Elementary Teachers Or Hsmom- Teaching Printing/cursive ?

[cmotherofpirl]

My munchkin neighbor is having school difficulties with handwriting. In pre-school they started to learn printing - the basis stick and ball letters we all know and love. He was doing ok with that. However this year in kindergarten the teacher is insisting he learn cursive writing. He really doesn't have the coordination to do all the little loops and swirls, having just turned 5. He is very frustrated and starting to already hate going to school. The school says its up to the teacher to decide what alphabet to teach, and its evidently the newest thing.
I think is totally ridiculous.
Have any of you teaching types EVER heard of this? do they no longer delay cursive until second grade?
The poor kid is now really confused, last year the letter people, and this year all wiggles as he calls it. THis is a private christian school, and usually they are fairly traditional establishments, so this really odd.

[rachael]

I'm not a teacher or anything, but I learned it in second grade, and then I moved afterward. The new teacher forced me to learn a whole new different style of cursive.

[CatherineM]

What a shame. When kids have stuff over their head, they often end up hating school, and that's hard to get over. I've never heard of it under 2nd grade before, and as late as 4-5 grade. My cursive is horrid. My printing is great due to taking drafting in college. I can do calligraphy with the right equipment, but my signature looks like something a serial killer would do.

[homeschoolmom]

Well, there are two schools of thought. One proposes printing first because in learning to read, a child sees letters in print.

The other proposes cursive first because, they believe, it is a more natural movement to move in the more fluid motions of loops and swirls, rather than picking up the pencil repeatedly.

I am more of the first school. My 4th grader is still working to master cursive fluidly.

[rachael]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1672307' date='Oct 7 2008, 09:23 PM']Well, there are two schools of thought. One proposes printing first because in learning to read, a child sees letters in print.

The other proposes cursive first because, they believe, it is a more natural movement to move in the more fluid motions of loops and swirls, rather than picking up the pencil repeatedly.

I am more of the first school. My 4th grader is still working to master cursive fluidly.[/quote]
More natural? I always thought it was harder.

Maybe I'm just special.

[homeschoolmom]

btw, I have a just turned 5 year old and he would not be able to master cursive... Again, I'm of the printing first school of thought.

[T-Bone _]

That's absurd.

[rachael]

that teacher is

[homeschoolmom]

Well, that teacher is not alone by a long stretch.

Some other reasons people prefer cursive first are that words have natural breaks (ie spacing) where printed words often run into each other. Also cursive b and d, p and q are much less likely to be reversed-- unlike in printing.

Not advocating, just 'splaining.

[Mercy me]

5!? That is entirely too young. That teacher is doing a grave disservice to those kids.

[rachael]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1672323' date='Oct 7 2008, 09:45 PM']Well, that teacher is not alone by a long stretch.

Some other reasons people prefer cursive first are that words have natural breaks (ie spacing) where printed words often run into each other. Also cursive b and d, p and q are much less likely to be reversed-- unlike in printing.

Not advocating, just 'splaining.[/quote]
Fair enough. Maybe I would feel different if I had been taught cursive first.

[Nihil Obstat]

Dude.......
We started cursive in grade five.
As a side note my teacher sorta ruined it for me. She taught me weirdly and it's taken me years to get over some of those things.
When I go fast, both my printing and cursive look like a drunk hummingbird got dipped in ink and let loose on a paper, but luckily when I slow down, I personally think my cursive looks rather elegant.

[Guest KateGladstone]

Re:

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1672300' date='Oct 7 2008, 09:12 PM']... THis is a private christian school, and usually they are fairly traditional establishments, so this really odd.[/quote]

Actually, the "tradition" of print-then-cursive goes back only about 70 - 80 years or so. Before then, schools taught small children the adult handwriting style of whatever culture/civilization the school existed in. (In the USA, that meant -- yes -- that frilly cursive stuff.) Since private Christian schools love traditions (as you say), more and more of them have unfortunately decided to love *this* particular tradition and bring it back, irrespective of its effect on the kids.

Please point out to your son's teacher (and to the school administrators and your fellow parents) what research shows: the fastest and clearest handwriters, at all ages, *avoid* cursive. According to the research, the highest speed and highest legibility of handwriting comes from those people who use print-like (not cursive) letter-shapes wherever a letter's printed and cursive shapes notably "disagree", and who join some (NOT all) of the letters in a word (making only the very easiest joins and skipping the rest). In other words, cursive discourages and forbids the handwriting habits of the most effective handwriters.

A couple of handwriting methods out there (not the Big Name "ballyhooed" ones) actually do teach and promote this way of writing (and also take the brief time needed to make sure that kids learning to write in this most effective way also know how to read cursive for the sake of those less fortunate who have learned to write in cursive instead). You and perhaps other parents of children at your school may wish to know more, and may need to start some very serious talks with teachers and administrators. (Ask me privately how I can help with this as needed.)

For more information (including research summary/citation info for the research mentioned above), visit my web-site at [url="http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com"]http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com[/url] and let me know what you think. (By the way, even signatures do not legally require cursive ... and never have required it. This has not stopped a lot of elementary school teachers from choosing, for "motivational reasons," to teach the kids otherwise. Teachers must do a lot of different things to perform their job, but -- morally and pragmatically -- a teacher's work *must* *not* include lying to the next generation about the law of the land.)

Kate Gladstone -- handwritingrepair@gmail.com

[ardillacid]

I believe the proper term is 'little person'

[Archaeology cat]

I learnt it in 2nd grade. At the school in which I taught, it was not taught until 3rd/4th/5th grade (wasn't taught consistently at all, really).

[quote name='rachael' post='1672308' date='Oct 8 2008, 02:24 AM']More natural? I always thought it was harder.

Maybe I'm just special. [/quote]
I agree. I prefer to print, and am faster that way. Of course, no one (including myself sometimes) can read my print. . .