The Recitation

by George Herbert Betts

a. Distractions by the teacher.—Strange as it may seem, many teachers are to be criticised on this point. Any striking feature or peculiarity of manner, dress, or carriage which attracts the attention of the class is a distraction. A loud or ill-modulated voice, tones too low or indistinct to be heard well, the habit of walking up and down the aisles or back and forth before the class, assuming awkward positions standing or sitting before the class—these are all personal factors which the teacher needs to keep constantly under surveillance.

The teacher may also distract the class by answering questions asked by the pupils at their seats, or by rebuking misdemeanors seen among those not in the recitation. Most of such interruptions are wholly unnecessary, and could be avoided by a little foresight and management. The lesson should be so clearly assigned that the pupils can have no excuse to ask later about the assignment, and then there should be a penalty for forgetting it. The drinks of water should be had and the errands attended to between classes. The pencils should be supplied and sharpened before the session begins. The mischievous culprits should be taught that it is a serious offense to interrupt a recitation. The teacher who permits these distractions by the school has not yet learned the secret of good management, and could hardly advertise his inefficiency in this regard any more effectively than by permitting such interruptions to continue.

It is also possible for the teacher to distract the person reciting by interrupting when there is a slight pause to think of the next point, or a hesitation before pronouncing a word. Teachers sometimes even interrupt a pupil who is reciting and themselves offer explanations, make remarks, or continue the discussion, leaving the child standing and not knowing whether he is excused or not. Of course this is bad manners on the part of the teacher, and it is even worse pedagogy. It is not encouraging to the pupil to feel that he may be interrupted at any moment, and few can think clearly or recite well when expecting such interruptions. The pupil should not expect to be allowed to think out a lesson or a point when he is reciting, which he should have thought out before coming to class. On the other hand, the teacher must remember that the child's mind is working on what to him is new and difficult matter, and hence cannot move as rapidly as the teacher's.

b. Distractions by the class.—Inattention, restlessness, and mischief are great sources of distraction from the class themselves. All these things have a tendency to be contagious, and in any case always break in upon the train of thought of the recitation. Because of this the teacher must win the inattentive and restless, and must check the restless, if he would save his recitation.

Not infrequently, in the more elementary classes, a certain kind of distraction is fostered and encouraged by the teacher with the aim of securing the attention of the whole class to the one who is reciting. This form of distraction consists in having the whole class watch the one who is reciting, and, if they observe an error in the recitation, at once raise their hands, when the one reciting must stop. This is a mistake from almost every standpoint, and has very little to redeem it. It may result in closer attention on the part of the class; but the motive which prompts the attention is bad. It leads to elation and rejoicing over the mistakes and failures of another, and it centres attention on the mistakes rather than on the facts to be brought out. Attention should be trained so that it will not have to depend on this kind of motive, and the memory should be trained to note and hold a correction until the one reciting has finished. Further, it is a most serious distraction to the one who is reciting to be expecting that a forest of hands may at any moment be wildly waving about his ears, gleefully announcing that he has made an error. Condemnation of this method of securing attention can hardly be too severe.

c. Distractions by the school.—In any busy school there is bound to be more or less of hum and confusion. In many schools, however, there is much more than is warranted. It is true that children get tired of sitting still for an entire session, and that they find relief in going for a drink, or going to the dictionary, or on some other errand about the room. In some schools, one or more pupils may be found walking about the room at almost any time of the day, and not infrequently several are on errands at the same time. This, as previously noted, is usually a fault in management on the part of the teacher. The larger part of these interruptions can just as well be saved by a little foresight and firmness.

Some teachers even leave the class which they are hearing to answer questions or give help to pupils in the school who have not been trained to wait for their requests until the class is dismissed. Usually, only a very small percentage of these questions should have been asked at all, or would have been with the proper management of the school. And all the necessary questions and requests should almost without exception be held for the interval between recitations. The school should be taught that nothing short of the direst necessity will warrant asking a question or making a request during a recitation.

Likewise in the case of misdemeanors. The class which is reciting should not be interrupted for minor misdemeanors which occur during the recitation. This does not mean that the misdemeanor is to go by unnoticed. On the contrary, the settlement for it may be all the more severe for having to wait until the class is dismissed.

d. Physical distractions.—Distractions from the physical environment may be of several kinds.

Not infrequently, especially in the older schoolhouses, the seats are so placed with reference to windows that the light strikes the eyes of the pupils, instead of the pages of the books; or it may be that a stray sunbeam strikes athwart the class and dazzles the eyes. It need hardly be suggested that no such distraction as this should go unremedied.