The Teaching of History 6

The Teaching of History 6

10. If the answer to your question requires the use of a map, ask

it in such a way that the student can talk and use the map at

the same time. The geographical provisions of a treaty, the

routes of explorers, the grants of commercial companies,

campaigns, or military frontiers should all be recited in this

way. A wall map with simply the outline of the territory, with

its rivers, will be of considerable assistance in testing the

accuracy of the student's geographical knowledge. While

reciting, let him locate with chalk or pointer the cities,

arbitrary boundary lines, and routes he finds it necessary to

mention in his recitation. It will require special attention

early in the course to teach students the necessity for

preparation of this sort. Like everything else, map work should

be reasonable in its requirements. A knowledge of geography is

imperative to the correct understanding of history, and the

indifference or ignorance of teachers should never excuse

inattention to this vital necessity. On the other hand, however,

it is equally reprehensible to require of high school students

the labored preparation of maps in the drawing of which hours of

valuable time are spent in searching for places of trivial

importance and small historical value. Map work in a high school

history course should require no more than geographical accuracy

in locating boundaries, routes, and places really vital to the

history of the people being studied. If it does more than this

it usurps time disproportionate to its value.

 

 

 

 

V

 

VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW

 

 

_The place of drill in the history recitation_

 

We have long since learned the folly of spending very many of the

minutes of a recitation in drilling students in dates, outlines, and

charts. Work of this sort never made a recitation vital; never inspired

a student with enthusiasm for historical inquiry; never really dispelled

the fog which surrounds, for the student, the cabinets and

constitutions, battles and boundaries, declarations and decrees, so

briefly treated in the text.

 

 

_Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the sequence of events_

 

But it may be seriously questioned whether many teachers, in their zeal

to escape the over-emphasis of dates, have not gone to the extreme of

neglecting them altogether. That a student should remember sufficient

dates to fix in his mind the sequence of important events is hardly open

to question. That he can never do so without some special attention to

dates is equally indisputable. Without doubt, drill in important dates

is necessary, but it should be so conducted as to take but little time.

Each day the teacher has indicated the dates worthy to be remembered and

has been careful to select the landmarks of history. He has called

attention to the various collateral circumstances which might assist to

fix the dates in the child's mind. The student has kept his list of

dates in the back of his text or in some convenient place of reference.

Once a week for three minutes the teacher gives the class a rapid review

on the dates contained in the list. Occasionally the class are sent to

the board and asked to write the dates of the reigns of the English

monarchs from William down to the point which the class has reached, or

the Presidents in their order, or some other similar exercise calculated

to give a backbone to the history being studied. The class will know

that such a review is liable to be given at any time. They will endeavor

to be prepared. The result will be that with the expenditure of a few

minutes at intervals in rapid review, history will cease to be a

spineless narrative and become for the student an orderly procession of

events. Drill in dates is only one method to this end. There may be a

rapid review in battles, generals, wars, treaties, proclamations, and

inventions. Such exercises encourage the classification of facts and

stimulate fluency of __EXPRESSION__. It is of the highest importance for the

student so to arrange in his mind what he has learned in recitation that

he can call to his command at a second's notice the fact, date, or

illustration he desires. There will be many times in his school and

college career when such an ability will be indispensable; in business

or the professions it is an invaluable asset, infinitely more useful

than the history itself. It will be well for the teacher to inquire:

"What am I doing to cultivate such an ability in my students?"

 

 

_They will give a view of the whole subject_

 

Few teachers will deny that too little time is spent in giving the

student a general view of the whole subject, either in its entirety or

in its various phases. The text has been studied by chapters or by

months or by movements. The history as a whole has never been seen. By

the time the student has reached the "Aldrich Currency Plan" in American

history he has forgotten all about the experiments with the first United

States Bank. He could no more outline the financial history of the

United States as given in his text than he could outline the industrial

or political history of the American people. And yet he has studied the

facts given in his textbook; he has supplemented the text by his work in

the library, and in the recitation; he has done everything that may

reasonably be expected of him, except to assemble his historical

information and review it as a whole.

 

If the student in American history is asked to go to the board at

intervals and write an outline for the work covered on such topics as

the following, he will come much nearer understanding the progress of

our people:--

 

1. History of the tariff.

 

2. Political parties and principles for which they stood.

 

3. Things that crystallized Northern sentiment against slavery.

 

4. Reasons for the unification of the South.

 

5. Diplomatic relations of the United States.

 

6. Additions of territory.

 

7. Financial legislation.

 

8. Growth of humanitarian spirit.

 

There will easily be sufficient topics so that each member of the class

will have a different one. They can all work at the board,

simultaneously. The amount of time used for exercises of this sort need

not be great, and the value received is incalculable.

 

If the teacher wishes to review briefly on the military, diplomatic,

social, political, or economic history of the people the class have been

studying, it is no difficult matter to arrange a set of questions, the

occasional review in which will clinch in the student's mind what

otherwise would surely be forgotten. Such questions as the following on

the financial history of the United States are each answerable with a

few words and will serve as an illustration of the method which may be

employed in reviewing any other phase of history:--

 

1. By what means was trade accomplished before the use of money?

 

2. What are the functions of money?

 

3. What determines the amount of money needed in a country?

 

4. What has been used for money at various periods of our history?

 

5. What is meant by doing business on credit?

 

6. What is cheap money?

 

7. What is Gresham's Law?

 

8. What is the effect of large issues of paper money on prices?

 

9. What is the effect of large issues of paper money on wages?

 

10. Why does the wage-earner suffer?

 

11. At what periods in American history have large issues of paper

money been emitted?

 

12. What were the objects of the first United States Bank?

 

13. Did the bank accomplish them?

 

14. Why was it not rechartered?

 

15. When was the second United States Bank chartered?

 

16. Why?

  17. What case decided the constitutionality of the bank?

  18. Did the second United States Bank accomplish the purpose for

which it was formed?

  19. Why was the second United States Bank rechartered?

  20. What is meant by "Wildcat Banking"?

  21. What are the dates of our greatest panics?