there is a commercial department in connection with the school, an available stenographer, or a willing student helper, the teacher may easily relieve himself of the work of supplying the copies.  If none of these expedients are possible, it is no Herculean task to write each day on the board the few questions for the next lesson.  It will entail no great loss of time if the class are asked to copy them when they first come to recitation.  If it is possible to copy them after the recitation, so much the better.  And beyond the obvious advantages of a carefully assigned lesson it must be remembered that in the assignment of special topics, in private conferences with the student, in the correction of notes, in giving assistance in the library, the teacher has an opportunity to cultivate a sympathetic relation between himself and the class of inestimable service in securing the best results.

IV

THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION

Assumptions as to the recitation room

Let us now assume that the recitation will be held in a quiet room free from the distracting influence of poor light, poor ventilation, and inadequate seating capacity.  The blackboard space is ample for the whole class, the erasers and chalk are at hand, the maps, charts, and globe are where they can be used without stumbling over them.  The teacher can give his whole attention to the class.  Discipline should take care of itself.  The pupil who is interested will not be seriously out of order.

What the teacher should aim to accomplish

The problem, then, is so to expend the forty-five minutes in which the teacher and class are together that:—­

     1.  So far as possible the atmosphere and setting of the period
        being studied may be reproduced.

     2.  The great historical characters spoken of in the lesson may
        become for the student real men and women with whom he will
        afterwards feel a personal acquaintance.

     3.  The events described will be understood and properly interpreted
        in their relation to geography, and the economic and social
        progress of the world.

     4.  Causes and effects shall be properly analyzed.

     5.  And that there shall be left sufficient time for the occasional
        review necessary to any good instruction.

Work at the blackboard

The first five minutes may profitably be spent at the board, each member of the class being asked to write a complete answer to one of the assigned questions.  Whatever may happen later in the recitation each student has had at least this much of an opportunity for self-expression, and his work should be neat, workmanlike, complete, and accurate.  By this device the alert teacher will secure in the first five minutes of the recitation hour a fairly accurate idea of each student’s preparation, the weak spots in his understanding of the lesson, and the errors to be corrected.  He may even be able to record a grade for the work done.