The Teaching of History | Page 2

doctrine, but who feel a keen
discontent with the older procedure, will find in these pages many
suggestions that will appeal to them as worthy of experimental use. It
may be that the successful use of many methods here suggested may be
the easy way for them to come into an acceptance of the larger
principles of current educational reform.

THE TEACHING OF HISTORY
I
SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
Assumptions as to the teacher of history This monograph will make no

attempt to analyze the personality of the ideal teacher. It is assumed
that the teacher of history has an adequate preparation to teach his
subject, that he is in good health, and that his usefulness is unimpaired
by discontent with his work or cynicism about the world. It is
presupposed that he understands the wisdom of correlating in his
instruction the geography, social progress, and economic development
of the people which his class are studying. He is aware that the pupil
should experience something more than a kaleidoscopic view of
isolated facts. He recognizes the folly of requiring four years of high
school English for the purpose of cultivating clear, fluent, and accurate
expression, only to relax the effort when the student comes into the
history class. He knows that the precision, logic, and habit of definite
thinking exacted by the pursuit of the scientific subjects should not be
laid aside when the student attempts to trace the rise of nations. Let us
go so far as to assume a teacher who is both pedagogical and practical;
scholarly without being musty; imbued with a love for his subject and
yet familiar with actual human experience.
Actual conditions confronted by the teacher There are from one
hundred and eighty to two hundred recitation periods of forty-five
minutes each, minus the holidays, opening exercises, athletic mass
meetings, and other respites, in which to teach a thousand years of
ancient history, twenty centuries of English history, or the story of our
own people. The age of the student will be from thirteen to eighteen.
His judgment is immature; his knowledge of books, small; his interest,
far from zealous. He will have three other subjects to prepare and his
time is limited. Also, he is a citizen of the Republic and by his vote will
shortly influence, for good or ill, the destinies of the nation.
The purpose of this monograph is to discuss the means by which the
teacher can engender in this student a genuine enthusiasm for the
subject, stimulate research and historical judgment, correlate history,
geography, literature, and the arts, cultivate proper ideals of
government, establish a habit of systematic note-taking, and possibly
prepare the student for college entrance examinations.

II
HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE
Very obviously each moment of the child's time and preparation should
be wisely directed. Each recitation should perform its full measure of
usefulness, in testing, drilling, and teaching. There will be no time for
valueless note-taking, duplication of map-book work, ambiguous or
foolish questioning, aimless argument, or junketing excursions.
What should be done on the day of enrollment The day that the child
enrolls in class should begin his assigned work. In the first ten minutes
of the first meeting of the class, while the teacher is collecting the
enrollment cards, he should also gather some data as to his students'
previous work in history. This information will be of considerable
assistance to the teacher in letting him know what he may reasonably
expect of his new pupils. The class should not depart without a definite
assignment for the next day. Let the preparation for the first recitation
consist in answering such questions as:--
1. What is the name of the text you are to use? (Know its precise title.)
2. What is the name, reputation, and position of the author?
3. Of what other books is he the author?
4. Read the preface of the book.
5. What do you think are the purposes of the subject you are about to
take up?
6. Give the titles and authors of other books on the same period of
history.
7. What has been your method of study in other courses of history?
What should be done at the first meeting of the class On the second day
when the class assembles, let as many of the students as possible be
sent to the board to answer questions on the day's assignment. The
pupil will immediately discover that the teacher purposes to hold the
class strictly responsible for the preparation of assigned work. The

teacher will face a class prepared to ask intelligent questions about the
course they are entering upon. The class will discover that work is to
begin at once. The inertia of the vacation will be immediately
overcome.
Necessity for definite instruction in methods of