from other sources. This rightly done lends life and interest to the
recitation, broadens the child's knowledge, and increases his respect
for the teacher. In this way many lessons in history, geography,
literature--in fact, in nearly all the studies,--can have their
application shown, and hence be made more real to the pupils.

_d. Inspire the pupils to better efforts and higher ideals._--The
recitation is the teacher's mental "point of contact" with his pupils.
He meets them socially in a friendly way at intermissions and on the
playground. His moral character and personality are a model to the
children at all times. But it is chiefly in the recitation that the
_mental_ stimulus is given. The teacher who is lifeless and
uninspiring in the teaching of the recitation cannot but fail to
inspire his school to a strong mental growth, whatever else he may
accomplish.

Most pupils have powers far in excess of those they are using. They
only need to be inspired, to be wakened up mentally by a teacher whose
mind is alive and growing. They need to be made hungry for education,
and this can be accomplished only by a teacher who is himself full of
enthusiasm. Inspiration is caught, not taught.

_e. Lead pupils into good habits of study._--It is probably not too
much to say that one third or one half of the pupil's time is lost in
school because of not knowing how to study. Over and over pupils say
to the teacher, "I didn't know how to get this." Many times children
labor hard over a lesson without mastering it, simply because they do
not know how to pick out and classify its principal points. They work
on what is to them a mere jumble, because they lack the power of
analysis or have never been taught its use.