At the beginning of this academic year I came across a boy in my Year 6 English set whose handwriting was barely legible. He had ideas, he had a good vocabulary, he understood the structure of texts and sentences but you couldn't read what he had written. At parents' evening a few weeks ago his parents told me they couldn't read his writing either and pleaded with me to help. So I sent him home with a handwriting text book and exercise book and for the past few weeks his parents have made him sit down and do handwriting practice every single night (I know this as he's been quite vocal in complaining about it!).
This week he brought in his handwriting book to show me and I was shocked, I actually questioned whether it was him who had done this beautifully precise handwriting. Yesterday he did a piece of writing for me in a lesson and I was even more shocked! It's one thing to do lovely writing in a handwriting book but another to actually put it into pratice away from the exercises. A few weeks of regular handwriting practice has completely transformed the way this boy writes.
Today I was talking about him and showing his work to a Key Practitioner I'm working with and she made a comment which she admitted was a sweeping generalisation, but which was that in her experience children in year 5 & 6 in middle schools have much worse handwriting and presentation than those in the same year groups in primary schools. Which got me wondering why. Is it that middle schools but less emphasis on presentation and so the children just don't care what their work looks like? Or is it that middle school teachers don't teach 'handwriting'? When was the last time this boy did 'handwriting' in a lesson at school?
I taught English in year 5 last year and my group did regular handwriting practice but I'm not aware of other teachers in my school doing the same. This year I haven't done it with my year 6 group at all. I suppose my attitude was that if they could get to age 10 and their writing was still that terrible (and so many of them are!) then there wasn't a lot I could do to change it, I saw handwriting as something they focus on in KS1 and not really relevant in Year 6. The change in this boy has made me realise it's something I shouldn't forget about and that for many of them it isn't too late.
I'm interested to know if the comment that was made today is generally true, there are many things Primary schools are better at than Middle schools for children in KS2, is the problem of handwriting and presentation another one?
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Hi- interested to read this account. Handwriting is underestimated as a skill. It is also underestimated as an art form and a booster of confidence. It can say so much about us as individuals. I'm a big fan.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you use with him? What are schools generally using?
I know Nelson HW well and am co-author of Penpals for Handwriting (Cambridge)- would love to know what people are using - especially for these older pupils who have fallen into bad habits.
I'm not sure it's particularly to do with primary vs middle schools
Thanks:-)
Handwriting is more valuable than most people imagine. Cursive writing teaches us to connect our thoughts and to forge connection to others. Several letters are letters of the self and subliminaly can reforce good things in the character and personality. For example the t bar shows the goals set by the individual so to cross the t above the mid-zone of the writing sets the individuals sights to succeed. (The t bar of typing is even with the mid-zone which is a day to day type of goal. Sort of like "Please God, just let me get thru this.") Once the letters can be made without conscious thought the person's personality starts to show in the differences between the writing and copybook they were taught. Unfortunately most people now print and the dis-connections of letters fosters a dis-connection with others, a disinterest in others welfare and rights.
ReplyDeleteHandwriting is one of those things that you either do think is important or don't. On the one hand, why do we bother teaching children cursive script? Will they really use it when they leave school? However, when they have to sit their SATs in Year 6, marks are awarded for joined, legible, properly formed writing. If the children don't use it, they are simple throwing marks away. Great post!
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