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diff --git a/14577-h/14577-h.htm b/14577-h/14577-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a67177 --- /dev/null +++ b/14577-h/14577-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1641 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Teaching of History, by Ernest C. Hartwell</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .sheader {text-align: center; + font-size: larger; + font-style: italic;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14577 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Teaching of History, by Ernest C. Hartwell</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>Riverside Educational Monographs</h3> + +<h4>EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO</h4> + +<h6>PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION<br /> +TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY</h6> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE TEACHING OF HISTORY</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ERNEST C. HARTWELL, M.A.</h2> +<h3>SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, PETOSKEY, MICH.</h3> + +<br /> +<center><img alt="logo" width="71" height="99" src="images/logo.png" /></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h6>Houghton Mifflin Company<br /> +Boston, New York and Chicago<br /> +The Riverside Press Cambridge</h6> + +<h3>1913</h3> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<center> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + <a href='#EDITORS_INTRODUCTION'><b>EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION</b></a><br /> + <a href='#THE_TEACHING_OF_HISTORY'><b>I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS</b></a><br /> + <a href='#II'><b>II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE</b></a><br /> + <a href='#III'><b>III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON</b></a><br /> + <a href='#IV'><b>IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION</b></a><br /> + <a href='#V'><b>V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW</b></a><br /> + <a href='#VI'><b>VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS</b></a><br /> + <a href='#VII'><b>VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS</b></a><br /> + <a href='#OUTLINE'><b>OUTLINE</b></a><br /> +</center> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='EDITORS_INTRODUCTION'></a><h2>EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION</h2> +<br /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='THE_TEACHING_OF_HISTORY'></a><h2>THE TEACHING OF HISTORY</h2> + +<h2>I</h2> + +<h3>SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS</h3> + +<a name='sec1-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Assumptions as to the teacher of history</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec1-2'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Actual conditions confronted by the teacher</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='II'></a><h2>II</h2> + +<h3>HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec2-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>What should be done on the day of enrollment</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>What is the name of the text you are to use? (Know its precise +title.)</li> +<li>What is the name, reputation, and position of the author?</li> +<li>Of what other books is he the author?</li> +<li>Read the preface of the book.</li> +<li>What do you think are the purposes of the subject you are about +to take up?</li> +<li>Give the titles and authors of other books on the same period of +history.</li> +<li>What has been your method of study in other courses of history?</li> +</ol> +<br /> + +<a name='sec2-2'></a> +<p class='sheader'>What should be done at the first meeting of the class</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec2-3'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Necessity for definite instruction in methods of preparing a lesson</p> + +<p>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 <i>how</i> 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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>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.</li> +<li>Read the lesson assigned for the day in the textbook, including +all notes and fine print.</li> +<li>Write on a sheet of note paper all the unfamiliar words, +allusions, or expressions. Later, look these up in the +dictionary or other reference.</li> +<li>Record the dates which you think worthy to be remembered.</li> +<li>Discover and make a note of all the apparent contradictions, +inconsistencies, or inaccuracies in the author's statements.</li> +<li>Use the map for all the places mentioned in the lesson. Be able +to locate them when you come to class.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>Read the special questions assigned for the day by the teacher.</li> +<li>Go to the library. If the book for which you are in search is +not to be found, try another.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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, +<i>write the answer on one of your cards for keeping notes.</i></li> +<li>Remember that the teacher will ask constantly <i>what</i> was done, +<i>when</i> was it done, and, most important of all, <i>why</i> 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.</li> +<li>If possible practice your answers aloud. It will make you the +more ready when called on in class.</li> +<li>Keep a list of things which are not clear to you and about +which you wish to ask questions.</li> +<li>Before completing your preparation, read over these instructions +and be sure that you have complied with them.</li> +</ol> + +<p>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 <i>habit</i> 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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec2-4'></a> +<p class='sheader'>The question of note-taking</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>while +they are being read</i> 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 <i>required</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>Is the notebook work as I am conducting it calculated to develop +the habit of critical reading?</li> +<li>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?</li> +<li>Is it teaching students to combine facts, opinions, and +statistics, to form conclusions really their own?</li> +<li>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?</li> +<li>Am I able carefully and punctually to correct all the notes +required?</li> +</ol> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec2-5'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Instruction in the use of the library and indexes</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>How much previous work have you done in the library?</li> +<li>Of what use do you think the library should be to you in the +course you are just entering?</li> +<li>What is a source book? Of what use are source books?</li> +<li>What source books on this period of history are in the library?</li> +<li>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?</li> +<li>What encyclopedias and works of general reference are in your +library?</li> +</ol> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>use</i> the information he has gathered from his +reading, his interest in books will steadily increase.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The value of periodicals and current literature for work in history +should be illustrated and the use of <i>Poole's Index</i> and the <i>Readers +Guide</i> explained.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='III'></a><h2>III</h2> + +<h3>THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON</h3> + +<a name='sec3-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Careful assignment will reveal to the student the relation of geography +and history</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>What States are included in the purchase?</li> +<li>What is its area? How does it compare with the area of the +original thirteen States?</li> +<li>What geographical reasons caused Napoleon to sell it?</li> +<li>What influence did the purchase have on our retention of the +territory east of the Mississippi? Why?</li> +<li>How many people live to-day in the territory included in the +purchase?</li> +</ol> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-2'></a> +<p class='sheader'>His power of analysis and criticism will be stimulated</p> + +<p>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 <i>Economic History of the United States</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>"The Constitution was extracted by necessity from a reluctant +people."</li> +<li>"Oregon was a make-weight for Texas."</li> +<li>"The greatest evil of slavery was that it prevented the South +from accumulating capital."</li> +<li>"The day that France possesses New Orleans we must marry +ourselves to the British fleet."</li> +<li>"The cause of free labor won a substantial triumph in the +Missouri Compromise."</li> +<li>"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."</li> +</ol> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-3'></a> +<p class='sheader'>The conditions in other countries will add to his comprehension of the +facts in the lesson</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-4'></a> +<p class='sheader'>His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-5'></a> +<p class='sheader'>His acquaintance with the great men and women of history will be +vitalized</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-6'></a> +<p class='sheader'>He will correlate the past and the present</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-7'></a> +<p class='sheader'>He will be required to memorize a limited amount of matter verbatim</p> + +<p>In assigning a lesson it is sometimes desirable to require certain +matter to be learned <i>verbatim</i>. 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 +<i>verbatim</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec3-8'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance</p> + +<p>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 <i>able</i> 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.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='IV'></a><h2>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION</h3> + +<a name='sec4-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Assumptions as to the recitation room</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec4-2'></a> +<p class='sheader'>What the teacher should aim to accomplish</p> + +<p>The problem, then, is so to expend the forty-five minutes in which the +teacher and class are together that:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>So far as possible the atmosphere and setting of the period +being studied may be reproduced.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>The events described will be understood and properly interpreted +in their relation to geography, and the economic and social +progress of the world.</li> +<li>Causes and effects shall be properly analyzed.</li> +<li>And that there shall be left sufficient time for the occasional +review necessary to any good instruction.</li> +</ol> +<br /> + +<a name='sec4-3'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Work at the blackboard</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec4-4'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Special reports</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec4-5'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Fundamental principles of good questioning</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<ol> +<li>The questions should be brief.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>They should precede the name of the pupil required to answer it.</li> +<li>They should not be leading questions to which the pupil can +guess the answers.</li> +<li>They should be grammatically stated with but one possible +interpretation.</li> +<li>Except for purposes of rapid review they should not be +answerable with yes or no.</li> +<li>They should be asked in a voice loud enough to be heard by all +the class, and only once.</li> +<li>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.</li> +</ol> +<br /> + +<a name='sec4-6'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Some additional suggestions for teachers of history</p> + +<p>There are additional suggestions particularly applicable to the teacher +of history.</p> + +<ol> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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 <i>verbatim</i>. 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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +<li>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.</li> +</ol> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='V'></a><h2>V</h2> + +<h3>VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW</h3> + +<a name='sec5-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>The place of drill in the history recitation</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec5-2'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence of events</p> + +<p>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?"</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec5-3'></a> +<p class='sheader'>They will give a view of the whole subject</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>History of the tariff.</li> +<li>Political parties and principles for which they stood.</li> +<li>Things that crystallized Northern sentiment against slavery.</li> +<li>Reasons for the unification of the South.</li> +<li>Diplomatic relations of the United States.</li> +<li>Additions of territory.</li> +<li>Financial legislation.</li> +<li>Growth of humanitarian spirit.</li> +</ol> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>By what means was trade accomplished before the use of money?</li> +<li>What are the functions of money?</li> +<li>What determines the amount of money needed in a country?</li> +<li>What has been used for money at various periods of our history?</li> +<li>What is meant by doing business on credit?</li> +<li>What is cheap money?</li> +<li>What is Gresham's Law?</li> +<li>What is the effect of large issues of paper money on prices?</li> +<li>What is the effect of large issues of paper money on wages?</li> +<li>Why does the wage-earner suffer?</li> +<li>At what periods in American history have large issues of paper +money been emitted?</li> +<li>What were the objects of the first United States Bank?</li> +<li>Did the bank accomplish them?</li> +<li>Why was it not rechartered?</li> +<li>When was the second United States Bank chartered?</li> +<li>Why?</li> +<li>What case decided the constitutionality of the bank?</li> +<li>Did the second United States Bank accomplish the purpose for +which it was formed?</li> +<li>Why was the second United States Bank rechartered?</li> +<li>What is meant by "Wildcat Banking"?</li> +<li>What are the dates of our greatest panics?</li> +<li>What were the chief causes?</li> +<li>What was the effect on prices?</li> +<li>What on wages?</li> +<li>Under what President was the independent treasury first +established?</li> +<li>Is it in existence to-day?</li> +<li>When were greenbacks issued?</li> +<li>To what amount?</li> +<li>Who was responsible for the issue?</li> +<li>Were they legal tender for private debts contracted before +their issue?</li> +<li>When was the Resumption Act passed?</li> +<li>Are the greenbacks in circulation to-day?</li> +<li>What is free silver?</li> +<li>What was the "Crime of '73"?</li> +<li>What was the "Bland-Allison Act"?</li> +<li>What was the Currency Act of 1900?</li> +<li>What is Bimetallism?</li> +<li>What is meant by "Mint Ratio"?</li> +<li>What is meant by "Market Ratio"?</li> +<li>What is meant by "Free Coinage"?</li> +<li>What is meant by "Gratuitous Coinage"?</li> +<li>What is meant by "Standard Money"?</li> +<li>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?</li> +<li>Why is silver not the standard to-day?</li> +<li>What is the "Aldrich Plan"?</li> +<li>What is a United States bond?</li> +<li>Is it a secure investment?</li> +<li>What is its average rate of interest?</li> +<li>By whom is a national bank chartered?</li> +<li>May it issue paper money?</li> +<li>When was the first National Banking Act passed?</li> +<li>Why?</li> +<li>Why should banking business be profitable under the act?</li> +<li>What advantage did the Government expect to receive in passing +the act?</li> +<li>Are deposits guaranteed?</li> +<li>May States emit bills of credit?</li> +<li>Is it constitutional for banks chartered by the State to emit +bills of credit?</li> +<li>Do they do so to-day?</li> +<li>Why?</li> +</ol> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec5-4'></a> +<p class='sheader'>They will insure a better acquaintance with great men and women</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec5-5'></a> +<p class='sheader'>They will be economical of time</p> + +<p>There are a vast number of review questions answerable with <i>yes</i> or +<i>no</i>. 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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>Was Cromwell's colonial policy helpful to the American colonies?</li> +<li>Did the Revolution of 1688 have any effect on the colonies?</li> +<li>Were the Huguenots excluded from Canada?</li> +<li>Were the Writs of Assistance used in England?</li> +<li>Did America ever have a theocracy?</li> +<li>Did the rule of 1756 affect the people of the colonies?</li> +<li>Was the Sugar Act legal?</li> +<li>Was there any effort to amend the Articles of Confederation?</li> +<li>Does funding a debt lessen it?</li> +<li>Did Hamilton's measures tend to centralize power?</li> +<li>Did the members of the Constitutional Convention exceed their +instructions?</li> +<li>Is a cabinet provided for in the Constitution?</li> +<li>Does the Constitution of the United States prevent a State from +establishing a religion?</li> +<li>Is it possible for a State to repudiate its debts?</li> +<li>Does the constitutional provision for uniform duties protect +the Territories?</li> +<li>Was impressment practiced in England?</li> +<li>Did the Whigs favor internal improvements?</li> +<li>Did the North favor the Force Bill of 1833?</li> +<li>Did Massachusetts favor the Tariff of 1816?</li> +<li>Did the Republican party stand for the abolition of slavery in +1860?</li> +<li>Did the Emancipation Proclamation free all the slaves in the +United States?</li> +<li>Did the working-men of England favor the South during the Civil +War?</li> +<li>Was it necessary for the South to resort to the draft?</li> +<li>Could a man in 1860 consistently accept both the Dred Scott +decision and the doctrine of popular sovereignty?</li> +<li>Did Lincoln's assassination have any effect on the +reconstruction policy?</li> +<li>Does the Federal Constitution compel negro suffrage?</li> +<li>Was the Anaconda System successful?</li> +<li>Was a President of the United States ever impeached?</li> +<li>Were the claims for indirect damages in the Alabama claims +allowed?</li> +<li>Did Calhoun favor the Compromise of 1850?</li> +<li>Did Thaddeus Stevens favor the Fifteenth Amendment to the +Constitution?</li> +<li>Did Lincoln favor the social equality of the white and black +races?</li> +<li>Did Grant favor the Tenure of Office Act?</li> +<li>Did Lee make more than one attempt to invade the North?</li> +<li>Was the "Ohio Idea" ever strong enough to affect legislation?</li> +<li>Did Spain have any part in calling out the Monroe Doctrine?</li> +<li>Has the United States any control over the debts of Cuba?</li> +<li>Has a joint resolution ever been used to acquire territory +other than that included in Texas?</li> +<li>Has the United States ever resorted to a tax on incomes?</li> +<li>Has the Federal Government ever attempted to restrict the power +of the press?</li> +<li>Is it illegal to-day for a railway to give a cheaper rate to +one shipper than to another?</li> +<li>Has the Republican party ever reduced the protective tariffs of +the war?</li> +<li>Did the Civil Service Act passed in 1883 include postmasters?</li> +<li>Did the Wilson-Gorman Act reduce the tariff to a revenue basis?</li> +<li>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?</li> +<li>Is Utah a part of the Louisiana Purchase?</li> +<li>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?</li> +<li>Is the Canadian frontier fortified?</li> +<li>Are the functions of government in this country increasing?</li> +<li>Is it possible for a man to be defeated for the Presidency if a +majority of the people vote for him?</li> +</ol> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec5-6'></a> +<p class='sheader'>They will secure fluency</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>Give three distinct characteristics of French colonization in +America; three of Spanish; three of English.</li> +<li>What things did the English colonies possess in common?</li> +<li>What were the results to the colonies of the French and Indian +War?</li> +<li>To what extent was the Revolution brought about by economic +causes?</li> +<li>What were the defects in the Articles of Confederation?</li> +<li>Account for the downfall of the Federalist party.</li> +<li>In what ways has democracy advanced since 1789?</li> +<li>What were the results of the struggle over the admission of +Missouri?</li> +<li>Discuss the growth of the sentiment for internal improvements?</li> +<li>Describe the social life of the Western pioneer?</li> +</ol> +<br /> + +<a name='sec5-7'></a> +<p class='sheader'>What the student may do with "problems" in history</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The following are examples of questions adaptable for this purpose:—</p> + +<ol> +<li>Why can the American people be regarded as the world's greatest +colonizers?</li> +<li>Why could Washington be regarded as only an Englishman living in +America?</li> +<li>Is it true that the South lost the Civil War because of slavery?</li> +<li>In what particulars did Andrew Jackson accurately reflect the +spirit or the ideals of the new West?</li> +<li>What is illustrated by the attempt to found the State of +Franklin?</li> +<li>What considerations made the secession of the West in our early +history a likely possibility?</li> +</ol> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='VI'></a><h2>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS</h3> + +<a name='sec6-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>The purpose of theme work should change as the course continues</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='VII'></a><h2>VII</h2> + +<h3>EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS</h3> + +<a name='sec7-1'></a> +<p class='sheader'>The examination should determine how much the student has progressed</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<br /> + +<a name='sec7-2'></a> +<p class='sheader'>Specific suggestions on formulating questions</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='OUTLINE'></a><h2>OUTLINE</h2> + +<h3><a href='#THE_TEACHING_OF_HISTORY'>I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec1-1'>Assumptions as to the teacher of history</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec1-2'>Actual conditions confronted by the teacher</a></li> +</ol> +<h3><a href='#II'>II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec2-1'>What should be done on the day of enrollment</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec2-2'>What should be done at the first meeting of the class</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec2-3'>Necessity for definite instruction in methods of +preparing a lesson</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec2-4'>The question of note-taking</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec2-5'>Instruction in the use of the library and indexes</a></li> +</ol> +<h3><a href='#III'>III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec3-1'>Careful assignment will reveal to the student the +relation of geography and history</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-2'>His power of analysis and criticism will be stimulated</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-3'>The conditions in other countries will add to his +comprehension of the facts in the lesson</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-4'>His disposition to study intensively will be encouraged</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-5'>His acquaintance with the great men and women +of history will be vitalized</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-6'>He will correlate the past and the present</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-7'>He will be required to memorize a limited amount +of matter verbatim</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec3-8'>Methods of preparing questions assigned in advance</a></li> +</ol> +<h3><a href='#IV'>IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec4-1'>Assumptions as to the recitation room</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec4-2'>What the teacher should aim to accomplish</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec4-3'>Work at the blackboard</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec4-4'>Special reports</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec4-5'>Fundamental principles of good questioning</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec4-6'>Some additional suggestions for teachers of history</a></li> +</ol> +<h3><a href='#V'>V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec5-1'>The place of drill in the history recitation</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec5-2'>Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence +of events</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec5-3'>They will give a view of the whole subject</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec5-4'>They will insure a better acquaintance with great +men and women</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec5-5'>They will be economical of time</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec5-6'>They will secure fluency</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec5-7'>What the student may do with "problems" +in history</a></li> +</ol> +<h3><a href='#VI'>VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec6-1'>The purpose of theme work should change as the +course continues</a></li> +</ol> +<h3><a href='#VII'>VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS</a></h3> +<ol> +<li><a href='#sec7-1'>The examination should determine how much the +student has progressed</a></li> +<li><a href='#sec7-2'>Specific suggestions on formulating questions</a></li> +</ol> + +<br /> +<br /> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14577 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |