The Recitation Lesson. As has been suggested in the opening of this chapter, the recitation lesson is not a type involving any particular psychological process.  It is, rather, a method of procedure which may involve any of the other types of work already discussed.  When the recitation lesson means merely reciting paragraphs from the book with little or no reference to problems to be solved or skill to be developed, it has no place in a schoolroom.  When, however, the teacher uses the recitation lesson as an exercise in which he assures himself that facts needed for further progress in thinking have been secured, or that habits have been established, or verbatim memorization accomplished, this type of exercise is justified.  It is well to remember that the thought process involved in the development of a subject, or the solution even of a single problem, may extend over many class periods.  The recitation lesson may be important in organizing the material which is to be used in the larger thought whole.  Again, this type of exercise may involve the presentation of material which is to be used as a basis for appreciation in literature, in music, in art, in history, and the like.  The organization of experiences of children, whether secured through observations, discussions, or from books, around certain topics may furnish a most satisfactory basis for the development of problems or of the gathering of the material essential for their solution.  A better understanding of the conditions which make for success in habit formation, in thinking, and the development of appreciation, will tend to eliminate from our schools that type of exercise in which teachers ask merely that children recite to them what they have been able to remember from the books which they have read or the lectures which they have heard.

The Examination and Review Lessons. In the establishment of habits, the development of appreciation, or the growth in understanding which we seek to secure through thinking, there will be many occasions for checking up our work.  Successful teaching requires that the habit that we think we have established be called for and additional practice given from time to time in order to be certain that it is fixed.  In like manner, the development of our thought in any field is not something which is accomplished without respect to later neglect.  We, rather, build a system of thought with reference to a particular field or subject as a result of thinking, and rethinking through the many different situations which are involved.  In like manner, in the field of appreciation the very essence of our enjoyment is to be found in the fact that that which we have enjoyed we recall, and strengthen our appreciation through the revival of the experience.  The review is, of course, most successful when it is not simply going over the whole material in exactly the same way.  In habit formation it is often advisable to arrange in a different order the stimuli