It is needless to say that characterizations of men or epochs should not be assigned without instruction as to how they should be prepared.  In the case of a great historical character, what is needed for class purposes is not a biography with the dry facts of birth, marriage, death, etc.  The report should be brief, but bristling with adjectives supported in each case by at least one fact of the man’s life.  These may be selected from his personal appearance, private life, amusements, education, obstacles overcome, public services, political sagacity, or military prowess.  The sketch may close with a few brief estimates by biographers or historians of his proper place in history.

If a characterization of a period of history is to be required, the teacher should explain that such a characterization should be an exercise in the selection of brief statements of fact reflecting the ideals, institutions, and conditions of the period being described.  From histories, source books, fiction, and literature, let the student select facts illustrating such things as the spirit of the laws, conditions at court, public education, amusements of the people, social progress, position of religion, etc.  A little time spent in characterizing a period of history and a few of its great men will assist in changing the recital of the bare facts given in the text to an intelligent understanding of conditions and a vital discussion of events.  For instance, the ordinary high school text, in dealing with the French and Indian war, speaks briefly of the lack of English success during the early part of the struggle and then says that with the coming of Pitt to the ministry the whole course of events was changed because of the great statesman’s wonderful personality.  The teacher who wishes to make such a dramatic circumstance really vital to his class must have more information with which to work.  A picture of the coarse, vulgar England with its incompetent army and navy, apathetic church, and corrupt government, followed by a stirring character sketch of the great Pitt, will cost but a few minutes of the recitation and will metamorphose a moribund attention to a vital interest.

Care should be taken that the characterizations given in class be properly prepared.  To this end it will be well to assign the preparation of these sketches at least a week in advance, at the same time arranging a conference with the student a day or two before the recitation.  In this conference the teacher should make such corrections in the pupil’s method of preparation and selection of matter as seem necessary.  The characterizations should not be read, but delivered by the student facing the class, precisely for the moment as though he were the teacher.  Future tests and examinations should hold the class responsible for the facts thus presented.  If, as is too often the case in work of this sort, the student giving the report is the sole beneficiary of the exercise, the time required is disproportionate to the benefit derived.