Suggestions on Conducting the Recitation in Geometry

Abstract

It is not the purpose of this article to give detailed directions concerning what should be done first, second, third, etc., during a recitation period, nor how much time should be given to each division of the recitation. Giving such advice is too much like selling a “patent medicine.” A fixed recitation plan can not be used by all teachers with any more assurance than can a patent medicine be expected to cure all the diseases listed on the label. To give advice in such a manner is equivalent to suggesting limitations on a teacher's independence and originality. What is done at any particular time during a recitation depends on the nature of the subject matter in that day's lesson, the nature of the class, and the methods of the teacher. The recitation program may not always be chronologically the same. A wise teacher soon learns to do the right thing at the right time. It is sometimes necessary to break away from an outlined recitation plan for the sake of making a point—to step aside from the beaten path and meet a situation unexpectedly arising which, because of the manifest interest of the class, furnishes rare opportunity to “drive home” the principles of the subject.