reinforcing the associations once made, and by doing so, fixing them firmly.

4. Another purpose, and by no means an unimportant one is to provide useful materials for a comprehensive review. Young students find reviewing difficult. If no aids are supplied for review, the task of reading and studying the text again, especially for final examinations, is quite a large one. And yet, in a sense, the review should be the best part of the course. To take up all the tangled odds and ends and to view the course of development as a whole, is broadening and conducive to mental growth and grasp. If in the notebook are found maps, summaries, outlines, themes, tables and other pieces of application work, made when the topic was fresh in mind and thoroughly grasped, and covering the most important features of the course, the task is greatly simplified. Using a pretty complete notebook with one class, and doing very little notebook work with another, the size of the classes being the same, the assignments the same, the mental average of the students practically the same, and during the same term, I found that the first class average nearly 10% higher on the final examination than did the other. This is the case for the notebook. The most common objection to the notebook is that it takes too much time. It is one of the virtues of the notebook that it does take time, for the longer the attention is concentrated on a topic, the better it will be learned. I do not believe that many high school students are in serious danger of mental breakdown as a result of overstudy. The net result of requiring notebook work is that more time is spent on history. This is a valuable result in itself.

Yet I realize that there is a practical limit to the amount of notebook work that can be done. The practical question is, how much will the students do? This is determined by the mental average of the class and the personal force of the teacher. If too much notebook is being required, it will show up in insufficient preparation of the lesson, assuming that the preparation of notebook exercises is carefully checked. The remedy for this is to select fewer notebook topics and to drop out the less important ones. But notebook work is so valuable, and its results so beneficial, that the teacher should require as much as the class will do without neglecting the lesson preparation.

In fact, as I look back upon the courses I took in college, I feel that they would have been much more valuable to me if more notebook work had been re

quired even there. As students in our undergraduate days, we were prone to content ourselves with understanding what we read rather than attempting to fix it firmly in our respective mental storehouses. However much we may have benefited from studying a map closely, we certainly would have learned it much better, had we made it ourselves. And one of the most valuable lessons I learned in college, I learned from my freshman roommate who invariably made an analytical outline of every lesson he studied. If such methods are of value to fairly mature stu

dents, how much more so to high school boys and girls!

Notebook exercises may be divided into three main classes:

1. Outlines of periods or events, 2. Maps,

3. Themes, including the term report or long theme. Each one of these kinds of notebook exercises serves as the concrete embodiment of study of that particular sort done in preparation for the recitation and consummated during the recitation itself. Let us now take up each of these classes and consider its special claims to a place in the notebook, and the best methods of teaching the pupils to perform tasks of that kind.

1. The notebook outlines are perhaps more useful than any other kind of notebook exercise. There is nothing that tests and organizes the pupil's knowledge to better advantage. The making of an outline teaches the relative importance of different points in the lesson in a very striking manner. It promotes analysis, and is of very great value in review. The outline for the permanent notebook should be a complete analytical summary of some period or of some great event. As far as possible it should require organization of the subject-matter on a plan different from that of the text-book in order that the process of making it should be as broadening as possible.

In the early part of the course, I work most of the outlines out in detail on the blackboard during the recitation, and permit the pupils to copy them. Later, I give them four or five main topics about which to group the facts, and expect them to fill in the rest according to their own ideas. About the end of the six weeks I simply announce the subject of the outline and indicate in a general way what it should contain. Thus the pupils are introduced to the outline gradually and the more familiar they become with its use and importance, the more they are expected to do without assistance. It is then that they come to realize the full benefits of its use.

2. The maps are hardly less important, although their purpose is somewhat different. The making of a map, by fixing the attention upon the space clement of the lesson for a considerable period, results in a vivid mental picture that stays with the pupil. Many pupils have used these very words in expressing the value they have gotten from map making. While some of the maps are to be copied from the text, most of the maps I assign require the use and comparison of three or more maps in their textbooks in order to get the material for the notebook map. This results in a less slavish devotion to the printed page, and gives room for individual taste, in arranging the material.

There are many good sets of outline maps on the market, among which may be named the McKinley series, the Talisman series, and the Johnston series. Which series a teacher will use depends upon the kind of map work he desires to have done. Personally, I prefer a map lithographed on drawing paper, with

3. The use of themes is less important than the other two kinds of notebook exercises, for most of the matter that should go in the notebook can be expressed either in an outline or in a map. However, for certain sorts of topics of a general nature, calling for individual judgments, and involving outside reading in preparation, the theme form is practically the only suitable one. It is so easy for high school pupils to become indefinite and wordy in a theme, however, that it should be used with caution, and never used when an outline will serve the purpose equally well.

Since the object of the theme is to develop an original point of view and to broaden the text-book knowledge, outside reading should be expected in preparation for the writing of the theme. By reading other books, the student acquires new material which he must work over and assimilate before he is ready to write. The result of the process is a broader and richer point of view than would be possible without the use of the theme.

One long theme or term report should be required if the class is able to stand it. For this theme, the pupil should select some topic in the term's work that is especially interesting to him, and study it in detail, getting as much information as possible from all sources available. This work is intensely interesting to any serious-minded high school student. Many of them take the keenest interest in their term reports and do pieces of work that compare favorably with the average college term report. In one class in medieval history, one student took as his topic the origin of his own church, the Presbyterian, another worked out the English Reformation in which he was interested, because he was an Episcopalian, and a Lutheran in the class, wrote an excellent theme on the life of Luther. All three said to me later that that work had done them more good than anything else in the course. Much emphasis should be placed upon form, citation of authorities, foot-notes, bibliography and other earmarks of scholarship.

Too much stress cannot be laid upon definite assignment of topics and careful explanation of what is required. The teacher should hold every student rigidly to the performance of each task in the form assigned and should grade the books at frequent intervals. The pupils will shirk the work if the teacher does not make it plain that they must do it. 'The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

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To explain to the class the proper form for notebook exercises, and to make sure that they know what is required, I hand to each pupil on the first day of the term mimeographed instruction sheets of about six pages, cut and punched to fit in their notebooks. The period is spent in discussing these thoroughly. They contain the whole of the law and the prophets, and are as immutable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. These instructions are divided into three sections dealing with:

I. How to study the lesson.

II. What is expected in the recitation. III. The notebook-application of your knowledge. Section III of the instructions follows:

SECTION III-THE NOTEBOOK-APPLICATION OF YOUR

KNOWLEDGE.

The word permanent notebook when used by the teacher refers to a loose-leaf Glencoe cover and a filler of theme paper, in which the student is to do certain written work as assigned by the teacher. This written work is of three kinds, maps, outlines and themes.

A. THE MAPS.

A map fee of fifteen cents is charged to each pupil, to be paid at once for the purchase of Outline Maps which will be furnished by the teacher. Each map will be handed to you when the assignment is made. It should be completed. at once with NEATNESS and ACCURACY in accordance with the following instructions, which should be followed in order:

1. Using pencil trace on the map the boundaries needed to make the map clear. Make the pencil marks very light.

2. When sure that the boundaries are accurate, trace them with pen and ink, and when dry, erase carefully all pencil marks.

3. With dots in INK locate all important cities.

4. With PRINTED letters in INK name all rivers, cities, countries, seas, islands, etc. Print the names of cities in small letters, thus-Paris. Print the names of rivers in small capitals, thus-RHINE R. Print the names of countries in larger capitals. This will prevent confusion.

5. With crayon, color carefully each country, taking care: a. To use a circular motion of the crayon.

b. To bear lightly upon the crayon.

c. To get the color on smoothly.

d. Not to run over the boundaries.

e. Not to get the color on too thick.

6. With blue crayon, draw an edging, about an eighth of an inch wide, just inside the borders of each body of water.

7. In some corner of the map where there is plenty of room, make a key. Make a square block of each color used, and after it PRINT IN SMALL CAPITALS the name of the country represented by that color.

8. In a conspicuous place on the map, where there is plenty of room PRINT IN LARGE CAPITALS THE TITLE of the map, so that it is plain what the map is meant for. B. THE OUTLINES.

Frequently you will be assigned to make an outline of some event, of some period, or of the reign of some king. This outline should be made at once, while the topic is still fresh in your mind. The first thing to do when mak ing an outline is to pick out of the topic the main divisions or sub-topics. For a while, the teacher will pick these out for you. After you have picked out the main

sub-topics, pick out the sub-topics under each of the main sub-topics and carry the outline as far into detail as you

can.

For example, in an outline of the first Crusade, the most important divisions would be: Growth of the Power of the Turks, The Eastern Emperor Asks the Pope for Military Aid, The Council of Clermont, 1095 A. D., Routes of the Crusaders, The Crusaders in Constantinople, The Siege of Nicea, The Siege of Antioch, The Fall of Jerusalem, Results of the First Crusade.

The sub-topics under Growth of the Power of the Turks would be: The Turks were an Asiatic people, related to the Huns and of the Mohammedan religion. They had driven the Arabs out of the Holy Land. They had taken Asia Minor away from the Eastern Empire.

The finished outline would be arranged like this:

OUTLINE-FIRST CRUSADE.

A. Growth of the Power of the Turks.

1. The Turks were an Asiatic people related to the Huns. 2. They had driven the Arabs out of the Holy Land.

3. They had driven the Eastern Empire out of Asia Minor.

B. The Eastern Emperor asks the Pope for military aid. 1. The fact that he asked the Pope shows that the Pope was the most important figure in Europe.

C. The Council of Clermont, 1095 A. D.

1. Called by the Pope.

2. Composed largely of French nobles and clergy.

3. The Council decides to send an armed expedition to the Holy Land for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. Etc., etc., etc., etc.

Try to make these outlines as BRIEF and as COMPLETE as possible. This means that you must condense everything into as few words as will suffice to make your meaning clear. C. THE THEMES.

From time to time the teacher will assign a theme to be written on some subject. Before writing anything read at least one book besides the text-book on the topic assigned. Be sure you stick to your topic. For example, in a theme on "The Importance of Charlemagne's Reign," it is not part of your topic to write about the details of his private life, of his wars or of his government. You should deal only with the things that make Charlemagne stand out as a moving force in history, and the important things that Charlemagne did for the advancement of civilization. Do NOT USE THE WORDS OF THE BOOK; use your own. Make your theme definite, accurate, original and brief. It is not the quantity of matter you write, but its quality, that makes a good theme. At the end of the theme give the books that you have consulted, thus:

Robinson, J. H. Readings in European History, pp. 196

202.

D. THE TERM REPORT.

About the end of the first six weeks, you will be called upon to begin work on a long theme of from 1,200 to 1,500 words. You may choose your own topic, after consultation with the teacher, either from the work already cov. ered, or from work in the latter part of the term's work if you are more interested in that, and desire to read ahead. This report is expected to embody the results of considerable detailed study. You are expected to read at least three books on your topic, besides the text-book.

As you read these books, take notes on all important points, noting down carefully the page on which your information was found. When you write the report you should write it from the notes and refer to the books themselves as little as possible. In your final draft, which

1. Instructions to History Classes

pp. 1 2. Map-Eastern Empire and Mohammedans in 750 A. D. 7 3. Theme-Importance of Charlemagne's Reign 9 13

4. Map-Partition of Verdun, 843 A. D.

Etc., etc., etc.

It is interesting to note the attitude of the pupils themselves toward notebook work. At first they protest a good deal, claiming that it takes too much time, etc., etc. After the lapse of about a month the really serious students usually become stanch converts. They take pride in their notebooks, keep them up every day, and take pleasure in performing the tasks assigned. One month after the opening of the present term, I asked my pupils to write answers to a set of questions on notebook work. I explained to them that I wanted a candid expression of opinion to use in an article for the HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE, and that their answers whether Yea or Nay would affect neither their grades, nor the amount

of notebook work required during this term. The questions follow, together with a tabulation of the answers, and quotations from some of the most characteristic replies:

1. Is the making of study outlines helpful to you? YES, 53. No, 9.

"I must admit that I do not like to make preparation outlines, but they do fix the details of the lesson in my mind in such a way that they are not forgotten."

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It may take a little longer to prepare the daily lesson, but when you take the time to outline it you are sure to have the main outlines thoroughly in mind."

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They impress the events of the lesson well on the mind, and make it very easy to review at the end of the term." "The study outlines are very useful to me because if I write something I can remember it better, and it helps to organize my thoughts."

"I understand much better, as you have to when making an outline."

"It doesn't take as much time to prepare a lesson in this way."

"They cause you to notice the real important points and subordinate the subjects of minor importance."

2. Is the work on the outlines in the permanent notebook useful to you? YES, 58. No, 4.

"The outlines in the loose-leaf notebook are very useful, because only very important subjects are outlined, and if put in a daily notebook would not be worked out so carefully, and consequently the benefit received from them would not be so great."

"The outlines that I make in my loose-leaf notebook are useful only in that they are more brief and to the point." 66 The outlines for the loose-leaf notebook are helpful to me because the most important topics are the ones we outline, and by getting them accurate and concise, they are more easily remembered."

"The outlines in the loose-leaf notebook are not of particular help to me because it is only going over the work done in the study notebook."

"In making these outlines you must always use good English, which is always a help."

3. Should I give you assistance in making the outlines in the permanent notebook? YES, 50. No. 12. "I do not think that we should work out the outlines ourselves because very often we confuse topics and events, and thus they are fixed in our minds in a confused order."

"To have you help with the outlines is more easy, but the most instructive is to work them out ourselves. As for me, I believe I would rather do it independently."

"The outlines should be made in class, I think. As the lesson is gone over the important facts could be written on the board by the teacher or well emphasized, and the details left to the individuals of the class. I think by having them written the class can get a better form for them and also have them more accurate."

4. Is the work on the notebook themes useful to you? YES, 52. No, 8.

"I know that after writing my theme on Charlemagne, I knew more about him in all the branches of his reign than I did before."

"When we write themes we express our own ideas about the subject and work out all points, so that the teacher can see what we think of the subject."

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They take up too much time and often cause the lesson to be slighted. Outlines are all right, but not themes." "I have found the writing of notebook themes useful in that we are forced to study the topics until we understand them perfectly in order to write a theme about them, whereas otherwise we are liable to 'skim over' them and get only a general idea."

"By reading in other books to obtain more information, you find out more about the subject, and then writing it up yourself you remember the topic better."

5. Is the making of notebook maps useful to you? YES, 57. No. 5.

"I have found map drawing very useful to me; it fixes places in my mind I would not have otherwise. It teaches one to be accurate, and cautions one not to be content with a first glance."

"

The map making is helpful, for history cannot be understood fully without complete knowledge of the geographical conditions, and there is no better means of acquiring this knowledge than by map making."

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To make the map the student must know exactly where the place is, as you cannot guess in map making."

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'After working with a map I have a picture of the map in my mind."

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Unless you study the map after you have made it, I don't think it will be of any use. And by taking the same time you could have studied a map in the book and remembered it just as well."

"A person may think that he knows a map, but when you come right down to making it you find out many things that you didn't know."

6. Should the maps be done in color? YES, 58. No, 2.

"The maps should be done in color because that takes more time and pains, thus closer observation of geographical facts."

"In the first place, by glancing at the map, the different divisions stand out each with a different color, making it much easier to see boundaries. Then the coloring, if done correctly, adds beauty to the map, and makes it an object of pride to the person who has completed it."

"6

Maps should be done in color. They visualize better than uncolored ones."

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Maps should be done in color, because they are more attractive, the boundaries can be seen more easily and places can be found more easily."

Since every possible effort was made to secure freedom of expression and to eliminate motives for uncandid answers, the results seem to show that the vast majority find this system of notebook work useful to them. Some pupils, of course, are so constituted mentally that certain features of the work make no appeal to them, and for them at least are not worth the time expended on them in terms of good accom

plished. When I am satisfied that such is the case, I usually permit such students to dispense with that feature of the work. On the whole, however, it would appear that the system has vindicated itself, since the victims themselves acquiesce. It would be difficult to phrase arguments for notebook work in better terms than some of my own students have used in the answers quoted above.

The adoption of some plan of supervised study is of immense help to the history teacher in developing good notebook work. If double periods are regarded as necessary for science classes, it would seem that they would be equally valuable for students in historical science. While supervised study is of less value in the upper classes of secondary schools, and while it may be regarded as unnecessary in some other branches of high school work, there can be no question about its value for the first year or two of history work. During the study period the teacher can fix habits of systematic study in the pupils, can check on their preparation, can assist them on difficult tasks, all of which, if done at all, under the traditional system, would take valuable time from the recitation itself. In our school the day is divided into six seventyminute periods, and each class is under the control of its teacher for that length of time, of which forty minutes is devoted to the recitation, and the thirty minutes directly following to studying the new lesson. In the History Department at least, we feel that the system has abundantly justified itself.

Reports from

The Historical Field

OHIO VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. The Ohio Valley Historical Association will meet at Indianapolis, October 4 and 5, in connection with the Indiana State Centennial celebration. The program is as follows: Wednesday, October 4, address of welcome; for the State and Indiana Historical Commission, Governor Samuel M. Ralston; for the Indiana Historical Society, Judge Daniel Wait Howe; president's address, Harlow Lindley; "Land Speculations in the Thirties," Prof. R. C. McGrane, University of Cincinnati; "The New Purchase," Prof. James A. Woodburn, Indiana University. Wednesday evening, October 4, address, "A Lost Opportunity-Internal Improvements," Mr. Worthington C. Ford, first vicepresident American Historical Association, Boston, Mass.; reception given by the Indiana Historical Commission. Thursday, October 5, 9.30 a. m., "Kentucky's Contribution to Indiana," Prof. James R. Robertson, Berea College, Berea, Ky.; "The Constitutional Convention of 1816," Dr. Logan Esarey, editor "Indiana Magazine of History;

""

ad

the Ohio Valley Historical Association; 8.30 p. m., dress, "A Hoosier Domesday," Prof. Frederic L. Paxson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Friday, October 6, County Day of the Indiana State Centennial celebration; 10.00 a. m., processional pageant of the counties, each representing by float or otherwise some leading feature of its life or history. The procession is to be headed by the Centennial Cavalcade of ninety-two ladies on horses, representing the counties, led by Miss Indiana; 4.00 p. m., the pageant of Indiana, Riverside Park; 8.00 p. m., county rally held at the State Fair Coliseum; special musical program; address by Ex-President William Howard Taft.

NOTES.

Beginning with the October issue, the "Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine" will be sent to each member of the society throughout the country. Special efforts are being made to procure articles from the descendants of western pioneers. There will also be articles upon hitherto unpublished events connected with the Revolution.

"The Development of the City School System of Indiana, 1851-1880" is the leading article in the "Indiana Magazine of History" " for September, 1916. The study by Howard Littell is based upon official reports, current newspapers, and educational journals. It gives details concerning the institution of the public school system under the Constitution of 1851, before which date schools were almost wholly conducted as private enterprises. Other articles in this number give sketches of the pioneers of Jefferson County and description of Terre Haute in 1850 and Indiana in 1816.

In connection with the centennial celebration of the admission of Indiana into the Union, the historical pageant was made use of on a large scale. The State Historical Commission procured the services of Mr. William Chauncey Langdon. Under this encouragement, pageants have been presented at Bloomington, Corydon, Fort Wayne, Vincennes and Richmond. A State pageant will be given at Indianapolis, October 5 and 6.

The Texas History Teacher's Bulletin for May, 1916 (Vol. 4, No. 3), contains the following topics: "History Requirements for the High Schools," by J. R. Sutton; "Source Readings in Texas History," by Eugene C. Barker; "Civics in the Clebourne High School," by Clyde Eagleton. There are also statements concerning the university training of history teachers; history courses in the summer session of the University of Texas; correspondence history courses offered by the same university, and book reviews.

"The Sketch Map As An Aid in the Teaching of Historical Geography "is the title of an article by Curtis Howe Walker in the "School Review " (September, 1916). The paper deals with the difficulty of teaching historical geography, the practical failure of such teaching in many cases, the relative value of the sketch map as compared with other methods in use, and means for overcoming the difficulties by use of sketch maps.

"Aids in High School Teaching: Pictures and Objects," by J. C. Dana and Blanche Gardner, is the subject of Vol. 2, No. 19, of the publications of the Newark, N. J., Free Public Library ($1.00). The pamphlet contains articles upon the use of pictures and other objects for visual instruction and detailed lists of dealers in such illustrative material.