A few weeks ago, our district had a training
session with Anita Archer. The topic was
“Written Expression Instruction”. There
were so many ideas and methods presented, all of them immediately accessible to
teachers for use in the classroom. I was
glad and impressed to hear Ms. Archer address handwriting as a foundational
skill for success in writing. I have
known primary grade teachers who spend no time teaching handwriting and I have
wondered how they ever expect children to become fluent, productive writers if
the mechanics are not mastered first.
Ms. Archer discussed the importance of writing fluency as a foundation
for self-expression, just as reading fluency is the foundation for
comprehension. Here are some quotes from
the materials Ms. Archer presented:
“Children who experience difficulty mastering
this skill may avoid writing and develop a mindset that they cannot write,
leading to arrested writing development.” (Graham, Harris, and Fink, 2000)
“If students have to struggle to remember letter
forms, their ability to express themselves suffers. Handwriting must be
automatic.” (Graham, 2007)
“Fluent, accurate letter formation and spelling
are associated with students’ production of longer and better-organized
compositions.” (Beminger, Vaughan, Abbott, Abbott, Brooks, Regan, Reed &
Graham, 1997)
“Measures of handwriting speed among elementary
students are good predictors of quality and quantity of written products in
middle school.” (Peverly, 2007)
The bottom line is, handwriting instruction
matters! Students benefit from explicit
instruction on how to form and fluently write letters of the alphabet! As a third grade teacher, I spend a fair amount of time teachings students to write in cursive and then practicing to build fluency. When students come to me with correct letter formation of the manuscript alphabet, the transition to cursive is much easier. When students are not fluent in correctly forming manuscript, cursive is a real challenge. I SO appreciate K-2 teachers who send me students who have good handwriting skills!
