The Teaching of History 2

The Teaching of History 2

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 __EXPRESSION__s, 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 __EXPRESSION__s. 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?