Upon the proper assignment of the lesson depends much of the success of the recitation, and also much of the pupils' progress in learning how to study. The assignment of the lesson thus becomes one of the most important duties of the recitation period. Too many times this is left until the very close of the class hour, when there is no time left for proper assignment, and the teacher can only say, "Take the next four pages," or "Work out the next twenty problems."
2. Good assignment and teaching the art of study
We forget that children do not understand how to go to work at the lesson as we know how. The result is that they come back to the next recitation listless and uninterested, with the lesson not prepared. Or, it may happen that the less timid ones, when they come to study the lesson, call upon the teacher to show them how to go to work. The teacher has then to take time needed for other things to show different individuals what should have been presented to the entire class when the lesson was assigned. Such a method is comparable with giving a set of tools into the hands of novices who do not know how to use them, and then, without any instruction in the use of the tools, expecting them to turn out good work, without loss of time.
Little children are unfamiliar with books,—with the paragraphs, outlines, divisions, and subdivisions of a subject. They hardly know how to "gather thought" from a printed page, and yet we expect them to "get their lesson" without being shown how to go at it. Much time is lost in this way, and many children are discouraged in their work and caused to dislike going to school.
The Germans far excel us in this feature of their school work. No class of German children are ever sent to their seats with the simple direction to take so many pages in advance. Teacher and class together go over the next lesson, the teacher calling the attention of the class to the points of the lesson, asking them to hunt out subdivisions, etc., and instructing them how to prepare the lesson. And the class, having this necessary help, are able to prepare their lesson better and recite it better than the American children of the same age.
3. The teacher's preparation for assignment
There are three chief reasons why teachers do not give more attention to the assignment of the lesson: (1) Lack of time, (2) failure themselves to prepare the lesson in advance so as to be able to assign it, and (3) lack of understanding of proper methods of study.
Lack of time is not an adequate excuse for failure properly to assign the lesson. If there is but fifteen minutes for the recitation, all the more reason why this time should be used to the best advantage for the pupils. If one third of this time should be taken for the assignment of the next lesson (and this is usually not too large a proportion in elementary classes), then this much time should be taken. And, besides, if the lesson is well assigned, so that it is better understood and prepared by the class, more can be accomplished in ten minutes of actual reciting than in fifteen under the old method.
It may sometimes be advisable to assign the advance lesson at the beginning of the recitation, but usually it is better to wait until the close; for then the connection between the present lesson and the next can better be brought out.
Failure to look ahead in the textbook and become familiar with the next lesson renders it impossible properly to make the assignment. The teacher must know the scope of the lesson, its chief points, and the main difficulties it will present to the class. How often teachers are obliged to say to an unprepared class: "I did not realize how hard that lesson was, or I would not have assigned so much"; or, "That lesson was longer than I intended." All of which is a confession that the teacher was unprepared to make the assignment properly. It is true that the teacher is very busy and has many lessons to prepare; but, on the other hand, the teacher who keeps a day ahead of the class in his preparation will find that it abundantly pays in the greater mastery of his subject and the time saved in reviewing it preparatory to the recitation. This is not time lost, it is time saved.