Does the Fight for a Cursive Comeback Miss the Point

8/16/2019 Does the Fight for a Cursive Comeback Miss the Point

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Cursive WritingBooks



Does The Fight For A

Cursive Comeback Miss The Point?



When was the last timeyou wrote in cursive? Wasit a thank-you note orthat birth!ay sweater?

Perha"s a check to thebaby sitter? The act is#you may know how toloo" an! swirl with thebest o them# but !o yourki!s or your neighbour$s

ki!s know as well?

Across the country# manyschool !istricts !ro""e!cursive rom theircurricula years ago& The

new Common Core 'tate'tan!ar!s now beingim"lemente! in moststates never mention thewor! (cursive&( )iven

longhan!*s waning"o"ularity# lawmakers



Proessor Amy Bastian# a motor neuroscientist atthe +enne!y +rieger ,nstitute at ohns .o"kins/niversity in Baltimore# has !e!icate! her career to

stu!ying how the brain talks to the bo!y& (The morevariety o things you !o in the 0ne motor !omain#the more variety o han! movements you make# willim"rove your !e1terity#( Bastian says&

That may soun! like a ringing en!orsement or

cursive han!writing# but when aske! i cursivewriting is better or a chil!*s !evelo"ment than"rinting# Bastian makes it clear2 'he !oesn*t know&Cursive is goo!# she insists# but it*s not certain thatit*s better or more im"ortant or a chil!*s

!evelo"ment than "rinting& 'teve )raham# who stu!ies chil!ren*s writing an!

teaches e!ucation at Ari3ona 'tate /niversity#believes that the current cursive !ebate misses the"roblem&



(,t really !oesn*t matter i it*smanuscri"t or cursive#()raham says& (,t is kin! o

silly# in a way# that you havestate legislatures getting alltie! u" in this&(

All o the researchers 4P5s"oke with agree that cursiveis goo!# but none woul! arguethat it is better or moreim"ortant than "rinting& Theevi!ence 6ust isn*t there& Aslong as chil!ren are writing inschool# it !oesn*t really matteri the letters curl an! connect&'o# "roblem solve!& 7r is it?

(,magine a worl! withouthan!writing#( bellows a !ee"-voice! narrator& (,t*s not asar-etche! as it soun!s&(



'o begins a "romotional vi!eo or a conerencegeare! towar! researchers an! e!ucators hel! a ew

years ago# calle! (.an!writing in the 89st Century?:

The ;uestion mark at the en! o the title says it all& The "remise o the gathering# accor!ing to thevi!eo2 (.an!writing instruction is in !anger o

becoming increasingly marginali3e!&:

, the claim is to be believe!# that*s a ba! thing& An!lots o rea!ing s"ecialists an! aca!emics believe it&

,t turns out# the real ear among those who stu!yki!s an! han!writing is not that our schools will sto"teaching cursive< it*s what 'teve )raham o A'/ hasnotice! in recent years2 (We !on*t see much writinggoing on at all across the school !ay#( )raham says&



What are ki!s !oing instea!?

(Filling in blanks on worksheets#( )raham says&(7ne-sentence res"onses to ;uestions# maybe in ashort res"onse summari3ing inormation&:

,n other wor!s# not enough goo! ol!-ashione!com"osition an! too much choosing among =A> This# =B> that or =C> All o the above& 'ome o those0ghting to kee" Cursive Writing Books in

schools argue that com"uters are the enemy&,nstea! o writing# ki!s are ty"ing on the keyboar!#they say& But there are two "roblems with thatargument&

http://www.amarchitrakatha.com/in/bright-start/writing-series/cursive-writing




First# many researcherssay that learning to ty"e

is a goo! thing& An!secon!2 ('chools are notteaching keyboar!ing#(says irginia Berninger# a"roessor o e!ucational"sychology at the/niversity o Washington&

Berninger is a bigcham"ion o bothhan!writing an! ty"ing&

'he*s worrie! that theyhave been nu!ge! to thesi!e by crow!e! statestan!ar!s&



(,n the 89st century# you teach ki!s to bemultilingual by han!#( Berninger says&

The new Common Core 'tate 'tan!ar!s "lace

consi!erable em"hasis on the im"ortance ocom"osition# which suggests stu!ents may be!oing more writing as states im"lement the core&But that means that right now the "ressure is onteachers# a!ministrators an! te1tbook writers to

make sure stu!ents get the time an! instructionthey nee! to become @uent writers&



(, we e1"ect ki!s to !evelo" mastery in anything an!!evelo" @uency in anything# they have to be !oing it on aregular basis#( says 'cott Beers# who teaches e!ucation at

'eattle Paci0c /niversity&

That*s true not 6ust in kin!ergarten or 0rst gra!e# but ingra!e ater gra!e& Focus on han!writing early an! oten#

e1"erts say# "rint or cursive or both& Then# as ki!s* brains!evelo"# gently lay the groun!work or ty"ing&

Source:http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/03/25/29421225/kids!these!d"#s!c"n!t#pe!$ut!c"nt!write!cursive!is!th"t!$"d

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/03/25/294212825/kids-these-days-can-type-but-cant-write-cursive-is-that-bad






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Does the Fight for a Cursive Comeback Miss the Point