playvolutionHQ Logo

Creating & Curating Early Learning Resources

Playvolution HQ

Join The Mailing List | Follow On X

Playvolution HQ > Podcasts > CCBAG_0419 Cursive Writing

Jeff Johnson

Categories |
Tags |

CCBAG_0419 Cursive Writing

Share It If You Like It:

Thanks for listening!

Like the show? Consider supporting our work by becoming a Patron , shopping our Amazon Link, or sharing it with someone who might enjoy it. You can leave a comment or ask a question here.

Click the links for more Jeff or Lisa.

Child Care Bar And Grill
Child Care Bar And Grill
Explorations Early Learning

A humorous, informative, and slightly irreverent podcast for child care providers and other early learning professionals hosted by Jeff A Johnson, Lisa Murphy, Kristen Peterson, Samantha Balch, and Nicole Halton.

Apple PodcastsAndroidby EmailRSS

Podcast (child-care-bar-and-grill): Play in new window | Download (41.4MB) | Embed

Post Author

Jeff Johnson
Jeff Johnson
Website

Jeff Johnson is an early learning trainer, podcaster, and author who founded Explorations Early Learning, Playvolution HQ, and Play Haven.

Contact Me

Share It If You Like It:

2 responses to “CCBAG_0419 Cursive Writing”

  1. KateGladstone

    Handwriting matters: does cursive matter? Research shows that legible cursive writing averages no faster than printed handwriting of equal or greater legibility. (Sources for all research are available on request.)

    The fastest, clearest handwriters avoid cursive: though they aren’t print-writers either. Highest speed and highest legibility in handwriting are attained by those who join only some letters, not all: joining only the most easily joined letter-combinations, leaving the rest unjoined, and using print-like shapes for letters whose printed and cursive shapes disagree.
    Reading cursive still matters — but reading cursive is much easier and quicker to master than writing the same way too. Reading cursive, simply reading it, can be taught in just 30 to 60 minutes — even to five- or six-year-olds — once they read ordinary print.

    Educated adults increasingly quit cursive. In 2012, handwriting teachers across North America were surveyed at a conference hosted by Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of cursive textbooks. Only 37% wrote in cursive; another 8% printed. The majority — 55% — wrote with some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive.

    Cursive’s cheerleaders repeatedly claim the support of research — citing studies that invariably prove to have been misquoted or otherwise misrepresented by the claimant. The usual form of misrepresentation is to take the abundant research that shows important benefits for handwriting in any of its forms (including printing) and to claim falsely that those advantages are limited to cursive.
    (By the way, students in places that have mandated cursive for years or decades aren’t turning out any smarter or more skillful — in academics or in fine-motor graces — than students living anywhere else.)

    What about cursive and signatures? Brace yourself: cursive signatures have no special legal validity over any other kind. (Hard to believe? Ask any member of the legal profession!)
     Questioned document examiners (specialists in the identification of signatures, the verification of documents, etc.) inform me that the least forgeable signatures are the plainest. Most cursive signatures are loose scrawls: the rest, if they follow the rules of cursive at all, are fairly complicated: these make a forger’s life easy.
    All handwriting, not just cursive, is individual — just as all handwriting involves fine motor skills. That is why any first-grade teacher can immediately identify (from the print-writing on unsigned work) which of 25 or 30 students produced it.

    Mandating cursive to preserve handwriting resembles mandating stovepipe hats and crinolines to preserve the art of tailoring.

    Yours for better letters,
    Kate Gladstone
    DIRECTOR, the World Handwriting Contest
    CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works
    http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
    handwritingrepair@gmail.com

    Reply
    1. Jeff Johnson

      So, Kate, I can feel OK about actively rebelling against sadistic teachers forcing me to imperfectly replicate idealized cursive letters over and over again during recess time they stole from me for not completing my torturous assignments during class?

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Jeff Johnson Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Don`t copy text!