with the +rights of neutral ships. Such questions reduce the necessity of +explanation by the teacher to a minimum. + + +_His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged_ + +If the teacher expects the class to deal more intensively than the text +with the matters discussed in the lesson, a few advance questions will +be of great assistance. Suppose, for example, that the text contents +itself with saying that for political reasons the first United States +Bank was not rechartered, and shortly after informs the reader that the +second United States Bank was rechartered because the State banks had +suspended specie payments. The student may or may not be curious about +the failure of the first bank to receive a new charter, the operation of +State banks, or why they suspended payment in 1814. If he has been +properly taught, he probably will be, but if the teacher wishes to +discuss these considerations in detail at the next recitation it will be +infinitely better to have the facts contributed by the class than for +the teacher to do the reciting. It is quite possible that the individual +answers to advance questions assigned with such a purpose will be +incomplete, but the interest of the class will be incalculably greater +if they themselves furnish the bulk of the additional matter required. +Collectively the class will usually secure complete answers to +reasonable questions. The teacher has his opportunity in supplying such +important facts as the students fail to find. + +Until the student may reasonably be expected to know the books of the +library having to do with his subject, the teacher in giving out an +advance lesson should mention by author and title the books most helpful +in the preparation of assigned questions; otherwise the student in a +perfectly sincere effort to do the work assigned may spend an hour in +search of the proper book. + +It may be urged that this search is a valuable experience, but it is +obviously too costly. As the year advances and the pupil learns more and +more about the uses of books and methods of investigation increasingly +less specific instruction as to sources should be given by the teacher. +Early in the year, with four lessons to prepare daily, the pupil cannot +afford an hour simply to search for a book. He needs that hour for +preparation of other work, and if by some fortunate conjunction of +circumstances his other work is not sufficiently exacting to require it, +he cannot hope to appear in history class with a well-prepared lesson +if an hour of his time has been spent in simply looking for a book. + +It is frequently worth while to spend a few minutes of the recitation in +characterizing the epoch in which the events of the lesson take place or +in listening to a brief character sketch of the men contributing to +these events. Care should of course be taken that biography does not +usurp the place of history, but it materially adds to the interest of +the recitation if the kings, generals, and statesmen cease to be merely +historical characters and become human beings. + + +_His acquaintance with the great men and women of history will be +vitalized_ + +It is needless to say that characterizations of men or epochs should not +be assigned without instruction as to how they should be prepared. In +the case of a great historical character, what is needed for class +purposes is not a biography with the dry facts of birth, marriage, +death, etc. The report should be brief, but bristling with adjectives +supported in each case by at least one fact of the man's life. These may +be selected from his personal appearance, private life, amusements, +education, obstacles overcome, public services, political sagacity, or +military prowess. The sketch may close with a few brief estimates by +biographers or historians of his proper place in history. + +If a characterization of a period of history is to be required, the +teacher should explain that such a characterization should be an +exercise in the selection of brief statements of fact reflecting the +ideals, institutions, and conditions of the period being described. From +histories, source books, fiction, and literature, let the student select +facts illustrating such things as the spirit of the laws, conditions at +court, public education, amusements of the people, social progress, +position of religion, etc. A little time spent in characterizing a +period of history and a few of its great men will assist in changing the +recital of the bare facts given in the text to an intelligent +understanding of conditions and a vital discussion of events. For +instance, the ordinary high school text, in dealing with the French and +Indian war, speaks briefly of the lack of English success during the +early part of the struggle and then says that with the coming of Pitt to +the ministry the whole course of events was changed because of the great +statesman's wonderful personality. The teacher who wishes to make such a +dramatic circumstance really vital to his class must have more +information with which to work. A picture of the coarse, vulgar England +with its incompetent army and navy, apathetic church, and corrupt +government, followed by a stirring character sketch of the great Pitt, +will cost but a few minutes of the recitation and will metamorphose a +moribund attention to a vital interest. + +Care should be taken that the characterizations given in class be +properly prepared. To this end it will be well to assign the preparation +of these sketches at least a week in advance, at the same time arranging +a conference with the student a day or two before the recitation. In +this conference the teacher should make such corrections in the pupil's +method of preparation and selection of matter as seem necessary. The +characterizations should not be read, but delivered by the student +facing the class, precisely for the moment as though he were the +teacher. Future tests and examinations should hold the class responsible +for the facts thus presented. If, as is too often the case in work of +this sort, the student giving the report is the sole beneficiary of the +exercise, the time required is disproportionate to the benefit derived. + + +_He will correlate the past and the present_ + +If there are facts recounted in the lesson that may be clinched in the +student's mind by showing the relation of those facts to present-day +conditions or institutions, a few advance questions calculated to bring +out this relationship may well be assigned. + +It is generally conceded that one chief purpose of history instruction +is to enable us to interpret the present and the future in the light of +the past, but it all too often happens that current history is forgotten +in the recital of facts that are centuries old. Candidates for teachers' +certificates in their examinations in United States history show far +less knowledge about the great problems and events of the present day +than they do of colonial history. The student in English history in our +high schools to-day knows all about the Domesday Book, but almost +nothing of the recent history of England. Quite possibly the text has +nothing to say about it, and it is equally likely that the class may +fail to cover the text and miss the little that is actually given. No +opportunity should be missed to indicate the bearing of the past on +present-day conditions. Even if the events of the lesson exert no direct +influence on affairs to-day, their significance may be brought home to +the student by an illustration from current history. The account of the +Black Death gives excellent occasion for a brief discussion of modern +sanitation and the war on the White Plague. The efforts of Parliament to +fix wages can be illustrated by some of the minimum wage laws passed by +recent legislatures. John Ball's teachings suggest a brief discussion of +modern socialism, daily becoming more active in its influence. The +medieval trade guilds and modern labor unions; the monopolies of +Elizabeth's time and the anti-trust law of to-day; George the Third's +two hundred capital crimes and modern methods of penology; the jealousy +of Athens in guarding the privilege of citizenship and the facility with +which immigrants at present become American citizens are only a few +illustrations, indicating the ease with which the past and the present +may be correlated. + + +_He will be required to memorize a limited amount of matter verbatim_ + +In assigning a lesson it is sometimes desirable to require certain +matter to be learned _verbatim_. In American history the Preamble to the +Constitution, the principles of government contained in the Declaration +of Independence, the essential doctrine in the Virginia and Kentucky +Resolutions, certain clauses of the Constitution, and extracts from +other historical documents may well be required to be memorized +accurately. It is scarcely to be supposed that the student can improve +on the clarity and definiteness of the English in such documents. He is +expected to understand the principles which they assert. He may well be +required to train his memory to accuracy by learning certain assignments +_verbatim_. If memory work received a little more attention in our high +schools to-day, we should be less likely to hear the statement of a +political creed neutralized by the omission of an important word. We +should be less likely to see the classic words of Lincoln mangled beyond +recognition by messy misquotation. + +The assignment of advance questions such as have been suggested +possesses several advantages. It makes it possible for the teacher to +hold the class responsible for definite preparation, very much as the +teacher in algebra is able to do with the problems assigned in advance. +It forces the students to do most of the talking. It encourages an +intelligent use of the library in a manner calculated to develop the +student's powers of investigation. If the pupil forgets most of his +history, but retains the ability to investigate carefully, thoroughly, +and critically, the plan has more than justified itself. The plan +enables the teacher to spend his time in explanation of what the pupil +has been unable to do for herself, and thus effects a considerable +saving in time. It would be interesting to secure a statement of how +much of the teacher's time is ordinarily spent in doing for the student +in recitation what he should have done for himself before coming to +class. It substitutes for the pupil's snap judgment, given without much +thought and too frequently influenced by the inflection of the teacher's +voice, an opinion that has resulted from research and deliberation +unbiased by the teacher's personal views. + +It is too much to expect high school pupils to solve historical problems +extemporaneously. If inferences and contrasts other than those given in +the text are to be drawn, if statements are to be defended or opposed, +the high school student should be given time to prepare his answer. +Aside from the injustice of any other procedure, it is a hopeless waste +of time to spend the precious minutes of the recitation in gathering +negative replies and worthless judgments. + + +_Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance_ + +It may be urged that such an assignment of a lesson as that proposed is +too ambitious and that it exacts too much of the teacher's time. In +answer it should be said that specialists in history ought surely to +have read widely enough and studied deeply enough to be _able_ to select +intelligent questions of the sort suggested. We have assumed that the +teacher has made adequate preparation for his work. Certainly, then, he +should be ready to explain the social, geographical, and economic +relation of the events mentioned in the lesson. He should know their +bearing on current history. He should always have ready a fund of +information, additional to that given in the text. In preparing advance +questions for distribution to the class the teacher is preparing his own +lesson. He may be doing it a day or two earlier than he would otherwise +do, but surely he is performing no labor additional to what may +reasonably be expected of him. As to the time required to prepare copies +of the questions for distribution when the class convenes, it may be +said that a neostyle or mimeograph, with which all large schools and +many small ones are equipped, makes short work of preparing as many +copies of the questions as desired. If there is a commercial department +in connection with the school, an available stenographer, or a willing +student helper, the teacher may easily relieve himself of the work of +supplying the copies. If none of these expedients are possible, it is no +Herculean task to write each day on the board the few questions for the +next lesson. It will entail no great loss of time if the class are asked +to copy them when they first come to recitation. If it is possible to +copy them after the recitation, so much the better. And beyond the +obvious advantages of a carefully assigned lesson it must be remembered +that in the assignment of special topics, in private conferences with +the student, in the correction of notes, in giving assistance in the +library, the teacher has an opportunity to cultivate a sympathetic +relation between himself and the class of inestimable service in +securing the best results. + + + + +IV + +THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION + + +_Assumptions as to the recitation room_ + +Let us now assume that the recitation will be held in a quiet room free +from the distracting influence of poor light, poor ventilation, and +inadequate seating capacity. The blackboard space is ample for the whole +class, the erasers and chalk are at hand, the maps, charts, and globe +are where they can be used without stumbling over them. The teacher can +give his whole attention to the class. Discipline should take care of +itself. The pupil who is interested will not be seriously out of order. + + +_What the teacher should aim to accomplish_ + +The problem, then, is so to expend the forty-five minutes in which the +teacher and class are together that:-- + + 1. So far as possible the atmosphere and setting of the period + being studied may be reproduced. + + 2. The great historical characters spoken of in the lesson may + become for the student real men and women with whom he will + afterwards feel a personal acquaintance. + + 3. The events described will be understood and properly interpreted + in their relation to geography, and the economic and social + progress of the world. + + 4. Causes and effects shall be properly analyzed. + + 5. And that there shall be left sufficient time for the occasional + review necessary to any good instruction. + + +_Work at the blackboard_ + +The first five minutes may profitably be spent at the board, each member +of the class being asked to write a complete answer to one of the +assigned questions. Whatever may happen later in the recitation each +student has had at least this much of an opportunity for +self-expression, and his work should be neat, workmanlike, complete, and +accurate. By this device the alert teacher will secure in the first five +minutes of the recitation hour a fairly accurate idea of each student's +preparation, the weak spots in his understanding of the lesson, and the +errors to be corrected. He may even be able to record a grade for the +work done. + + +_Special reports_ + +The class having taken their seats, the next order of business should be +the reports on special topics assigned for the purpose of making the +period of history under discussion more interesting and vital. As has +been said, these reports should not be read, but delivered by the pupil +facing the class. The class should be encouraged to ask questions on the +report when finished and the student responsible for the report should +be expected to answer any reasonable inquiry. If other students are able +to contribute to the topics reported on, they should be encouraged to do +so. Let the teacher be sure that he has sounded the depths of the +students' information and curiosity before he himself discusses the +report. If the device of reports delivered in class is to justify +itself, the matter contained in them must be so arranged and discussed +that the whole class receives real benefit. The ingenious teacher will +be able to establish a tradition in his course for a careful preparation +and critical discussion of these reports. The rivalry of students for +excellence in this work is not difficult to stimulate. A premium should +be put on criticism which finds mentioned in the characterization +qualities inconsistent with the facts recorded in the text, or omissions +which the facts of the text seem to justify. + + +_Fundamental principles of good questioning_ + +It is not likely that the teacher will find it advisable to require +reports at every recitation nor that the reports and their discussion +will consume, at the most, longer than ten or fifteen minutes of any +class period. There must always be time for direct oral questioning on +the facts of the lesson; questioning that will test the student's +memory, ability to analyze, and powers of expression. Certain principles +are fundamental to good questioning in any recitation. + + 1. The questions should be brief. + + 2. They should be prepared by the teacher before coming to + recitation. This will insure rapidity. A vast deal of time is + lost by the unfortunate habit possessed by many teachers of + never having the next question ready to use. + + 3. They should precede the name of the pupil required to answer it. + + 4. They should not be leading questions to which the pupil can + guess the answers. + + 5. They should be grammatically stated with but one possible + interpretation. + + 6. Except for purposes of rapid review they should not be + answerable with yes or no. + + 7. They should be asked in a voice loud enough to be heard by all + the class, and only once. + + 8. They should be asked in no regular order, but nevertheless in + such a way that every member of the class will have a chance to + recite. + + + +_Some additional suggestions for teachers of history_ + +There are additional suggestions particularly applicable to the teacher +of history. + + 1. In all the questioning remember the purposes of the recitation. + Ask questions knowing exactly what you wish as an answer. There + is no time for aimless or idle questioning. + + 2. Inquire frequently as to the books used in preparation of the + lesson. Let no allusion or statement in the text go unexplained. + Let none of the author's conclusions or opinions go + unchallenged. Ask the student for inconsistencies, inaccuracies, + or contradictions in the text. Put a premium on their discovery. + Insist on the student's authority for statements other than + those given in the text. + + 3. Do not use the heavy-typed words frequently found at the head of + the paragraph or the topical heads furnished by the text, if it + can be avoided. The pupil should not be allowed to remember his + history by its location in the text. + + 4. Be sure that the class have an opportunity to recite on the + questions assigned for their advance preparation. Nothing is + more discouraging to a student than carefully to prepare the + work required and then fail of an opportunity either to recite + upon or to discuss it. + + 5. Discover the tastes, shortcomings, and abilities of your + individual students and direct your future questions + accordingly. There will usually be in the class the boy who is + glib without being accurate. He should be questioned on definite + facts. There will be the student whose analysis of events is + good, but whose powers of description are poor. Adapt your + questions to his special need. There will be the pupil with the + tendency to memorize the text _verbatim_. There will be the + student who knows the facts of the lesson, but who fails to + remember the sequence of events--the kind who never can tell + whether the Exclusion Bill came before or after the Restoration. + There will be the usual amount of specialized tastes, curiosity, + timidity, laziness, and rattle-brained thinking. The questioning + should probe these peculiarities, and stimulate the pupil's + ambition to improve his preparation at its weakest point. + Needless to say the questions should not be asked with the daily + idea of making the pupil fail. Like any other surgical + instrument the question probe should be used skillfully and with + a proper motive. It would be as great an error to bend your + questions continually away from the student's special tastes and + abilities as to be perpetually guided by them. + + 6. The bulk of the teacher's attention should be given neither to + the few exceptionally able students nor to the few very poor + pupils. It is to the average normal boy and girl that the most + of the questioning should be directed. The brilliant student + should be called on sufficiently to retain his interest and to + set a standard of excellence for the class. He should be given + the most difficult of the assignments of outside work and if + necessary an additional number of them. As to the few pupils + whom the teacher deems exceptionally poor, it may be said that + the effect of questioning should never be to discourage the + pupil who has made an honest effort at preparation. During the + early part of the course the efforts of the teacher may well be + directed to asking the backward student questions to which he + can make reasonably satisfactory answers. By saving the student + from the daily humiliation of failure before the class, and by + tactfully encouraging him to greater effort, the teacher may + shortly discover that the poor pupil is far from hopeless. + + 7. Do not allow your questions to consume a disproportionate amount + of time with details. Until very recently in all our history + teaching, battles have been exalted to a place immeasurably + greater than their importance. We are coming to see that the + fighting is one of the least important things in the war. The + causes and results, the financial, political, and social effects + now absorb our attention. One or two battles in a course may + profitably be studied in detail, particularly in the history of + our own country, but in the press of considerations far more + interesting and vital, it is a waste of time to give more than a + moment's notice to the remainder. Student descriptions of + battles are bound to be stereotyped. The ordinary textbook + describes each of the thousand battles of the world in about the + same fifty words. + + 8. Let some of the questions be directed towards cultivating the + student's powers of oral description. History is not altogether + a matter of analysis or generalization. There can scarcely be + assigned a lesson in history that does not contain events which + lend themselves to dramatic description. Their recital should be + made the occasion of the student's best efforts in this + direction. Let the pupils be taught to use adjectives and + adverbs. Break down the barrier of listlessness or fear or + self-consciousness which keeps the student from rendering a + graphic and thrilling account of great events. + + 9. Let the questions from day to day develop the continuity of + history. Avoid questioning that fails to unite the events of + previous lessons with the one being studied. Bring out the + connection of the past and the present. Slavery existed in + America for two hundred years before the Civil War was fought. + Your teaching of those two centuries of history should be so + conducted that when the Civil War is finally reached, the class + can tell the process by which anti-slavery sentiment was finally + crystallized. The hiatus between the mobbing of Garrison in + Boston and the extraordinary contribution of Massachusetts to + the Northern army should be bridged, not by a heroic question or + two when the war is finally reached, but by a daily attention to + the events which effected the metamorphosis. + + 10. If the answer to your question requires the use of a map, ask + it in such a way that the student can talk and use the map at + the same time. The geographical provisions of a treaty, the + routes of explorers, the grants of commercial companies, + campaigns, or military frontiers should all be recited in this + way. A wall map with simply the outline of the territory, with + its rivers, will be of considerable assistance in testing the + accuracy of the student's geographical knowledge. While + reciting, let him locate with chalk or pointer the cities, + arbitrary boundary lines, and routes he finds it necessary to + mention in his recitation. It will require special attention + early in the course to teach students the necessity for + preparation of this sort. Like everything else, map work should + be reasonable in its requirements. A knowledge of geography is + imperative to the correct understanding of history, and the + indifference or ignorance of teachers should never excuse + inattention to this vital necessity. On the other hand, however, + it is equally reprehensible to require of high school students + the labored preparation of maps in the drawing of which hours of + valuable time are spent in searching for places of trivial + importance and small historical value. Map work in a high school + history course should require no more than geographical accuracy + in locating boundaries, routes, and places really vital to the + history of the people being studied. If it does more than this + it usurps time disproportionate to its value. + + + + +V + +VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW + + +_The place of drill in the history recitation_ + +We have long since learned the folly of spending very many of the +minutes of a recitation in drilling students in dates, outlines, and +charts. Work of this sort never made a recitation vital; never inspired +a student with enthusiasm for historical inquiry; never really dispelled +the fog which surrounds, for the student, the cabinets and +constitutions, battles and boundaries, declarations and decrees, so +briefly treated in the text. + + +_Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence of events_ + +But it may be seriously questioned whether many teachers, in their zeal +to escape the over-emphasis of dates, have not gone to the extreme of +neglecting them altogether. That a student should remember sufficient +dates to fix in his mind the sequence of important events is hardly open +to question. That he can never do so without some special attention to +dates is equally indisputable. Without doubt, drill in important dates +is necessary, but it should be so conducted as to take but little time. +Each day the teacher has indicated the dates worthy to be remembered and +has been careful to select the landmarks of history. He has called +attention to the various collateral circumstances which might assist to +fix the dates in the child's mind. The student has kept his list of +dates in the back of his text or in some convenient place of reference. +Once a week for three minutes the teacher gives the class a rapid review +on the dates contained in the list. Occasionally the class are sent to +the board and asked to write the dates of the reigns of the English +monarchs from William down to the point which the class has reached, or +the Presidents in their order, or some other similar exercise calculated +to give a backbone to the history being studied. The class will know +that such a review is liable to be given at any time. They will endeavor +to be prepared. The result will be that with the expenditure of a few +minutes at intervals in rapid review, history will cease to be a +spineless narrative and become for the student an orderly procession of +events. Drill in dates is only one method to this end. There may be a +rapid review in battles, generals, wars, treaties, proclamations, and +inventions. Such exercises encourage the classification of facts and +stimulate fluency of expression. It is of the highest importance for the +student so to arrange in his mind what he has learned in recitation that +he can call to his command at a second's notice the fact, date, or +illustration he desires. There will be many times in his school and +college career when such an ability will be indispensable; in business +or the professions it is an invaluable asset, infinitely more useful +than the history itself. It will be well for the teacher to inquire: +"What am I doing to cultivate such an ability in my students?" + + +_They will give a view of the whole subject_ + +Few teachers will deny that too little time is spent in giving the +student a general view of the whole subject, either in its entirety or +in its various phases. The text has been studied by chapters or by +months or by movements. The history as a whole has never been seen. By +the time the student has reached the "Aldrich Currency Plan" in American +history he has forgotten all about the experiments with the first United +States Bank. He could no more outline the financial history of the +United States as given in his text than he could outline the industrial +or political history of the American people. And yet he has studied the +facts given in his textbook; he has supplemented the text by his work in +the library, and in the recitation; he has done everything that may +reasonably be expected of him, except to assemble his historical +information and review it as a whole. + +If the student in American history is asked to go to the board at +intervals and write an outline for the work covered on such topics as +the following, he will come much nearer understanding the progress of +our people:-- + + 1. History of the tariff. + + 2. Political parties and principles for which they stood. + + 3. Things that crystallized Northern sentiment against slavery. + + 4. Reasons for the unification of the South. + + 5. Diplomatic relations of the United States. + + 6. Additions of territory. + + 7. Financial legislation. + + 8. Growth of humanitarian spirit. + +There will easily be sufficient topics so that each member of the class +will have a different one. They can all work at the board, +simultaneously. The amount of time used for exercises of this sort need +not be great, and the value received is incalculable. + +If the teacher wishes to review briefly on the military, diplomatic, +social, political, or economic history of the people the class have been +studying, it is no difficult matter to arrange a set of questions, the +occasional review in which will clinch in the student's mind what +otherwise would surely be forgotten. Such questions as the following on +the financial history of the United States are each answerable with a +few words and will serve as an illustration of the method which may be +employed in reviewing any other phase of history:-- + + 1. By what means was trade accomplished before the use of money? + + 2. What are the functions of money? + + 3. What determines the amount of money needed in a country? + + 4. What has been used for money at various periods of our history? + + 5. What is meant by doing business on credit? + + 6. What is cheap money? + + 7. What is Gresham's Law? + + 8. What is the effect of large issues of paper money on prices? + + 9. What is the effect of large issues of paper money on wages? + + 10. Why does the wage-earner suffer? + + 11. At what periods in American history have large issues of paper + money been emitted? + + 12. What were the objects of the first United States Bank? + + 13. Did the bank accomplish them? + + 14. Why was it not rechartered? + + 15. When was the second United States Bank chartered? + + 16. Why? + + 17. What case decided the constitutionality of the bank? + + 18. Did the second United States Bank accomplish the purpose for + which it was formed? + + 19. Why was the second United States Bank rechartered? + + 20. What is meant by "Wildcat Banking"? + + 21. What are the dates of our greatest panics? + + 22. What were the chief causes? + + 23. What was the effect on prices? + + 24. What on wages? + + 25. Under what President was the independent treasury first + established? + + 26. Is it in existence to-day? + + 27. When were greenbacks issued? + + 28. To what amount? + + 29. Who was responsible for the issue? + + 30. Were they legal tender for private debts contracted before + their issue? + + 31. When was the Resumption Act passed? + + 32. Are the greenbacks in circulation to-day? + + 33. What is free silver? + + 34. What was the "Crime of '73"? + + 35. What was the "Bland-Allison Act"? + + 36. What was the Currency Act of 1900? + + 37. What is Bimetallism? + + 38. What is meant by "Mint Ratio"? + + 39. What is meant by "Market Ratio"? + + 40. What is meant by "Free Coinage"? + + 41. What is meant by "Gratuitous Coinage"? + + 42. What is meant by "Standard Money"? + + 43. With the market ratio at 30 to 1 and the mint ratio at 16 to 1, + which money would tend to disappear from circulation if both + metals are freely coined and made full legal tender? + + 44. Why is silver not the standard to-day? + + 45. What is the "Aldrich Plan"? + + 46. What is a United States bond? + + 47. Is it a secure investment? + + 48. What is its average rate of interest? + + 49. By whom is a national bank chartered? + + 50. May it issue paper money? + + 51. When was the first National Banking Act passed? + + 52. Why? + + 53. Why should banking business be profitable under the act? + + 54. What advantage did the Government expect to receive in passing + the act? + + 55. Are deposits guaranteed? + + 56. May States emit bills of credit? + + 57. Is it constitutional for banks chartered by the State to emit + bills of credit? + + 58. Do they do so to-day? + + 59. Why? + +Obviously as the year advances, the list of questions for review grows +longer. An increasing amount of time should therefore be devoted to work +of this sort. + + +_They will insure a better acquaintance with great men and women_ + +The most superficial observation will suffice to convince anyone that +high school graduates know very little about the great men and women of +history. The character sketches suggested earlier in the chapter, +supplemented with occasional reviews, will do much to improve this +condition. These drills may be conducted by asking for brief statements +on the greatest service or the most distinguishing characteristic of the +great men and women met with in the course. The same thing is +accomplished by reversing the process and asking such questions +as,--"Who was the American Fabius"? or "The Great Compromiser"? or the +"Sage of Menlo Park"? etc. Questions on the authorship of great +documents, the founders of institutions, the organizers of movements, +reformers, philosophers, artists, statesmen, generals, accomplish the +same purpose. + + +_They will be economical of time_ + +There are a vast number of review questions answerable with _yes_ or +_no_. The student's knowledge of the subject may be quickly discovered +and a rapid review conducted by a series of such questions. The +following list on American history will illustrate the method:-- + + 1. Was Cromwell's colonial policy helpful to the American colonies? + + 2. Did the Revolution of 1688 have any effect on the colonies? + + 3. Were the Huguenots excluded from Canada? + + 4. Were the Writs of Assistance used in England? + + 5. Did America ever have a theocracy? + + 6. Did the rule of 1756 affect the people of the colonies? + + 7. Was the Sugar Act legal? + + 8. Was there any effort to amend the Articles of Confederation? + + 9. Does funding a debt lessen it? + + 10. Did Hamilton's measures tend to centralize power? + + 11. Did the members of the Constitutional Convention exceed their + instructions? + + 12. Is a cabinet provided for in the Constitution? + + 13. Does the Constitution of the United States prevent a State from + establishing a religion? + + 14. Is it possible for a State to repudiate its debts? + + 15. Does the constitutional provision for uniform duties protect + the Territories? + + 16. Was impressment practiced in England? + + 17. Did the Whigs favor internal improvements? + + 18. Did the North favor the Force Bill of 1833? + + 19. Did Massachusetts favor the Tariff of 1816? + + 20. Did the Republican party stand for the abolition of slavery in + 1860? + + 21. Did the Emancipation Proclamation free all the slaves in the + United States? + + 22. Did the working-men of England favor the South during the Civil + War? + + 23. Was it necessary for the South to resort to the draft? + + 24. Could a man in 1860 consistently accept both the Dred Scott + decision and the doctrine of popular sovereignty? + + 25. Did Lincoln's assassination have any effect on the + reconstruction policy? + + 26. Does the Federal Constitution compel negro suffrage? + + 27. Was the Anaconda System successful? + + 28. Was a President of the United States ever impeached? + + 29. Were the claims for indirect damages in the Alabama claims + allowed? + + 30. Did Calhoun favor the Compromise of 1850? + + 31. Did Thaddeus Stevens favor the Fifteenth Amendment to the + Constitution? + + 32. Did Lincoln favor the social equality of the white and black + races? + + 33. Did Grant favor the Tenure of Office Act? + + 34. Did Lee make more than one attempt to invade the North? + + 35. Was the "Ohio Idea" ever strong enough to affect legislation? + + 36. Did Spain have any part in calling out the Monroe Doctrine? + + 37. Has the United States any control over the debts of Cuba? + + 38. Has a joint resolution ever been used to acquire territory + other than that included in Texas? + + 39. Has the United States ever resorted to a tax on incomes? + + 40. Has the Federal Government ever attempted to restrict the power + of the press? + + 41. Is it illegal to-day for a railway to give a cheaper rate to + one shipper than to another? + + 42. Has the Republican party ever reduced the protective tariffs of + the war? + + 43. Did the Civil Service Act passed in 1883 include postmasters? + + 44. Did the Wilson-Gorman Act reduce the tariff to a revenue basis? + + 45. Can a railway engaged solely in intra-state business carry a + case, involving a reduction of their rates by the State + legislature, to the Supreme Court of the United States? + + 46. Is Utah a part of the Louisiana Purchase? + + 47. If the mint ratio is 16 to 1 and the market ratio is 17 to 1, + will the gold dollar be the standard if there is full legal + tender and free coinage for both gold and silver? + + 48. Is the Canadian frontier fortified? + + 49. Are the functions of government in this country increasing? + + 50. Is it possible for a man to be defeated for the Presidency if a + majority of the people vote for him? + +The great disadvantage of this kind of review is that the students have +for their answer a choice between two words, one of which is bound to be +correct. Knowing nothing whatever of the subject, they will still stand +a fifty per cent chance of answering correctly. The alert teacher should +be able to reduce this haphazard answering to a minimum, while still +reaping the advantages of rapidity and thoroughness which the plan +possesses. Few other methods will cover as much ground in as short time. +On the Federal Constitution there are infinite possibilities for "yes +and no" questioning, which afford a brief and effective means of review +in the principles of American government. + + +_They will secure fluency_ + +Review for the purpose of securing fluency is a consideration frequently +lost sight of by high school history teachers. It may be too sanguine to +expect fluency of the average student reciting on a topic for the first +time. But when it is considered how very many important questions are +never recited on but once, the wisdom of an occasional review to secure +rapid, fluent, and complete answers to topics previously discussed is +readily seen. Select a list of topics that will at one and the same time +cultivate fluency and strengthen the memory for the important +considerations of history. Fluency in itself does not possess sufficient +value to justify the expenditure of recitation time. Facility of +expression needs to be cultivated in discussion of the conclusions +reached in class which need to be clinched in the student's mind. Such +questions as the following will serve as illustrations of the kind +adaptable for such purpose, at the middle of a year course in American +history:-- + + 1. Give three distinct characteristics of French colonization in + America; three of Spanish; three of English. + + 2. What things did the English colonies possess in common? + + 3. What were the results to the colonies of the French and Indian + War? + + 4. To what extent was the Revolution brought about by economic + causes? + + 5. What were the defects in the Articles of Confederation? + + 6. Account for the downfall of the Federalist party. + + 7. In what ways has democracy advanced since 1789? + + 8. What were the results of the struggle over the admission of + Missouri? + + 9. Discuss the growth of the sentiment for internal improvements? + + 10. Describe the social life of the Western pioneer? + + +_What the student may do with "problems" in history_ + +Still another kind of review of great value in strengthening the +student's ability to generalize and analyze, consists of what might be +called "problems in history." They are given out in much the same way as +original problems in geometry, assuming that the student is acquainted +with the facts from which to deduce the answers to the question. The +object of such a review is to give the student practice in original +thinking. He is not supposed to use a library, but only the facts which +are in his text or which have been previously brought out in class +recitations. + +The following are examples of questions adaptable for this purpose:-- + + 1. Why can the American people be regarded as the world's greatest + colonizers? + + 2. Why could Washington be regarded as only an Englishman living in + America? + + 3. Is it true that the South lost the Civil War because of slavery? + + 4. In what particulars did Andrew Jackson accurately reflect the + spirit or the ideals of the new West? + + 5. What is illustrated by the attempt to found the State of + Franklin? + + 6. What considerations made the secession of the West in our early + history a likely possibility? + +Questions of this kind, not answered directly in class or in the text, +may be given out a day in advance and the answers collected at the next +recitation. + + + + +VI + +THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS + + +_The purpose of theme work should change as the course continues_ + +A method frequently employed by teachers of history is to require +written reports or themes on various phases of the history as the work +progresses. This plan is particularly valuable for the students in the +first two years of high school history, for the reason that their +library requirements are less exacting and their need of fluency greater +during that time than later in their course. The objects of theme work +in history courses are usually to arouse the pupil's powers of +observation, description, and narration, and to provide means of drill +in the exercise of these powers. These should not be the sole purposes +of theme work, however. As the year advances, an increasing amount of +the written work should be on subjects requiring some generalization or +analysis of the facts brought out in the text or in the recitation. The +pupil who has written a theme describing the appearance of the Pyramids +has completed an exercise in history less valuable than that of the +student who writes a theme on the errors of the Athenian Democracy. + +To summarize, reviews in history should consist of both oral and written +work; they should be rapid enough to insure quick thinking, alert +attention, and small expenditure of time; they should occur with +increasing frequency as the year advances; they should stock the memory, +fix in the student's mind the order of events, stimulate fluency, insure +a permanent acquaintance with the personnel of history, and give to the +student a better view of the subject as a whole and in its various +phases. + + + + +VII + +EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS + + +_The examination should determine how much the student has progressed_ + +The time is coming, if it is not already here, when the public will cry out +against the nervous fear and sleepless nights with which their children +approach the semi-annual torture of our inquisitorial examinations. That +reasonable examinations are essential and beneficial is hardly open to +question. That a student should be expected correctly to answer a fair +percentage of reasonable questions on work which has been properly +taught is not a cause of complaint from anyone. But that children should +be frightened into a state of nervous terror by the bugaboo of an +impending examination, and then be forced to attempt a series of +conundrums propounded by a teacher who takes pride in maintaining a high +percentage of failures, is indefensible. An examination should not be +conducted with the primary object of making it a thing to be feared. +However desirable such a questionable asset may seem to certain college +professors, it is a serious fault in a high school teacher to have any +considerable number of normal children fail. The ambition of the good +instructor is to give an examination which shall at once be thorough, +reasonable, and intelligently directed toward finding what the student +has really learned. His purpose is to test accurately the various +abilities which he has endeavored to encourage in the student during his +course. He wishes to ascertain how much the student has really +progressed. + + +_Specific suggestions on formulating questions_ + +In order to do this the examination must be on the really material +considerations of the history. Questions on unimportant details should +be omitted. The student should not be expected to burden his memory with +the limitless mass of petty isolated facts contained in the average +history text. The questions should be on considerations that have been +carefully discussed, and not on facts that have received but cursory +attention. + +The examination should not require too much time for writing. The +several hours' continuous nervous tension sometimes exacted by too +ambitious teachers does the average child more harm than the +examination can possibly do him good. + +The examination should consist of questions that will jointly or +severally test the student's powers of description, generalization, and +analysis. They should test his knowledge of the sequence of events, his +ability to use a library or a map, his knowledge of the various phases +and the various periods of the history studied. In every examination +there should be at least one question dealing with the time and the +order of events, one each on the geographical, political, and social +history, one that is analytical, one that requires generalization, one +that will test his knowledge of the library, and one that will test his +powers of description. It is not necessary to limit the questions to the +customary number of ten. It is frequently advisable to give a class some +degree of choice in the selection of their questions by requiring any +ten out of a larger number asked. Certainly such a plan gives the +student a more favorable opportunity to demonstrate his ability without +in the least diminishing the value of the examination. + +Examination questions, like all other questions, should be definite, +clean-cut, and reasonable. If possible, each student should be supplied +with a copy, instead of having the set written on the board. They +should cover only those portions of the subject that have been properly +taught. The teacher should not expect the boy who has kept no useful +notes, whose library work has been haphazard, and whose methods of study +have not been supervised, to perform at examination time the miracle of +accurately remembering what he has never been properly taught. + + + + +OUTLINE + + +I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS + +1. Assumptions as to the teacher of history + +2. Actual conditions confronted by the teacher + + +II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE + +1. What should be done on the day of enrollment + +2. What should be done at the first meeting of the class + +3. Necessity for definite instruction in methods of preparing a lesson + +4. The question of note-taking + +5. Instruction in the use of the library and indexes + + +III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON + +1. Careful assignment will reveal to the student the relation of +geography and history + +2. His power of analysis and criticism will be stimulated + +3. The conditions in other countries will add to his comprehension of +the facts in the lesson + +4. His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged + +5. His acquaintance with the great men and women of history will be +vitalized + +6. He will correlate the past and the present + +7. He will be required to memorize a limited amount of matter verbatim + +8. Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance + + +IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION + +1. Assumptions as to the recitation room + +2. What the teacher should aim to accomplish + +3. Work at the blackboard + +4. Special reports + +5. Fundamental principles of good questioning + +6. Some additional suggestions for teachers of history + + +V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW + +1. The place of drill in the history recitation + +2. Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence of events + +3. They will give a view of the whole subject + +4. They will insure a better acquaintance with great men and women + +5. They will be economical of time + +6. They will secure fluency + +7. What the student may do with "problems" in history + + +VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS + +1. The purpose of theme work should change as the course continues + + +VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS + +1. The examination should determine how much the student has progressed + +2. Specific suggestions on formulating questions + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14577 *** |