The Teaching of History | Page 3

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.
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