Teaching Children To Write

[Giraffe]

As an early childhood educator I'm in the middle of some lively handwriting debates and in reviewing the research here's a sample of what I've found:

Whichever one the kids learn first should be the one they stick with. Children who are taught to switch writing modes during their early writing education (cursive & print) have the worst disadvantages when competing alongside cursive only or print only students in spelling, composition and syntax skill development. Also, joining is better for automating spacing and letter direction. (Morin et al. 2013)

Cursive encodes spelling better. (Labat et al. 2015)

Everybody hates cursive and thinks it's a dumb dinosaur that should die off. (All the parents and other teachers 2017)

I don't feel cursive curriculum is sacred or fear its demise but also I think stick and ball is more taxing in the kids physically and mentally--having to make perfect lines and circles and have them meet is difficult.

 

So, I'm working on developing something like a fully-joined italic where every minuscule starts at the midline so joins are only needed so far as to get back to the midline. I'm using simple print caps because I feel they're so iconic as to be necessary for kids this young without examples of cursive bookfaces. I feel something like this is needed, this way the kids only have to learn one style and can un-join the letters and they have a serviceable print if needed. I've been comparing handwriting samples on this site for a long time to work out this idea and what works and what doesn't. Historically I don't think there's anything wrong with starting at a midline for a cursive, but he ones I'm having trouble meeting the same place as all the others are "e" and "t".

 

However, I'm neither artist nor engineer and I am aware I don't have perfect slant or balance yet. I just want to do what's best for my students and looking for some feedback.

[Giraffe]

Sorry, can I not post images?

[pen2paper]

link to the photo how to page:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/201531-posting-photos-in-your-reviews-tutorial/

[NinthSphere]

Inability to post images may be due to the new member status which unlocks with post count & membership time.

[TennesseeTrash]

Interesting topic. I have a three-year-old and a two-year-old. Am I reading correctly that they should atart with cursive if they plan on using cursive?

 

We printed until 2nd grade when I was growing up. It seemed easier to start with, so I had planned on teaching mine how to print first.

[Sasha Royale]

I think the baby boom generation was taught Palmer. I was a immigrant, mediocre student. I was able to learn it.

 

For literary communication, my employer hires English-speaking Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian personnel, rather than American.

 

"When someone asks a question, they should speak clearly." (Even "spell/grammar check" accepts this as correct.)

 

The inability to speak one's native language is catastrophic to credibility.

[Giraffe]

Interesting topic. I have a three-year-old and a two-year-old. Am I reading correctly that they should atart with cursive if they plan on using cursive?

 

We printed until 2nd grade when I was growing up. It seemed easier to start with, so I had planned on teaching mine how to print first.

 

So the Morin study group that had the hardest time was actually 2nd graders who were taught cursive after being taught print, and they had fewer gains in composition, syntax, and spelling, etc., (at least during the window of the study period) and were not able to take advantage of the same developmental leap the other two student groups made (the "always print" and "always cursive" groups). Many students also have trouble with the motor coordination of a new mode once they have one writing mode they are already comfortable using. So the results of the study seem to be "changing handwriting modes slowed these 2nd graders down."

 

But for most kids, if they aren't struggling to meet developmental milestones, it's not something to worry about too much. Most turn out fine whichever way they're taught to write, and really the majority, if inclined, can work at having a beautiful hand in several modes. It's the students who are already struggling I'm worried about, where missing a developmental period due to handwriting changes might actually cause serious harm to their educational journey.

[Giraffe]

[Giraffe]

Haha now I'm self-conscious because this was not a fountain pen, and I can already see inconsistencies in the letterforms I'm trying to craft, but I'm mostly interested in discussing a handwriting that can be expressed as a disjointed print or fully joined while still being efficient (compared with how I personally didn't feel the forced monkey tails of D'Nealian added any clarity or flow).

[Giraffe]

And here's a link to the main study I'm citing:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279506206_The_Effects_of_Manuscript_Cursive_or_ManuscriptCursive_Styles_on_Writing_Development_in_Grade_2

[NinthSphere]

compared with how I personally didn't feel the forced monkey tails of D'Nealian added any clarity or flow).

 

Maybe I'm being dense, but you mean like the ascenders on the lower a, c, d, etc.?

[Giraffe]

 

Maybe I'm being dense, but you mean like the ascenders on the lower a, c, d, etc.?

It's a term from the D'Nealian curriculum, they're serifs on the right side of many of the letters (a, d, h, i k, l, m, n, t, u) taught as a precursor to joined up writing's ligatures/joins... little curls that are supposed to be like pre-cursive "training wheels" and often ended up being just added on after the fact.

[NinthSphere]

Ah, I see. I have a thought as to the e & t problem. I'll post pics in a minute.

[NinthSphere]

Apologies for the image quality. If it's not clear, the thought was start by crossing the t left to right, then up. I'm not sure, but it looks like you were doing the opposite on your t, starting on the right & crossing to the left, then up? On an e at the beginning, it would be sans ascender like your a, c, etc.

 

http://orig14.deviantart.net/5a68/f/2017/068/a/a/hw_sample_by_voidelemental-db1rljo.jpg

[Giraffe]

Those are great suggestions, NinthSphere, thank you!

[Panda74]

So, I'm working on developing something like a fully-joined italic where every minuscule starts at the midline so joins are only needed so far as to get back to the midline.

You might want to look at how children are taught in other countries.

 

In Germany, for example, where all children learn to write with a fountain pen, they are taught variants of either latin or simplified script (which, depends on the state the school is in) in first grade.

 

I think the "Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift" (= simplified starting script) would fit many of your requirements: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vereinfachte_Ausgangsschrift

 

It fulfills your condition that nearly all letters start and end at the middle band:

 

Here's an overview of all letters:

 

Here's a writing sample:

 

and here a poster (source: http://www.kinderpostershop.de/epages/61444106.mobile/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61444106/Products/535&ClassicView=1)

 

Observe the little arrows on the poster showing you the order in which the parts of a letter are drawn.

Direct link to the above poster jpg (best resolution they provide short of buying the paper poster): http://www.kinderpostershop.de/WebRoot/Store5/Shops/61444106/5664/74A7/DA33/2CDC/A941/C0A8/2ABA/77D1/Lernposter-Vereinfachte-Ausgangsschrift-ABC-978-3-940-81127-1.jpg

 

You can also download the font so that you can print it on your printer: https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/de_DE.CMS.displayCMS.209793./schriften

How to install a font on your Windows PC: https://www.fontspring.com/support/installing/how-do-i-install-fonts-on-my-windows-pc

 

The fountain pens children in Germany learn to write with are either Pelikan or Lamy, this is why Pelikan has an interest in providing various teaching materials to teachers:

https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/de_DE.CMS.displayCMS.209768./schreiben

Edited March 10, 2017 by Panda74

[Giraffe]

Wow, this is remarkably similar in spirit to the idea I had. Thank you, Panda. The wikipedia link is great for info on the history of the hand and research concerns, etc. I'd been looking at handwriting instruction in other countries, but hadn't come across this hand before, when I looked up German cursive I saw Sütterlin first and gave up, haha!

[Giraffe]

This has been especially helpful because now I'm reading some Swiss-German research (in translation) that says the opposite of the French research I'd read re: print vs. cursive and composition skill... I'll have to look at it all in context to figure out what it all might mean.

[Panda74]

You might also want to look at this study from 1997 by the University of Essen on the pros and cons of the "Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift" (VA), in comparison with the more elaborate "Lateinische Ausgangschrift" (LA) (= latin starting script) that was mainly taught up to the 1970s in Germany: http://www.linse.uni-due.de/linse/esel/pdf/va.pdf

 

And here is its GoogleTranslate machine translation into English (in which the images are missing, but maybe you can open the German and English version in parallel windows). The translation is a bit rough, but I think it can communicate the gist of the study, especially of the "Summary" on the last pages, pages 29 and 30: https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.linse.uni-due.de%2Flinse%2Fesel%2Fpdf%2Fva.pdf&edit-text=

 

The problem is that the way the pdf-file is locked, it translates each line of text separately, instead of translating the entire sentences.

You get a better translation if you first convert this locked pdf-file va.pdf into a Word file, or RTF file, or any other text processor format using a free online tool like this one (which includes a free pdf unlocker): https://online2pdf.com/

and then copy parts of it into GoogleTranslate: http://translate.google.de/?hl=en

Edited March 11, 2017 by Panda74

[MrsHobie]

Hello

 

This has been especially helpful because now I'm reading some Swiss-German research (in translation) that says the opposite of the French research I'd read re: print vs. cursive and composition skill... I'll have to look at it all in context to figure out what it all might mean.

Hello ! I don't know what the French research says ... but actually, in France the children are taught to write the cursive way, which is supposed to be helpful when you want to write quickly ...

Here are some examples of "typically French" cursive letters taught at school :

 

http://img4.hostingpics.net/thumbs/mini_450279Cursive01.jpg

http://img4.hostingpics.net/thumbs/mini_905599criturecursive.jpg

 

But the pupils are not really taught how to handle the pens

I was taught the good grip was the pen between the thumb and the index fingers, laying on the middle finger, but many of my pupils use 3 fingers around the pen to hold it (and most of these pupils don't have a nice writing ...) . And 3 years ago, when my son started writing at school, he had a young teacher who didn't care ...

Edited March 10, 2017 by MrsHobie