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The Recitation by George Herbert Betts
page 54 of 86 (62%)
The teacher's treatment of the answers given is of hardly less
importance than the formulation of the questions themselves. It is to
be remembered that the recitation is an interchange of thought and
expression between teacher and class. To this end, the response must
be mutual. Not alone when the question is being asked is the teacher
to be animated and interested, but likewise while the answer is being
given. It is neither good pedagogy nor good manners for a teacher to
sit unresponsive and inattentive when a pupil is reciting. Not that
the teacher needs always to comment on an answer, or say that it is
correct; it is rather a matter of manner, of attention and interest to
the answer. We find it embarrassing either in a recitation or out of
it to talk to a person who seems not to be listening.

Right at this point, however, there lurks an insidious danger. It
comes easily and naturally to one to give some sign of assent or
disapproval as to the correctness of the answer while it is being
spoken. The slightest inclination of the head, the dropping of the
eyelids, or a certain expression of the face, comes to be read by the
pupil as a signboard to guide him in his statements. This is, of
course, all wrong. The teacher should give absolutely no sign while
the answer is going on. Thus to help the child leads him to depend on
the teacher instead of relying on his own knowledge. It leads to
guessing, and so skillful does this sometimes become that a bright but
unprepared pupil is able to steer through a recitation guided by the
unsuspecting teacher.

Answers should not be repeated by the teacher. This is a very common
fault, and a habit that is usually acquired before the teacher is
aware of it. The tendency to repeat answers probably arises at first
from a mental unreadiness on the part of the teacher. He has not his
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