Last week there was a blog that discussed the future use of technology in the classroom. It posed the question of how long would it be until each student had a laptop of their own. There was also an interesting article attached to it which discussed the relevancy of handwriting today. If we did get to the point where students used computers to write, would there be a place for handwriting anymore? In the article it revealed that most teenagers and children today don’t remember or even know how to write in cursive. Is this becoming an ‘archaic’ and unnecessary form of writing today?
Well one school in Edinburgh, Scotland is taking a stand against this. They’ve actually required that all students learn handwriting using the ‘old fashioned’ fountain pen. The principal claims that this is improving the quality of the students’ work because it forces them to concentrate and pay more attention to their work, which then in turn creates higher self-esteems.
Here’s the link to the article:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/life/story.html?id=a5a892a2-86fc-4946-990f-2530c5cbe30a&k=41506
I think that it’s interesting that they are using fountain pens to get kids to handwrite. However, I don’t know that it’s necessary to use ‘fountain pens’. I do agree that handwriting shouldn’t be neglected though. I think that teaching younger students how to write in cursive also allows them to strengthen their fine motor skills and it’s probably better exercise for their brain as well – in comparison to typing. In the class that I interned my co-op still taught the students how to write in cursive and I think that one day when I have my own classroom I will too.
Here’s the article from the other blog about handwriting becoming obsolete, if you haven’t read it already (originally posted by Lindsey):
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/pdf/December06/TorontoStarSrihariHandwriting.pdf
5 comments:
I think that for the time being cursive writing is still valuable enough to be taught in the class. For example, I can't use a laptop to write my signature. I believe that cursive writing is a skill students still need so I will probably teach my students how to do it.
I completely agree with you in regards to teaching cursive writing in the early childhood classroom. It is a fundamental skill which we cannot leave out of our classrooms. Although it may be used less frequently it is still essential to everyday life. When it comes to something as simple as creating a grocery list or a to do list, I am not going to go to my computer, open a typing program, type out my list and print it. I am the kind of person who would grab a piece of paper, scrawl it down and go. I think we have to continue to teach these skills in our classroom and just learn to integrate technology. For example, the SMART Board is a powerful piece of technology that you can use to teach handwriting. I myself find the chalkboard and a piece of chalk much more effective, but it depends on the classroom you are in and the students that you are working with. I am a firm believer in teaching handwriting and I for one, hope and do not foresee it becoming extinct.
How very interesting. I'm glad that cursive writing isn't be neglected all over the world. i agree that technology is something that we all must become accustomed to because it is becoming such a huge part of our lives, but cursive writing truly is useful - i use it all the time. people have used it for hundreds and thousands of years... why would we deprive our children of that, just because we now use technology?
In my grade 2 class the students were working on printing two lines high. They couldn't wait to print one line high so that they could be that much closer to cursive writing. Even when they were typing they wanted to change the font to cursive. I am not sure if I would see that article as a comprehensive view of all children's attitudes towards cursive seeing as my kids wanted nothing more than to use it. Although, fountain pens would challenge them a bit to be neater and focus on process.
I think it's important we teach our students cursive writing. Throughout university my printing has become a mixture of print/writing that is sometimes illegible. My parents generation all has beautiful handwriting and it just makes them look more professional. Somehow, we as teachers need to find the time to teach handwriting, even in the midst of all the other curricular demands.
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