Part 2

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.

HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE

Very obviously each moment of the child's time and preparation should be wisely directed. Each recitation should perform its full measure of usefulness, in testing, drilling, and teaching. There will be no time for valueless note-taking, duplication of map-book work, ambiguous or foolish questioning, aimless argument, or junketing excursions.

What should be done on the day of enrollment

The day that the child enrolls in class should begin his assigned work. In the first ten minutes of the first meeting of the class, while the teacher is collecting the enrollment cards, he should also gather some data as to his students' previous work in history. This information will be of considerable assistance to the teacher in letting him know what he may reasonably expect of his new pupils. The class should not depart without a definite assignment for the next day. Let the preparation for the first recitation consist in answering such questions as:--

1. What is the name of the text you are to use? (Know its precise title.)

2. What is the name, reputation, and position of the author?

3. Of what other books is he the author?

4. Read the preface of the book.

5. What do you think are the purposes of the subject you are about to take up?

6. Give the titles and authors of other books on the same period of history.

7. What has been your method of study in other courses of history?

What should be done at the first meeting of the class

On the second day when the class assembles, let as many of the students as possible be sent to the board to answer questions on the day's assignment. The pupil will immediately discover that the teacher purposes to hold the class strictly responsible for the preparation of assigned work. The teacher will face a class prepared to ask intelligent questions about the course they are entering upon. The class will discover that work is to begin at once. The inertia of the vacation will be immediately overcome.

Necessity for definite instruction in methods of preparing a lesson

Having secured, by class discussion and the work at the board, satisfactory answers to the first six questions, and having assigned the lesson for the next day, the remainder of the hour and, if necessary, the rest of the week should be spent in outlining for the student a method of study. That very few students of high school age possess habits of systematic study, needs no discussion. In spite of all that their grade teachers may have done for them, their tendency is to pass over unfamiliar words, allusions, and expressions, without troubling to use a dictionary. The average high school student will not read the fine print at the bottom of the page, or use a map for the location of places mentioned in the text without special instruction to do so. He will set himself no unassigned tasks in memory work. It is the first business of the good instructor to teach the student how to study. The first step in this process is to impress on the student's mind that systematic preparation in the history class is as necessary as in Latin, physics, or geometry. Then let the following or similar instructions be given him:--

1. Provide yourself with an envelope of small cards or pieces of note paper. Label each with the subject of the lesson and the date of its preparation. These envelopes should be always at hand during your study and preparation. They should be preserved and filed from day to day.

2. Read the lesson assigned for the day in the textbook, including all notes and fine print.

3. Write on a sheet of note paper all the unfamiliar words, allusions, or expressions. Later, look these up in the dictionary or other reference.

4. Record the dates which you think worthy to be remembered.

5. Discover and make a note of all the apparent contradictions, inconsistencies, or inaccuracies in the author's statements.

6. Use the map for all the places mentioned in the lesson. Be able to locate them when you come to class.

7. In nearly every text there is a list of books for library use, given at the beginning or end of each chapter. Make yourself familiar with this bibliography.

8. Read the special questions assigned for the day by the teacher.

9. Go to the library. If the book for which you are in search is not to be found, try another.

10. Learn to use an index. If the topic for which you are looking does not appear in the index, try looking for the same thing under another name; or under some related topic.

11. Having found the material in one book, use more than one if your time permits. When you feel that you have secured the material which will make a complete answer to the question, write the answer on one of your cards for keeping notes.

12. Remember that the teacher will ask constantly what was done, when was it done, and, most important of all, why it was done. Make a list of the questions which you think most likely to be asked on the lesson and ascertain whether you can answer them without the use of your notes or text.