tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post469462441960663304..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: Cursive, Anyone?Scott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-61840410170427468902013-08-24T18:23:20.185-06:002013-08-24T18:23:20.185-06:00Handwriting matters — but does cursive matter? The...Handwriting matters — but does cursive matter? The fastest, clearest handwriters join only some letters: making the easiest joins, skipping others, using print-like forms of letters whose cursive and printed forms disagree. (Sources below.)<br /><br />Reading cursive matters, but even children can be taught to read writing that they are not taught to produce. Reading cursive can be taught in just 30 to 60 minutes — even to five- or six-year-olds, once they read ordinary print. Why not teach children to read cursive, along with teaching other vital skills, including a handwriting style typical of effective handwriters?<br /><br />Adults increasingly abandon cursive. In 2012, handwriting teachers were surveyed at a conference hosted by Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of cursive textbooks. Only 37 percent wrote in cursive; another 8 percent printed. The majority, 55 percent, wrote a hybrid: some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive. When most handwriting teachers shun cursive, why mandate it?<br /><br />Cursive's cheerleaders sometimes allege that cursive makes you smarter, makes you graceful, adds brain cells, or confers other blessings no more prevalent among cursive users than elsewhere. Some claim research support, citing studies that consistently prove to have been misquoted or otherwise misrepresented by the claimant.<br /><br />So far — in this article, this thread, and elsewhere — whenever a supporter of cursive has claimed the support of research, one or more of the following things has become evident when others examine the claimed support:<br /><br />/1/ either the claim (of research support for cursive) provides no traceable source,<br /><br />or<br /><br />/2/ if a source is cited, it is misquoted or is incorrectly described (e.g., an Indiana University research study comparing print-writing with keyboarding is usually misrepresented by cursive's defenders as a study "comparing print-writing with cursive"),<br /><br />or <br /><br />/3/ the claimant _correctly_ quotes/cites a source which itself indulges in either /1/ or /2/. <br /><br />What about signatures? In state and federal law, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over any other kind. (Hard to believe? Ask any attorney!)<br /><br />All writing, not just cursive, is individual — just as all writing involves fine motor skills. That is why, six months into the school year, any first-grade teacher can immediately identify (from print-writing on unsigned work) which student produced it.<br /><br />Mandating cursive to preserve handwriting resembles mandating stovepipe hats and crinolines to preserve the art of tailoring.<br /><br /><br />SOURCES:<br /><br />Handwriting research on speed and legibility:<br /><br />/1/ Steve Graham, Virginia Berninger, and Naomi Weintraub. “The Relation between Handwriting Style and Speed and Legibility.” JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, Vol. 91, No. 5 (May - June, 1998), pp. 290-296: on-line at http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27542168.pdf<br /><br />/2/ Steve Graham, Virginia Berninger, Naomi Weintraub, and William Schafer. “Development of Handwriting Speed and Legibility in Grades 1-9.”<br />JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, Vol. 92, No. 1 (September - October, 1998), pp. 42-52: on-line at http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27542188.pdf<br /><br /><br />Zaner-Bloser handwriting survey: Results on-line at http://www.hw21summit.com/media/zb/hw21/files/H2937N_post_event_stats.pdf<br />Background on our handwriting, past and present:<br />3 videos, by a colleague, show why cursive is NOT a sacrament:<br /><br /><br />A BRIEF HISTORY OF CURSIVE —<br />http://youtu.be/3kmJc3BCu5g<br /><br />TIPS TO FIX HANDWRITING —<br />http://youtu.be/s_F7FqCe6To<br /><br />HANDWRITING AND MOTOR MEMORY<br />(shows how to develop fine motor skills WITHOUT cursive) —<br />http://youtu.be/Od7PGzEHbu0<br /><br /><br />[AUTHOR BIO: Kate Gladstone is the founder of Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works and the director of the World Handwriting Contest]<br /><br />Yours for better letters,<br /><br />Kate Gladstone<br />Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works<br />and the World Handwriting Contest<br />http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.comKateGladstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07062492442607584456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-83854784980398826702013-04-11T18:45:19.129-06:002013-04-11T18:45:19.129-06:00I never liked the cursive capital G or capital Q, ...I never liked the cursive capital G or capital Q, so I use something closer to print there, but I write much faster in cursive than print. It may be dying out, but I still like it. I joke with my kids that it's the secret adult language :-).Tom Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00269543312568823613noreply@blogger.com