The teacher must aim, therefore, to select the difficult and the
important points and drill upon these until they are mastered, being
careful not to stop at the "half-way house," but steadily to go on
until skill is obtained. He must be resourceful in methods and devices
which will relieve the monotony of repetition; he must be persistent
and patient, insisting on the attainment of skill, but realizing that
it takes time to develop it; he must possess a good pedagogical
conscience which will be satisfied with nothing short of success in
his aims.


6. _A desirable balance among the three aims_

The aims to be accomplished through the recitation are, then,
_testing_, _teaching_, and _drilling_. These three aims may, as said
before, all be carried on in the same recitation, or they may come in
different recitations, as the needs of the subject require. Not
infrequently they may alternate with each other within a few moments.
In every case, however, the teacher should have clearly in mind which
one of the three processes he is employing and why. Not that the
teacher must always stop to reason the matter out before he employs
one or the other, but that he should become so familiar with the
nature and use of each that he almost unconsciously passes from one to
the other as the need for it arises.

Not many teachers are equally skilled in the use of testing, teaching,
and drilling. Some have a tendency to put most of the recitation time
on testing whether the class have prepared the assignment, and devote
but little time to teaching or drilling. Others love to teach, but do