The
amount of time teaching handwriting has been significantly reduced, in the
1940s and ‘50s teachers spent about 2 hours a week teaching handwriting, in the
2000’s teachers are spending 10 to 15 minutes a day. In the 1940’s and 50’s having exceptional handwriting
was essential, as the only way to communicate with relatives living a continent
away was by writing. My grandfather
decided he was going to marry my grandmother, based off of three sentences she
wrote at the bottom of a letter to his aunt.
In our current times, I can call whom ever I would like, from my cell
phone anywhere.
Academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age help children express their thoughts. However, what if the students struggle with handwriting because of their neurological wiring, learning issues or poor fine motor skills, then using a keyboard levels the playing field. Perhaps a student has an issue with their fine motor skills, teaching them to type properly, may allow them to express their thoughts more clearly; prior to them becoming so frustrated that they can not get their thoughts out quick enough.
Many of the arguments made for keeping handwriting an essential portion of instruction for children seem quite archaic to me in current times. The articles stated that if the same content is written sloppily it is scored lower than a neat version. I have been in graduate school for three years now, I can not remember one thing I turned in written. I remember when I was in middle school I turned some papers in typed and that was so long ago. The main discussion point for one of the articles was that students’ SAT scores in the writing section were lower when they wrote in block print as opposed to cursive. Supposedly, by 2017 all standardized tests in classrooms will be done on computers, while the date may get pushed back, by the time our third graders are taking their SATs they will be doing it on a computer.
Bottom line: Yes, students need to learn to print and write cursive, however it should not be a main focus of our curriculum (taking up 2 hours a week) in a day in age when our students will likely be working on computers when they enter the job market.
Resources:
Pressler,
M. (2006, October 11). The handwriting is on the wall. The washington post.
Retrieved from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475.html
Russel,
J. (2009, September/October). Learning by hand: A case for handwriting
enhancing reading. Education Update Online. Retrieved from
http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2009/SEP/html/spec-learning.html
Hi Rhea,
ReplyDeleteI have been back and forth thinking about what my response to your post is, and I’ve decided it’s pretty much: I agree. I prefer to write in cursive and I don’t believe that there will ever be a world where writing is unnecessary (hence the existence of things like postcrossing.com) so why not learn to do it as efficiently as possible?
I know from experience that my students benefited more from beginning their stories and reports in written form – fiddling around with WordArt, fonts and colors was so distracting, and handwriting was less novel and so they focused more on getting their ideas down more thoughtfully. This article in the Wall St. Journal talks about the neurological benefits of handwriting http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html I also think that learning to type proficiently is just as important and I like the idea that technology can be used to aid handwriting skills. It’s like the debate about paper vs. e-books, I don’t think the emergence of one means the end of the other.
I think handwriting is very important. With all the other curricular pressure on students and teachers, I don't see extended periods of time spent on handwriting as practical or necessary. I think consistently spending 15 minutes on handwriting a day is a good use of time and more than a lot of teachers are doing these days. I am someone who loved writing down my thoughts before producing it electronically or orally. I found that writing down my ideas helped me become more thoughtful about what I say. I mostly support handwriting instruction because I have seen students struggle with the expression of their ideas because it cannot be clearly put on paper. I think we should at least give handwriting part of our day so that students can focus on their thoughts and ideas when writing and less on formation. I think the more you practice the more it becomes second nature to the students, especially the younger ones.
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