Ontario Teachers' Manuals. Ontario. Department of Education

of cause and effect, and the pupils at this stage can scarcely be expected to do that for themselves.

      In preparing for a lesson in Form IV history, the teacher should analyse the incidents of the period to be studied, should see how certain causes have led to certain results, and should be sure enough of the facts to have little recourse to the text-book while teaching. It does not look like fair play to expect a class to answer questions that the teacher cannot answer without consulting the text. On the other hand, it is refreshing to see the interest aroused in a class by a teacher who thinks enough of the subject to be able to teach it without constant reference to the text-book. Therefore, let the oral method be here again the chief dependence of the teacher. In such a lesson, for example, as that on the Intercolonial Railway (see p. 82) no book is needed—only the map and the black-board.

TRAINING IN USE OF TEXT-BOOK

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      However, as the pupils must learn, for their own profit in after years, how to read history without a guiding hand, they need training in the use of the text-book. The chief line on which such training may proceed is to have the pupils search out the answers to definite questions. Any one who has searched for material on a certain topic will appreciate the good results that have come in the way of added knowledge and increased interest. The topics at first should be quite simple, gradually increasing in breadth. A few suggestions for such work are given below; they may be called examination questions to be answered with the help of the text-book: