The Recitation by George Herbert Betts
page 65 of 86 (75%)
page 65 of 86 (75%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
to do their best to remedy them. Low grade of certificate, low
standings in any branches, or the teacher's own consciousness of lack of mastery should be sufficient to send the sincere and earnest teacher to school again, even if this must be to summer schools instead of longer sessions. This sacrifice will not only pay abundantly in higher salary, but also in greater teaching power and in the sense of greater mastery and personal growth. But no amount of preparation in a branch will relieve a teacher of the necessity of daily preparation for the recitation. Dr. Arnold expressed this thought when he said: "I prefer that my pupils shall drink from a running stream, rather than from a stagnant pool." In order that one may develop a line of thought easily it must be _fresh_ in his mind; it is not enough that he has once known it well. One of the master teachers of our country, a university professor who is recognized as a great authority in his chosen subject, Latin, recently said to a group of Latin teachers: "I have taught Cicero for twenty years, until I know it by heart. But yet, every day, one hour before the time for my Cicero class, I go to my study and spend an hour with Cicero, just to get into the spirit of it. I would not dare to meet my class without this." It is true that the teacher with twenty classes a day cannot spend an hour on the preparation of each lesson. But most of the lessons will not require so much--sometimes the preparation will be the making of an outline or plan, sometimes reading the lesson over to freshen the mind upon it, sometimes only thinking the lesson through, for its plan and topics. It may at times, however, mean hard and serious study to master the difficult points and their presentation. But whatever it means, the conscientious and growing teacher will go to the lesson |
|