A Guide to Methods and Observation in History Studies in High School Observation — A Reader’s Guide

The Teacher as a Subject of Scrutiny

Davis devotes an entire section to the teacher's preparation and equipment, listing twenty-four discrete qualities to be observed. The list moves from personality traits—"winsome manners," "sympathetic with her students"—to professional training in educational psychology and history. Several queries reveal a concern with the teacher's independence from the textbook: "Is she tied to the textbook?" and "Does she have a fund of explanatory and illustrative material at her command?" The final items ask whether the teacher "knows her pupils—their interests, home life, and ambitions" and whether she "possesses a clear insight into character and life." These questions treat the teacher not merely as a transmitter of facts but as a figure whose personal qualities and social awareness are integral to effective instruction.

Pupil Behavior as Evidence of Method

The pupil's preparation and equipment are examined through a parallel set of queries. Davis asks whether pupils have "confined themselves to the text, or have they gone outside this for material?" and whether they have "outlined the lesson." He also probes the social dynamics of study: "Have they 'studied the lesson together'? Do you approve of such study?" The questions imply that the observer should infer the teacher's methods from the pupils' visible habits. A recurring theme is whether the lesson was made to appear "vital to the solution of some really interesting problem," suggesting that Davis values motivation over mere compliance. The observer is thus trained to read student behavior as a diagnostic of instructional quality.

Curriculum Organization and the Role of Choice

Davis presents several sample curriculum plans for grades nine through twelve, then asks the observer to compare them with the school's actual arrangement. The queries focus on prescription versus election: "What courses are prescribed, and what are elective? Do you approve?" He also asks about the number of recitation periods per week and the use of an "unassigned" or "unprepared" class period. A notable question probes the justification for placing local history, civics, and industries in the first year, and another asks whether advanced civics is taught separately or "correlated and interwoven" with U.S. history. These questions reveal Davis's interest in the rationale behind curricular choices, not just their surface structure.

The Language of Observation: Precision and Personality

Davis's diction in the queries is notable for its blend of the concrete and the aspirational. He asks whether the teacher's voice is "melodious and pleasing" and whether she "can tell a tale simply and pleasingly." At the same time, he includes a long string of ideal traits: "enthusiasm, energy, optimism, sympathy, imagination, force, incisiveness, tact, judgment, geniality, social graces, courtesy, and kindliness." This catalog is less a checklist than a portrait of the teacher as a cultivated individual. The queries also repeatedly use the second person—"Do you approve?"—forcing the observer to take a stance. The guide thus trains not only what to see but how to judge, embedding a particular vision of teaching within the very structure of the observation form.

Davis's guide is best read as a period document in teacher education, revealing the assumptions and priorities of early twentieth-century normal-school training. Its value lies not in any single answer but in the questions it poses—questions that invite the reader to compare the ideal with the observed. For modern educators, it offers a historical baseline against which to measure changes in the language of teaching evaluation and the role of the classroom observer.