rder to successful teaching there
must be a constant interchange of response between teacher and class at
every moment throughout the recitation. This is impossible if the
teacher must stop to read the text of the lesson, or take her eyes and
attention away from the class to look up the question which is to come
next. All such breaks of thought are fatal to interest and attention on
the part of the class.

As suggested in an earlier chapter, the teacher should have prepared a
list of pivotal questions as a part of her lesson plan. With these at
hand there should be no necessity for reference to the printed lesson to
find questions during the recitation period. Let the teacher who is
accustomed to slavish dependence on the lesson text for his questions
really master his lesson, and then declare his independence of
tread-mill questioning; he will be surprised at the added satisfaction
and efficiency that come to his teaching.

The principle of unity.--Questions that really teach must follow some
plan of _unity_ or continuity. Each succeeding question must grow out of
the preceding question and its answer, and all put together must lead in
a definite direction toward a clear aim or goal which the teacher has in
mind. One of the serious faults of the questions quoted above from the
lesson quarterly is that they lack unity and purpose. Each question is
separate from all the others. No question leads to the ones which
follow, nor does the whole list point to any lesson or conclusion at the
end. Such questioning can result only in isolated scraps of information.
A series of questions lacking unity and purpose resembles a broom ending
in many straws, instead of being like a bayonet ending in a point: and
who would not prefer a bayonet to a broom as a weapon of offense!

The principle of clearness.--The good questioner makes his questions
_clear and definite_ so that they can not be misunderstood. That this is
not always accomplished is proved by the fact that a child who is unable
to answer a question when it is put in one form may answer it perfectly
when it is asked in different phrasing. The teacher always needs to make
certain that the question is fully comprehended, for it is evident that
an answer cannot exceed the understanding of the question in clearness.

To be clear, a question must be free from obscure wording. One primary
teacher, seeking to show how each animal is adapted to the life it must
live, asked the cla