"Can you believe that my kid's school is not teaching cursive?" asked a concerned parent. Another parents quickly replied, "I know! How are these kids supposed to sign a check when they grow up?" These redundant questions first came to my attention in a social media post. At first, I brushed the comments off as no big deal, but as time passed, I became keenly aware that these questions were being repeated by parents, grandparents, and many others educational stakeholders. This transformed my curiosity to concern, but the culminating event that launched me into action was a conversation between myself and a couple of my fellow educators. One afternoon I was eager to share my excitement about a lesson that I had just completed in class. Part of this lesson involved cursive writing instruction. As I shared my excitement, I was interupted by a colleague who asked, "You're teaching cursive? We were told that we weren't allowed." At first I thought that she was pulling my leg, but I quickly realized that she was serious as I glanced around at three shocked faces. This led me to anxiety wondering when someone was going to question me about how I'm spending my time in class. Was I, the type A rule follower, going to be reprimanded to teaching cursive handwriting. Like I mentioned earlier, this conversation led me to write this post and to research the bigger discussion of whether school's should continue to teach cursive handwriting. Support for Cursive in the Classroom During conversations with parents and fellow educators, two main reasons why cursive should be taught can often be overheard. First, students need to be able to sign their names. I agree that this is important as they need to be able to sign checks and legal documents as adults, but more importantly, kids need to be able to read cursive. For generations children have been taught cursive handwriting. These children have grown into the adults who fill our board rooms, teach in our classrooms, and run our country. When their bosses, parents, or other individuals write notes or cards in cursive, will the kids today be able to read them? Without cursive writing instruction, the answer is no. In addition, will today's students need to make embarrassing requests for their bosses print the notes on their dry erase boards that are used for brainstorming or sharing notes in meetings? Will they need to seek help to translate handwritten written notes that still exist even in our digital world? If things do not change in our classrooms, it's possible that they will. Aside from writing their signature and the ability to read cursive, there are even deeper benefits for students to this skill. According to Virginia Berniger, a professor of psychology from the University of Washington, children need cursive instruction even though there is a movement taking place that cursive instruction be replaced by more modernized keyboarding instruction. Berniger has conducted several studies that support cursive instruction as it has several benefits to the educational development of children. Berniger's studies conclude that print, cursive, and typing all result in different brain functions. Berniger stated, "...brain imaging indicates that when older children are asked to come up with ideas for a composition, better handwriting correlates with greater neural activation in areas associated with working memory." She also pointed out, "What we found is that children wrote more words, they wrote them faster and expressed more ideas with paper and pen than with the keyboard." Likewise, she pointed out that even though we have word processing tools with spellcheck, cursive handwriting can aid students with their spelling skills as it allows their brains to store words that are linked and connected with the linking strokes used in cursive handwriting. Another benefit is it can also benefit ESL students who are trying to master English as a second language (Berniger). These benefits to our students cannot be overlooked or brushed off as unimportant or insubstantial. As mentioned above, cursive handwriting instruction can help students with learning disabilities to combat the challenges that plague them each day. Diane Montgomery from Middlesex University in London, found that cursive has numerous benefits. Below is a list from Montgomery's "The Contribution of Handwriting and Spelling Remediation to Overcoming Dyslexia" which was included in Dyslexia- A Comprehensive and Intermational Approach. -aids left to right movement through words across the page -stops reversals and inversions of letters -induces greater fluency in writing so enables greater speed without loss of legibility -more can be written in the time -speed and fluency can make a difference of a grade at GCSE, A level or in degree programmes -the motor programmes for spelling words, their bases and affixes are stored together -space between letters and between words is orderly and automatic -a more efficient fluent and personal style can be developed -pupils with handwriting coordination difficulties experience less pain and difficulty -legibility of writing is improved -reinforces multisensory learning linking spelling, writing and speaking. (Montgomery). Mandates for Cursive Handwriting Many states have, are trying, or have tried to pass laws that mandate cursive instruction. This may be the result of the absence of cursive instruction standards in the Common Core (Svendsen). Even manuscript handwriting standards are minimal in this collection of standards. Students in kindergarten and first grade are expected to be given instruction that results in legible handwriting, but as students move on to higher grades, the standards shift to emphasizing keyboarding instruction rather than cursive handwriting instruction that you would have found in the classroom ten or twenty years ago (Meyers). Several states like Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee have been successful in passing laws that mandate cursive instruction in schools while other states like Kentucky and Indiana have failed to pass bills that would have mandated cursive instruction (Sittler; Boucher; Bryan). Similar bills are currently being consider across the country. My Conclusions As I come to a close, I think that Berniger said it best when she stated, "It's just that we've left handwriting behind without carefully looking at not only research, but kids' learning." The accuracy of this statement resonates with me. I hope that the importance of cursive handwriting instruction continues to be discussed and that more individuals, schools, and states continue to ask if it is needed as they consider the research that either supports or opposes its inclusion in the curriculum. Cursive instruction should not be brushed off because it is old fashioned or irrelevant. It shouldn't be put on the shelf because it's easier to type and instructional time could be better spent on keyboarding skills. It shouldn't continue because that's how our parents and grandparents learned to write. Educators, school districts, and other stakeholders need to become informed decision makers before putting the topic of cursive in the classroom to sleep. *Sources used for this blog post can be found below.
Berniger, Virginia (2013). Educating Students in a Computer Age to be Multilingual by Hand. Commentaries: A Continuing Dialogue on Critical Education Policy Issues. https://www.zaner-bloser.com/sites/default/files/public/Commentary_Multilingual_by_Hand.pdf Boucher, Dave (2014). State Approves New Writing Standards. The Tennessean. http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2014/11/05/new-tennessee-cursive-writing-standards/18541319/ Bryan, LaMar (2012). Bill Mandates Cursive Writing Instruction. The Messenger. http://www.kentuckynewera.com/web/news/article_ba62715e-643f-11e1-ade1-001871e3ce6c.html Myers, Scott Lee (2014). Rearch Highlights the Benefits of Cursive Handwriting. Wisconsin Public Radio. http://www.wpr.org/research-highlights-benefits-teaching-cursive-handwriting. Montgomery, Diana (2012). The Contribution of Handwriting and Spelling Remediation to Overcoming Dyslexia, Dyslexia - A Comprehensive and International Approach, Prof. Taeko Wydell (Ed.), InTech, DOI: 10.5772/30994. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/dyslexia-a-comprehensive-and-international-approach/the-contribution-of-handwriting-and-spelling-remediation-to-overcoming-dyslexia Steinmetz, Katy (2014). Five Reasons Kids Should Still Learn Cursive Writing. Time Magazine. http://time.com/2820780/five-reasons-kids-should-still-learn-cursive-writing/ Truberk, Ann (2016) Handwriting Just Doesn't Matter. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/opinion/handwriting-just-doesnt-matter.html?_r=0
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AuthorSheina Kegley is a fifth grade language arts teacher from Kentucky. ArchivesCategories |