Category Archives: Education
Cursive in the News
Should we or shouldn’t we teach cursive writing in schools? Here is one of the very few news articles that makes reasonable sense: http://www.philasun.com/news/3604/34/Goodbye-cursive-writing.html The graphics that accompany the article implies a bias that cursive belongs to our past, but … Continue reading
A Waste of Time?
Dictation software has been advancing for awhile. I just read a review of the current version of Dragon. Why are we teaching Keyboarding? It may be useful in the present, but for elementary school students keyboards will likely be obsolete … Continue reading
NeuroScript and Handwriting Methods
The following is a quote from Hans-Leo Teulings, who is researching handwriting and its instruction. Also the word “cursive” is multi interpretable. In Dutch printers’ terms “cursief” means: “slanted font”, what in English is called “Italic font”. So cursive and … Continue reading
Handwriting of our Forefathers
A close look at the handwriting, even of Monroe’s, is closer to italic than what many consider traditional. Notice the r‘s; they are the italic form. Also remember the amount of letter writing from that time, the need to write … Continue reading
Reading and/or Handwriting
The letters at the top teach handwriting recognition. But do they teach the fingers and hands to form the letters? If a child has a good look at the letters below, finger traces them, and then closes the eyes and … Continue reading
Calligram II
A new idea for a calligram: Write a thank you note, but write it as a picture of the gift!
The Left-Handed Flop Drop
Some left-handed writers (even a few right-handers) have a hooked wrist when they write. It may simply be caused by the way they were told to position their paper. Left-handers hook so they can see what they are writing. The … Continue reading
Hands on Pencils
Recently I have been reading about pen(cil) holds. There are arguments about this or that finger position on the pen, but so far I see nothing about the quality of the hold. I do see photographs and drawings where even … Continue reading
Big Letters—Little Letters
Big Letters—Little Letters Which to teach first? Some say uppercase because they are simpler, but are they? Others say lowercase because we use them the most. Have a look at history. In Roman times uppercase letters were carved on monuments. … Continue reading
Handwriting Instruction
Handwriting is a much publicized issue. Rightly so, if we consider the research into the cognitive advantages of learning to write by hand rather than relying on keyboards. I am aware of two companies that appear to be trying to … Continue reading