The recitation

Front matter

LIPPINCi EDUCJflONAL Si

THE

TAT I O i\'

Author's Preface

This is neither a profound nor an exhaustive treatise on the recitation. It is only a series of easy lectures on the subject, prepared for young teachers. They are published in the hope that they will prove helpful to this class, and serve as a manual or guide in making the recitation a greater instrument of service. The discussion of the various themes in most cases is very brief, and often fragmentary. A full treatment of each would extend the limits of this volume far beyond its contemplated size. Emerson says, " The best part of a book is not what it contains, but what it suggests." And the whole discussion in this volume is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive.

Many of the professional books are too difficult for young teachers. They appeal to the more advanced students of pedagogy. This volume is an effort to aid the younger members of the profession by simplifying, and, if possible, clarifying for them, subjects usually regarded as difficult and obscure. Our effort has been to bring the whole discussion within the grasp of the average high-school graduate.

These lectures were not originally intended for publication. At first they existed simply as a set of outlines, used as a basis for discussion in presenting this phase of the work to teachers. These outlines are given at the close of each chapter. They may be rejected as imperfect, illogical, and incomplete ; but they served their origvi AUTHOR'S PEEFACE

inal purpose, and will reveal to the student at a glance the author's analysis of each theme.

It has been thought best to present these lectures here just as they were delivered, with their repetitions for emphasis, and their various summaries, so necessary in the lecture method of teaching.

In the preparation of these lectures each was regarded as more or less complete in itself. And yet our purpose was to study the recitation in its unity, its parts, its methods. Hence the classification as herein given.

This book goes forth with very modest claims. Its contribution to the great volume of pedagogical literature is very meagre. It may be even less, perhaps, than the proverbial two-pence. But it is an honest effort to aid young teachers by a careful study of some of the practical phases of school work. Our aim was to be sound in theory, simple in treatment, clear and concise in presentation, brief and pointed in discussion, and, withal, practical and helpful. To what extent these ends have been attained the reader must decide. With the poet we are ready to exclaim.

What is writ is writ.

Would that it were worthier.'

S. H.

EDITOR'S PREFACE

Education is a process of soul-enrichment. This enrichment results both in the forming and in the informing of the soul. The former is culture, the latter is knowledge. They are distinct in theory but united in practice. Culture is the concomitant of knowledge. The converse is also true. But this concomitance is a variable relation. There may be a maximum of knowledge with a minimum of culture, or there may be a maximum of culture with a minimum of knowledge. There may also be all shades of relation between these extremes. The educational process as conducted by the teacher in a large measure determines the issue. The teacher may proceed in a manner that will form the mind for the acquisition of knowledge or in a manner that will inform the mind with many facts of knowledge. If, as is usually held, culture is worth more than knowledge, it follows that good teaching aims to secure a maximum of culture, mental power, with a minimum of data or knowledge.

Education is wasteful to the extent that it multiplies unrelated facts in the soul. Education is economic to the extent that it succeeds in enriching each new fact presented in consciousness. This enrichment is the result of establishing between the new fact and knowledge already in the soul the greatest possible number of essential relations. This gives greater significance to the new fact, renders it easier of recall, and adds to its cultural value. Poor teaching crowds the soul with multitudes of unre-

vii viii EDITOR'S PREFACE

lated data. Good teaching organizes all the facts of knowledge into systems of thought. Thus the poor teacher is constantly insisting upon greater industry in the acquisition of knowledge, while the good teacher is patiently but industriously endeavoring to make the most of the facts in consciousness and thus in the forming of the mind for subsequent achievements.

Most courses of study are over-weighted. They compel attention to the less important phase of true teaching. This is unfortunate and can be justified upon no pedagogic grounds, unless, as some have said, it is necessary to provide an excess of data for poor teachers in order that they may be able to keep their pupils busy. But even this is an unworthy interpretation of the function of the school. Why make a poor course of study because of poor teachers ? Is it the business of those that form the materials of instruction to cover the weakness of teaching by an over-loaded curriculum ? A proper statement of the data of education would aid in eliminating worthless teaching. Surely this is a vital function of supervision.

The teacher in the last analysis is the course of study. His interpretation, more than its content, determines its pedagogic significance. What the school may do for the pupil is conditioned by what the teacher is in equipment, in experience, in professional spirit, and in personal worth. Everywhere and always the cry is for splendid teachers. The issues involved are of such far-reaching consequences that we shall never be content with anything short of ideal teaching by ideal teachers.

The focus of the teacher's influence is the recitation. At no other point does his life so vitally and so intimately touch the life of the pupil as in the recitation. That the

EDITOR'S PREFACE ix

teacher should approach the recitation with right ideals and conduct it with wise processes is his crowning achievement. All that he may do in advance of the recitation by preparation and by organization fmds its value measured solely in terms of efficiency in the recitation itself. For this central act all other processes exist. To fail here is to fail utterly. To succeed here is to succeed decisively.

To understand how to dispose the pupils' minds, to know how to induce right conditions in the learning act, to arouse interest, to quicken intellectual activities, to secure clear and facile expression, to implant an abiding love for learning, in short, to foster knowledge, culture and skill, these are the goals of the recitation.

What the teacher does in the recitation is largely conditioned by what he has done to prepare himself for the recitation. The teacher cannot be indifferent to the value of broad general training nor of constant daily preparation for the teaching activity in the recitation. Breadth and freshness of knowledge are alike essential to right recitational processes. There is also a quality of thought and of personality that is of moment. That teacher will succeed best who manifests sincere sympathy and concern for the pupil. The pupil must realize from the first that the teacher is a real friend whose heart is aglow with kindly concern. This enables the pupil to do his best. Whatever of criticism is admitted must be constructive rather than destructive. The aim of the teacher should be to dispose the pupil to make the most of the facts to be stated, considered, organized, and applied.

The recitation is more than a lecture period. The function of the teacher is more than that of telling facts and incidents to the pupil. The pupil's part in the recitation is most significant. The aim should be to cultivate free-

X EDITOR'S PREFACE

dom of expression. To this end it is well to have at least part of the recitation devoted to oral discussion. When the pupil's mind is passive and receptive the teacher has slight opportunity to measure the pupil's progress. When the pupil's mind is active and expressive the teacher has a clear view into his soul. This view is the teacher's best guidance. This active state of mind is also most conducive to the pupil's growth to independent thought, to the stage of development at which the teacher becomes dispensable and the pupil is self-guided in the acquisition of knowledge and power and skill. The wise teacher strives to render himself unnecessary to the pupil.

There are two aspects of the function of the recitation : First, the recitation is a test of exposition. It aims to show clearly to the pupil what is to be mastered and how this mastery is attained. Here the teacher does his best work. Second, the recitation is a test of expression. It aims to give the pupil occasion to prove the scope and quality of his knowledge. Here the pupil does his best work. Since no expression is adequate that does not issue from proper preparation it follows that the first business of the teacher is to test the preparation of the pupil. This implies also the duty of pointing the purpose of the lesson and giving guidance in the art of study. It is in this part of the function of the recitation that poor teaching is revealed. To demand good expression is manifestly unwise when the teacher has failed to give essential direction to the pupil. All active aspects of mind demand, as the final act, some form of expression. The last act of the recitation is to secure from the pupil a satisfactory statement of his thought. When the pupil can prove his grasp of the facts in the lesson by a statement that is pedagogically sane the recitation has achieved its purpose.

EDITOR'S PREFACE xi

There is here also a most valuable occasion to impart incidentally but most significantly that fund of moral guidance which once set in the currents of the soul becomes, through habitual recall, character. The recitation is the teacher's opportunity to " point a moral," to link facts of the curriculum with the issues of life in conduct. To do this with the least appearance of dogmatic procedure is a fair test of good teaching. It will not do to ignore this obligation. It will not do to meet it in a bungling way. The wise teacher will study most to make morally significant all the activities of the pupil's mind.

The author of this treatise is an experienced and successful teacher and superintendent of schools. He knows from wide experience the quality of current instruction and the great possibilities of a wisely administered school. His head and heart are ahke in intimate sympathy with sincere teachers who are striving to do the best things. From his abundant equipment for this important work he has herein given in a most practical and inspirational way the guidance needed by the American teacher in producing the highest good from the recitation.

M. G. B.

Philadelphia, February 20, 1906.

Chapter I

A good recitation is the real test of the school. It shows as in a mirror, the interest, skill, and information of the teacher, and the work of the class.

George Rowland

A recitation is almost valueless, unless something definite is accomplished.

The recitation is beautiful just in proportion as it secures energy of thought, however halting and struggling it may seem.

Tompkins

CHAPTER I

The terminology of a subject is important. Words often have various meanings, and the sense in which they are used in any discussion determines the exactness of the thought conveyed. Vagueness of meaning and confusion of mind are sure to follow indefmiteness of expression. In this discussion, then, it is important that the sense in which the term "recitation" is used be clear and definite.

I.— THE TERM DEFINED.

The Recitation is not a Place. It requires a place, but it is in no sense a synonym of class-room. It also requires a period of time, yet it is not that period. It is not a place or a period, but rather a process or an exercise in which certain ends are accomphshed.

In the literature of our profession the recitation is always regarded as a process or an exercise. Writers, however, do not agree as to the exact meaning of the term, consequently they differ in regard to its content and its limitations. Some use the term in a literal, others in a general sense.

1. Its Literal Meaning*. Literally speaking, to Recite is to Tell or Say again -what was formerly Learned.

This may be done in two ways. First, by telling what was learned in the exact language of the text ; or, second, by stating the substance of it in the pupiPs own words. The latter is always preferable. It at least requires some thought and develops some power of original expression, while the former may be only a memory recital of words not understood. While memoriter recitations, meaningless to the child, are always to be avoided, yet it is wise to have the learner incorporate into his own phraseology as much of the choice language of the text as he can understand and use. This is one of the sources from which he enlarges and enriches his vocabulary and acquires the terminology of a subject. Strictly speaking, then, the recitation is the restatement of what was formerly learned either in the words of the text or in the child's own language. This is the historical meaning of the term. It has come down to us from the time when school exercises consisted mainly in repeating in the exact language of the text what had formerly been memorized.

If this comprises all that is included in the term, the process that it names is not in any sense a teaching exercise. The teacher may test preparation, knowledge, or skill, but he may not instruct, because to recite means to say, to repeat, to rehearse, or to relate, and not to teach, to learn, or to instruct.

2. The General Meaning of the Term. But the term " recitation" has a larger meaning than its etymology and its history suggest. Writers generally use it to embrace any and every school exercise in which the teacher teaches, tests, or trains, or in which the child acquires knowledge, power, or skill. The process is thus made to embrace almost every exercise except the formal examinations. This is the general meaning of the term, and while it is wise ordinarily to use words in their etymological sense, yet in this discussion we must depart from that rule and use the term in its generally accepted sense.

3. The Recitation, then, is any Process or Exercise in which the Teacher teaches, tests, or trains, or in which the Learner acquires Knowledge, Power, or Skill,

n.— PARTIES TO THIS PROCESS.

As a process, the recitation is two-fold. It includes both teaching and learning. It, therefore, implies the active participation and co-operation of at least two persons, a teacher and a learner. The one presents, the other grasps ; the one questions, the other responds ; the one directs, the other does ; the one gives, the other receives ; the one teaches, the other learns ; the one inspires, the other is inspired. Both must think and grow, and each must aid the other in attaining the desired end.

1. The Teacher's Part. The teacher's part is to teach, to test, and to train ; to lead, to guide, and to inspire ; to correct errors, to form habits, and to mould character. This is accomplished through the wise use of all or part of the following means :

(a) By preparation of the child's mind to receive the subject matter.

(6) By preparation of the subject matter.

(c) By presentation of the subject matter.

(cl) By explanation and illustration of the subject matter.

(e) By suggestions about the subject matter.

(/) By leading the child to think about and understand the subject matter.

(g) By what the teacher is and by what he does.

2. The Pupil's Part. The part of the pupil is to acquire knowledge, power, or skill, to form right habits, and to grow in nobility and purity of character. These ends are attained through some or all of the following means :

(a) By examining the subject matter.

(6) By understanding and interpreting it.

(c) By assimilating it.

(d) By remembering it.

(e) By applying and using it.

All these may be summed up by saying the intellectual and moral growth of the child is determined by what he thinks, feels, and does. For thoughts create desires, desires lead to action and effort, and these are the instruments both of scholarship and character. As a man thinks, so he should feel and act, and as he feels and acts, so he is. Marcus Aurelius says, " The soul is dyed by the thoughts ;" and Bailey sings, —

We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not hreaths ; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

Feelings, thoughts, and acts, then, sum up all the means by which the pupil is to be trained,

m.— IMPORTANCE OF THE RECITATION.

The recitation is an important school exercise. In the lower grades it is by far the most important. And in what it does for the child in the advanced grades and in the high-school, it ranks next to the art of study. The class-room is the enchanted ground of pedagogy ; the sacred spot where two souls meet, each to influence and to be influenced by the other; the trysting The Enchanted place of truth and power, where they loiter Ground of that they may be seized and used by the ^ ^^°^^" child who has the courage to make the capture ; the mart of mind, Avhere earnest effort is the only coin needed to purchase a whole kingdom of moral, intellectual, or spiritual truth. The recitation is the very gateway of opportunity, both to the teacher and the child. To the teacher it is an opportunity to impart knowledge, to guide effort, to develop power, to form habit, to mould character, to deepen impression, to train in the art of study, to inspire the child with a love of learning, and to fix forever his habits of thought and expression. To the child it is an opportunity to acquire knowledge, power, and skill, and to catch glittering glimpses of the great sunlit valley of truth from the glowing hilltops of the teacher's inspiration. A great teacher, with a pent-up personality, throbbing with a desire to help others, is always the centre of an unconscious influence that shapes the life and character of childhood. But the recitation period is the time when that influence becomes conscious and active, and when the teacher with deliberate premeditation, with a definite purpose, and with a well-prepared plan, tries to aid and direct the child and to control his life and his destiny. And any exercise in which every influence, every effort, every energy of the teacher is put forth in the highest interests of the child must be of supreme importance,

1. The Recitation is Important because its Character will, to a Great Extent, determine the Child's Habits of Study. Children generally do what they are expected to do ; they always do what they are required to do. Right action leaves a tendency to repeat itself, and oft repeated, forms habit and crystallizes into character. Small expectation is the husbandman of a scant crop. The teacher who expects and who accepts imperfect preparation, superficial work, a hazy conception of truth, and a careless expression of it, will generally get them. And these are the little foxes that are destroying The Little the tender vines in many a school-room Foxes. vineyard that would otherwise be fruitful.

But blessed is the child that comes under the influence of a teacher who demands vigorous work, thorough preparation, and clearness of comprehension. Such a child will learn to love truth for truth's sake. He will finally acquire the instincts of the scholar and wear the badge of true culture, because of the student habits formed under the hallowed influence of such a teacher.

2. The Recitation is Important because it will help to determine the Child's Habits of Tho'iig'ht and Expression. A memory recitation without thought is always of doubtful value, but one with hazy thought and careless expression on the part of teacher and child is detestable. Careless thinking produces careless habits, both of thought and expression ; while clearness and vigor of thought give accuracy and tenacity to memory, and clearness and vigor to expression. All true teaching holds clearly and distinctly before the mind of the child the thing he is to see and to think. It aims to give Functions of accuracy and definiteness to the thought, the Recitation, ^j^^j force and cleamess to the expression. The best fruit of the recitation is not a knowledge of the subject matter, but rather certain qualities of mind. These are accuracy of observation, distinctness of perception, clearness of apprehension, completeness of apperception, correctness of expression, and all those mental qualities that are summed up in what we call the child's habits of thought and expression.

3. The Recitation is Important because it inspires the Pupil with a Love of Learning-. It is largely during its progress that the child lights the torches of its inspiration with the sacred fire that always burns on the true teacher's altar. Life begets life, interest fires interest, inspiration springs from inspiration. The flashing eye, the glowing heart, the beaming countenance, the bristling thought, the burning word, and the all-consuming love of truth in a great teacher, await only the opportunity of the recitation to arouse the dormant energies, to awaken the slumbering activities, to call into exercise all the powers, to enkindle a love of learning, and to fire with zeal and enthusiasm every member of a class.

" Great personalities make great universities," said President Butler. And just as surely, great personalities make great teachers. The recitation is the place where this personality becomes most active and potent. There eye meets eye, pulse feels pulse, heart warms heart, mind touches mind, thought arouses thought, zeal fires zeal, and spirit inspires spirit.

Every true recitation arouses, stirs, stimulates. It fills the mind and heart with a burning zeal. It lights the torches of desire with a never-quenching flame of enthusiasm. It touches the electric buttons of a child's inspiration, and sends him out into life an Tracking active, inquisitive, aggressive student, eager Truth to its to track truth to its secret lair in earth, or sea, or sky. And so eager, so enthusiastic is he, that he will foUow the trail at any cost, through any gloom and over any obstacle, to the secret cavern where it was first hid by the Almighty.

Such is the value of the recitation when a real master stands back of the teacher's desk, when a high priest of mind, matter, and method presides at the sacred altar. At such a shrine, presided over by such a teacher, the child gets facility and accuracy for his tongue, skill and scope for his faculties, wisdom and power for his mind, eyes and ears for his intellect, and arms and wings for his soul ; so that he may be a power for good as his knowledge-thirsting spirit wings its flight from spot to spot in its search for hidden truth, the sacred complement of seeking minds.

IV.-CHARAOTEmSTIOS OF A GOOD RECITATION.

It is difficult to specify the essential characteristics of a successful recitation, as they will vary more or less with time and place. But a few general suggestions may be made that will throw some light on the subject at important points.

1. The Recitation should be Short. This is especially true in the elementary school. Attention consumes brain cells rapidly. Children cannot give vigorous, mental action and prolonged attention to any subject. Good teaching burns up the accumulated store of mental energy in a short time. The point of brain fatigue is soon reached with little children, and those housed in over-heated and poorly ventilated rooms, and with all A Paradoxical who are deprived of frequent periods for statement. pj^y in the opcu air. These periods give the mind time to restock itself with energy. Prolonged attention, therefore, without reaching the point of brain fatigue is impossible. And when this point is reached, all further effort is useless. This is why, paradoxical as it may seem, some fairly good recitations could be improved by shortening them.

The length of the recitation will vary according to the grade, from five minutes in the primary, to perhaps forty in the high-school. What then shall determine its length?

(a) The age of the pupils.

(6) The temperature and purity of the school-room atmosphere.

(c) The mental energy of the pupils disposable at that time.

(d) The extent of the preparation made for it.

(e) The energy-consuming power of the teacher and the subject matter.

These principles may need some explanation. It is evident that every recitation in which little children take part should be short. It is equally clear that if the air is vitiated and over-heated the period must Length of be short, since these conditions tend to Recitation, stupefy the child, to suppress his interest, and thus render attention almost impossible. Indeed it would be wise perhaps to refuse to try to teach under such unfavorable conditions, for failure is likely to result, unless the teacher's effort is unusually vigorous.

Child study has taught us that at certain hours of the day the pupil has more vital energy than at other times. From nine to eleven, and from tw^o to half-past three the amount of disposable energy for any effort is greater than at other times. As a result these are the periods for long recitations and for the study of difficult subjects. It would be unwise to make the recitation long immediately after the noon hour, when the digestive organs are draining the reservoirs of the child's vitality in their effort to digest his dinner. A short period at that time easily exhausts the supply and leaves the child v^ithout power to apply to the v^ork at hand.

A leading purpose of the recitation is to train the pupil to habits of study. And while one must often teach the child in the primary grade before it is able to study, yet in higher work, a good teacher will gauge the length of the recitation at least partly by the extent of the preparation made by the pupils.

A good recitation is generally shorter than a poor one. Good teaching is vigorous. It consumes the child's stock of vitality rapidly, while poor teaching calls for its expenditure at a slower rate. Running exhausts an athlete quicker than walking. He may walk for hours, but the periods for running must be short. Suppose a pupil has ^ . ,^ a hundred units of mental energy at his dis-

Fanning the °«'

Fires of posal. If good teaching calls for its expendi-

interest. ^^^^ ^^ ^-^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ uuits per miuutc, the

stock will be exhausted in ten minutes. But poor teaching does not fan the fires of interest. It therefore consumes the fuel more slowly, perhaps at the rate of five units per minute. If so the supply will last twenty minutes. Thus vigorous teaching drains the child's reservoirs of vital energy much more rapidly than poor teaching. Every good recitation is, therefore, comparatively speaking, a short one.

2. The Recitation should have a Brisk Mental Movement. This is necessary to sustain the interest and hold the attention. Tompkins defines the recitation as " a movement of thought on a given theme." The flow of thought should be strong and rapid, not slow and sluggish. The mind of the child should be carried rapidly from point to related point. Skilful questions given at intervals of one minute each may be very helpful, but the same, given at intervals of fifteen seconds, may be much better. The mind must move ; it cannot rest at any point but for a moment without wandering. In a recitation characterized by a sluggish flow of thought, enticing suggestions dissipate interest, and irrelevant associations lead the mind away from the point at issue. But a brisk movement sustains the interest and holds the attention. The mind is kept busy noticing and discovering the related points as presented, and has no time to wander into forbidden fields. The movement of the thought is guided and pushed briskly forward by questions, suggestions, explanations, and directions. Such a recitation is a good remedy for stupidity. It develops alertness of mind, a quick perception, and a prompt mental response.

But there is another side to this question of movement. There is a danger of being too brisk sometimes, in not giving a slow mind sufficient time to focus its stock of related facts upon the new idea in order to give it interpretation and place. This is a danger point to be noticed and avoided.

How then shall we gauge the mental movement, the flow of the current of thought in a recitation? This question cannot be definitely answered, but the teacher should see that the mental movement is brisk enough to sustain the interest and hold the attention ; brisk enough to demand and develop that alertness of mind that is the essential characteristic of the learning process, and to destroy that sluggish mental pace that, long continued, makes the slow pupil stupid.