﻿HISTORY STUDY IN" THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



31 



III. METHODS AND DEVICES 

 1. Oral Teaching 



Introductory. Oral teaching in history is considered from the 

 standpoint of the extent to which the instruction in history is 

 oral and of the grades in which it is emphasized; the preparation 

 of teachers for story-telling; the requirements as to oral and writ- 

 ten reproduction, and the desirability of encouraging note-taking 

 on oral teaching. Some helpful suggestions regarding oral instruc- 

 tion in history are listed at the close of the section. 



Extent to Which Instruction in History is Oral. The replies 

 from the 259 schools, or school systems, show that oral instruction 

 is practically the only kind given in history up to the fourth grade. 

 From here occurs a rather rapid decrease. This fact is very clearly 

 shown by the following tabulation : 



Occurence in Grade — 







2 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



8 



Wholly or mostly oral 



198 



201 



200 



157 



61 



34 



3 



2 



In part oral 



12 



13 



18 



35 



39 



34 



38 



26 



Total number of systems employing. 



210 



214 



218 



192 



100 



68 



41 



28 



A few scattering replies could not be included in the above. 

 Some typical ones are: 'All grades in which history is taught', 

 very little or none'; 'none at all except in connection with reading 

 history stories ' ; ' lecture method used some in advanced grades ' ; 

 'not much except in primary grades'; 'instruction oral wdth oc- 

 casional written reviews'; 'oral instruction principally used in 

 connection v/ith special days ' ; ' large amount of the work is story- 

 telling'. The total number of systems represented in the above an- 

 swers is only seventeen — 'very little or none' being the reply of 

 eight of this number. 



Preparation of the Teacher for Story-Telling. The large 

 amount of oral instruction in the lower grades as shown above in- 

 dicates the need for teachers who are trained story-tellers. The 

 answers on this phase of the questionnaire show a woeful lack of 

 definite, systematic, and deliberate preparation of teachers for this 

 work. Schools for the training of teachers evidently have a field 

 here in which valuable and effective work can be done. 



