To
cursive or not to cursive?
In class this week, one topic lead to
another. We first discussed the development of fine motor skills and how their
development directly influences the appearance of handwriting. The point was
made that as teachers, we need to be patient with children and their
development of ‘good’ or ‘pretty’ handwriting. Rushing a child to ‘hurry up and
write’, or to ‘write pretty’ might push them to hold the pencil any way they
can in order to get the task done.
This topic lead to the topic of learning
to write in cursive. Most of the people in the class remembered learning how to
write in cursive and how we were told that it would be absolutely necessary in
the future. We all laughed and realized that the only time we legitimately used
cursive was to sign a check after dinner or some document for something.
This then led to a classmate commenting
about how her niece asked to her read something for her because she could not
understand what it said. She could not understand it not because she had
difficulty reading but because it was written in cursive. Our classmate’s niece
is the age where all of us knew how to read and write cursive. At this point we
all realized that some current teachers are no longer teaching cursive. We can
all understand why but we could also see how it could affect children
negatively. Would students be taught how to make a signature? How would not
being able to understand cursive handwriting affect their future?
Finally, the topic that I feel ties
everything together is that teachers deciding what is important or not, affects
children. Learning to write in cursive seems like a small skill compared to
others in the great scheme of skills but as mentioned earlier, there are many
consequences like not being able to read someone’s writing or sign something.
As pre-service teachers and in-service
teachers, I believe we really need to look at what we decide to deem important
and not important because as small as it may seem, teaching has a ‘butterfly
effect’.
-Cristal
-Cristal
One of my main arguements when this topic comes up is the motor skills and its development in young children. Cursive can be linked to forms of dyslexia which we all know can haunt people throughout their lifes. Now some might believe that cursive is a dying art but teachers need to prioritize to make sure each and every student had the opportunity to reach their maximum potential.
ReplyDeleteI have to question the value of skills such as writing in cursive, when communication is moving to an electronic format at an inexorable pace.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic Cristal! I wasn't aware of all of the good and bad things that can come from cursive writing...and I would know, I am one!
ReplyDelete