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Justin Gross, director of school improvement and innovation for both the Nevada and Colo-Nesco school districts, works for a district, Nevada, that no longer teaches cursive handwriting and a district, Colo-Nesco, which still instructs cursive in the third grade and continues to work on it in fourth grade.

Gross is aware, through his own reading on this topic, that you can find support on both sides of the cursive issue.

"Handwriting has been linked to improved learning and retention. However, most communication is done via electronic means and that is a trend that only seems to be continuing to grow," Gross said.

He said the debate about whether it should continue to be taught at the elementary level really comes down to "a matter of increasing demands and time."

In an article Gross shared, "Why Don't the Common-Core Standards Include Cursive Writing?," which was written by Liana Heitin in October of this past year for Education Week, Sue Pimentel, one of the lead writers of the English/language arts standards, said, "One of the things we heard from teachers around the country - in some cases, obviously not all - was that sometimes cursive handwriting takes an enormous amount of instructional time." Time, she added, that could be spent on other things.

Nevada Central Elementary Principal Joel Fey said Central has chosen to spend additional learning time on literacy initiatives. The school has adopted the Jan Richardson model of Guided Reading and has invested thousands of dollars on rich, leveled fiction and nonfiction trade books for its book room. (See sidebar for more on this program.)

Retired Nevada history teacher Mike Foley said he's less concerned about the time needed to teach cursive than he is about the things that students will miss if they no longer receive this instruction.

Agreeing that he's a "traditionalist" when it comes to education, Foley who retired several years ago, said if you give up things like teaching cursive, "at some point, there's going to be a real drop-off, I believe, in understanding the past."

As a history educator, Foley most of all is concerned about students being able to understand historic documents. To look at most original historic documents, he said, "you have to be able to read those documents (in cursive)."

AP writer and a reporter for the Nevada Journal back in the early 1990s, Jeff Martin, argues that you can use Google to look up any historic document and see it in print.

"I think the vast majority of people these days who are looking to read the Constitution or Bill of Rights will google it...very few people would endeavor to read the cursive version," Martin wrote in a post on Facebook. Futhermore, Martin doesn't even understand why there's a debate about continueing to teach cursive. "When you consider how people write in 2017 - maybe 95 percent with a computer, phone or some other device vs. 5 percent hand writing - why waste precious educational time on the skill used 5 percent of the time?"

Foley said, "Yes and no," about googling historic documents and reading them in print. "Yes, you can google and read it, but to understand the true flavor of it, you want to see the original ... and it would be difficult to study the past without the ability to read cursive."

Foley also thinks back to his own cursive instruction. "I struggled with it probably through the fifth grade, until it finally became a natural reaction," he said. He finds that cursive instruction is a good way for students to spend time because, 1) it's a discipline that takes concentration and focus; and 2) it takes dexterity. These are reasons, he said, that it is a good thing to teach.

"If we get away from it because it's difficult, then we might want to give up other difficult things."

Foley also mentions those basic tenets of learning we all have grown up with - the importance of reading, writing and arithmetic. If you give up writing, he asks, "which one of those goes next?"

Common Core State Standards are often criticized for no longer including cursive writing, as reported in Education Week, which says that some states, like Tennessee and California, have added it in on their state standards. Louisiana, it was reported, mandates that students get instruction in cursive every year from third grade all the way through their senior year.

But for Steve Graham, a professor of educational leadership and innovation at Arizona State University, who was also quoted in the "Why Don't the Common-Core Standards Include Cursive Writing?" article from Education Week, students need to be fluent and legible in at least printing or cursive. Which of those they are fluent in doesn't matter, he said, but he feels it's a waste of time to make them be fluent in both.

"Which one of those you teach, that ought to be up to the schools and teachers," the article quoted him.

Fey said his building leadership team is currently looking into a more consistent vertical alignment of handwriting instruction at the elementary school. Certainly, the students at Central are still learning to write, just by printing. The Iowa Department of Education reports that state requirements for English/language arts call for a teaching of handwriting, but not specifically cursive.

Nevada resident Sara Stone, now 45, weighed in on the debate saying, "I really believe that they shouldn't take this (cursive) away from children...EVER...I believe that handwriting should be that - handwriting, not what it seems to be becoming - hand-printing."

As an adult, Stone said she is glad she knows how to write cursive so she can read anything that has been written from the past, because she can write faster with it and because she believes learning cursive helps inspire imagination with some kids. She also thinks cursive looks nicer.

Foley isn't so concerned with the look of cursive, but he does believe in its value. "How are they going to sign a check or a contract (without cursive)?," he asks. Because if they print these things, they will be much easier to forge, he believes.

Dennis Parmenter of Cambridge, an attorney in Story County, said there is no legal requirement for a person to sign their name, or otherwise write, in cursive. "A signature doesn't even have to be legible as anyone viewing my signature might suggest," Parmenter said. He noted that there are digital signatures for many legal documents that are accepted in many different contexts, including court and real estate documents, and income tax returns.

"A written marking is a signature if the person intends that the marking be his or her signature. I suspect there are emojis now used as signatures for some people," Parmenter quipped. His personal thought on the subject, however, is that he sees benefits to learning cursive. Among them, "...cursive is faster ... more personal... Digital messages have their place, but writing should still be taught," he believes.

At this time, cursive is still being taught at our Tri-County Times area schools: North Polk introduces it to students during the second half of their second grade year, teaches it in third grade and reviews it at the beginning of fourth grade. Collins-Maxwell and Ballard both continue to provide instruction at the elementary level.

Gross said as he works on the future initiatives for students in his two districts, he will be asking, "Are we preparing our students for their future and giving them the skills they will need to be successful?" Gross and Fey also say they will continue to keep an eye on the debate and research surrounding the instruction of cursive writing. "We will continue to monitor research and trends with regards to this topic as we move forward and discuss our curriculum across the district," Gross said.

Sidebar:

What are Nevada students doing more of without cursive instruction - Reading!

Central Elementary's Building Leadership Team (BLT) has chosen to adopt the Jan Richardson model of Guided Reading. This means that the school assesses all students, building-wide throughout the year on specific dates and make decisions based upon their running records and the (reading) leveling process. In terms of materials, Nevada Elementary's BLT share that the school has invested in thousands of rich, leveled fiction and non-fiction trade books for its book room. Fey said, research shows that students make the most growth when they are reading a text at their instructional level, rather than reading from a basal designed for large-group instruction.

From the BLT: "In lieu of a basal series, we have purchased texts from high quality publishers such as: Rigby, Pioneer Valley, Okapi, Ready Reading, Will Books, Little Celebrations, National Geographic and Time for Kids."

This leveled book room helps the school to differentiate for the needs of all of its students, and including various publishers and genres in the book room ensures that students are familiar with a range of texts. According to the BLT: "This variety is motivating for students, and lets us choose books based on interest as well as reading level. This is especially important for our struggling readers, who often lack intrinsic motivation and are reading below grade level."

To address the phonics and work study practice that a basal can provide, Central is following the word study practice detailed in Jan Richardson's "The Next Step Forward In Guided Reading." Additionally, the school is implementing "Words their Way" school-wide.

According to the BLT: "Our reading specialists use Leveled Literacy Instructional kits from Fountas and Pinnell and other publishers, which are more scaffolded for our struggling readers. Our English Learner program is using a modified Guided Reading framework for students who are intermediate and above and teaching that mostly through non-fiction texts."

In addition to structuring its practice around Jan Richardson's model, Central Elementary has also received high quality professional development in the area of Guided Reading. "This ongoing professional development is critical to ensuring that all of our teachers of literacy, no matter the setting, are trained in the same method. This ensures that our below grade level readers are hearing the same Guided Reading language whether with a specialist or their classroom teacher," the BLT shares.

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The great cursive debate - should we or shouldn't we continue to teach it?

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Justin Gross, director of school improvement and innovation for both the Nevada and Colo-Nesco school districts, works for a district, Nevada, that no longer teaches cursive handwriting and a district, Colo-Nesco, which still instructs cursive in the third grade and continues to work on it in fourth grade.Gross is aware, through his own reading on this topic, that you can find support on both sides of the cursive issue."Handwriting has been linked to improved learning and retention.

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Pros/Cons

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This post is part of a new blog series where two authors present the pro and con side of a relevant topic - this week, that topic is whether or not cursive should be taught in school. If you like (or dislike) the format, or just want to get involved in the conversation, please leave a comment below or on our Facebook page!
Pro
by Rachael Tom
Is there a case for cursive? Common Core Standards no longer require students to learn cursive handwriting in an effort to save money and time. As of May 2016, only 15 states continue to include it in their Core Curriculum, leaving parents to create cursive clubs afterschool for students who want to learn. Although writing in print and typing may appear sufficient at face-value, cursive has been proven through numerous scientific studies to improve academic performance and manage dyslexia. Unlike computers, handwriting is accessible to all, while technology isn't. This form of writing is also what our country was founded on and without knowledge of it, deciphering historical documents becomes impossible. When it comes to personal safety, which is more difficult to forge: a cursive signature or a printed one?

Compared to print, the flow of cursive movements comes much more naturally to children, and compared to typing, engages far more cognitive skills. This cognitive development helps students reason, problem solve, conceptualize and make decisions as they get older. Fine motor skills such as coordination, muscle development and synchronization of hands and eyes, are also improved when writing cursive. Additionally, the letter strokes of writing cursive aids in the eyes' left-to-right movement for reading. Cursive is also efficient for note-taking because rather than a series of strokes, a word in cursive is one unit. "It's not a stop and start," Jan Olsen, founder of Handwriting Without Tears states, "Think of yourself in traffic: if you're stopping and starting... you don't do as well as if you can just move gradually down the road." This form of efficient note-taking helps students retain lecture information better than typing. The phrase, "Write it down or you'll forget it," is scientifically true. Neuropsychology shows that the act of listening and handwriting links the verbal and spatial processing regions of the brain, strengthening memory. This ability to transform lectures, thoughts and ideas into written words improves the overall quality of writing and syntax compared to those who type. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook, employers who require skilled writing have noticed that employees whose education relied on typing for written work have a decreased level of writing quality than other staff. With fine motor skill and cognitive development, efficient note-taking, strengthened memory and elevated writing quality, there is a positive correlation between handwriting and increased academic performance across all subjects.

When it comes to dyslexia therapy, cursive is instrumental in helping students read. Those with dyslexia find reading and writing challenging because their brain associates sounds and letter combinations inefficiently. Cursive engages multiple areas of the brain and muscles to help those with learning disabilities remember specific letters. Cathy Ruse, a parent to eight-year old Lucy states, "She would never be able to remember 'd,' but when she started sky writing 'd' and using all these muscles, it helped her brain remember." In addition, the mechanics of cursive teach dyslexic students how to group letters in proper order as one unit, unlike a group of spaced out letters (such as print), which causes dyslexic children to swap letters more frequently.

As of 2013, 79% of American homes had computers. Continuing handwriting instruction levels the playing field for students across all demographics. Those without regular access to technology may find it difficult to type all written work, however, those with access to computers can always handwrite. Despite the rise in technology in recent years, handwriting will always have an important place in this country. America was founded on documents written in cursive, and knowing cursive gives all Americans the ability to read the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other invaluable literature. Cursive is not just a method of writing words: it is a beautiful method of communication with historical, scientific and educational importance to all.

Con
by Kacey Templin
As children, Millennials were taught how to write in cursive in grade school. Then, as these students progressed from elementary to middle school, cursive became less important, and typed documents were the standard. This coincided nicely with the introduction of the personal computer, and the importance of typing skills. By the time these children entered college, many had forgotten how to write in anything but script. It wasn't that these students were obstinate, cursive writing was simply not emphasized or valued. Cursive education has been made nearly obsolete with the emergence of the keyboard. When it comes to 21 st century skills, typing is "in," and cursive is "out."

Reading and writing are fundamental elements of learning. How children learn to read and write is changing, from books and chalkboards, to tablets and computer screens. The online world has become increasingly powerful, to the point that it invades nearly every part of our daily lives. Research conducted in 2015 by the Nielsen found that the average American adult spends over 11 hours a day in front of a screen. Humans and technology are so intertwined; it makes sense that typing skills would be elevated to the level that cursive skills once held.

In today's society, typing is the key to a multitude of jobs, as most now require some level of computer proficiency to succeed. Companies from banks to travel agents to retailers are increasingly shifting to the digital world, and need a computer-literate workforce to help them maintain their online presence. And a basic education in typing just won't do. Employers are much more likely to hire an experienced touch typist than a hunt-and-peck typist.

Some schools, believing that students are already learning to type at home, are foregoing typing classes. Just because children learn to type on cell phones and tablets at an early age, doesn't mean that they know proper typing skills. This assumption has led to a situation where students are coming into their classrooms without the keyboarding abilities they need, leaving the classroom equally unprepared for further educational or professional development. In this quickly shifting world, it just makes sense for schools to devote time to learning proper typing skills than to spend time learning a skill that, while beautiful, is essentially obsolete.

Typing also conveys information at a much faster rate than traditional writing. "What we want from writing ... is cognitive automaticity, the ability to think as fast as possible, freed as much as can be from the strictures of whichever technology we must use to record our thoughts," Anne Trubek, associate professor of rhetoric and composition at Oberlin College in Ohio, wrote some years ago. "This is what typing does for millions. It allows us to go faster, not because we want everything faster in our hyped-up age, but for the opposite reason: we want more time to think." Even when typing with just two fingers, the average typing speed is significantly faster than handwriting in all cases. Information can also be organized easier and disseminated quicker. It's much easier to email notes than it is to send them in the mail or hand them to the recipient in person the next time the sender sees them.

Typing is also less error focused than handwriting. If a mistake is made, students can easily undo or delete the problem and start over, and suggestions are given in applications like Microsoft Word. This can help the student master English skills, and the learning process can feel more rewarding.

Typing is an increasingly important skill that deserves more attention in today's technologically advanced society. Writing with a pen and paper is still important, but it is unnecessary to devote precious time to an archaic device employed by our forefathers. It is logical for schools to replace cursive classes with typing classes, as this prepares students for the jobs of the future.

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Pros and Cons Series Part 3: Should Cursive Be Taught in School?

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This post is part of a new blog series where two authors present the pro and con side of a relevant topic - this week, that topic is whether or not cursive should be taught in school. If you like (or dislike) the format, or just want to get involved in the conversation, please leave a comment below or on our Facebook page!

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Why cursive is not being taught

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Keyboard tapping and screen scrolling may have replaced cursive writing in school classrooms across the world, but some teachers are hoping to keep the writing style current.

Otherwise known as "longhand" writing, the cursive style connects characters in a flowing style, helping to speed up the process of writing by eliminating gaps between the letters.

Yet for St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School Early Years Foundation Lead, Helen Pinnington, cursive writing is viewed as a curse rather than a strategic script.

Speaking to the Times Educational Supplement (TES), she said her school has stopped teaching it in Reception class for the present academic year. Pinnington plans to analyse the impact of its eradication at the end of the final term.

"It is common for schools to teach children to form fully cursive script using both 'lead in' strokes and 'exit' strokes, as well as joining some letters.

"But if writing is already a complex perceptual motor skill, why make it even harder by requiring letter-joining from children who are barely beginning to pick up a pencil?" says Pinnington.

In a bid to confine the use of cursive writing in early years classrooms, the Bedhampton-based educator also outlines disadvantages of the script style.

For instance, some key stage 1 teachers are growing frustrated at children for not forming cursive letters properly and children saying that they don't want to write because it is too challenging.

We're starting cursive writing this morning. Everyone is super excited to get started! pic.twitter.com/uLUx8JQWEH

- Mr. Little's Class (@mrlittlesclass) January 9, 2020

For ABC Asia Pacific journalist Lauren Beldi, the converse is true. Writing in ABC, Beldi said handwritten materials are becoming increasingly precious in a world congested by computers and digital gadgets.

Referring a study that was led by Indiana University psychologist Karin James, Beldi wrote about how the study's findings demonstrate the learning benefits of physically writing letters, including helping young kids read.

"As part of her study, children who hadn't yet learned to read or write were asked to copy a letter or a shape by typing, tracing or drawing freehand.

"When they were placed in a brain scanner and shown the image again, children who drew it freehand displayed increased activity in three areas of the brain that are activated when we read and write," says Beldi.

For those that believe that digital writing tools will soon take over handwriting habits in schools, the Beldi points readers towards a recent Technavio report, which states: "The global writing and marking instruments market size has the potential to grow by US$6.07 billion during 2020-2024."

A great example of Student Voice! When asked what they would like to learn more of in 2020, almost 💯 of the students said Cursive Writing! So, voilà! They love it! I love seeing them so enthused! Win Win. They take it so seriously - it's adorable. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/9VcpJrHIOw

- Ms. P. Casamassima (@pcasamassimaWM) January 8, 2020

"High-end luxury pens have gained significant popularity as gifts and fashion accessories over the last few years," Technavio said.

"The growth of the market in the pens segment is expected to be faster compared to the other segments."

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Cursive writing: Should schools continue teaching this?

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Keyboard tapping and screen scrolling may have replaced cursive writing in school classrooms across the world, but some teachers are hoping to keep the writing style current. Otherwise known as "longhand" writing, the cursive style connects characters in a flowing style, helping to speed up the process of writing by eliminating gaps between the letters.

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I agree with the no

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Jo Howell/Shutterstock

A variety of educators and politicians across the country are pushing back against the death of cursive, resurrecting the rite of passage. Here's why.

Ask anyone who completed third grade in the 1980s or earlier and chances are they will have a memory of trying to get that capital G loopy enough or have a favorite letter to swoop and scrawl. Then a generation of Americans skipped this rite of passage as teaching cursive writing was phased out of the curriculum, making it one of 9 school subjects that you took that your kids won't, at least for now.

Where cursive came from: A brief history

The concept of cursive dates all the way back to the 5th century when the ancient Romans developed something that "flowed like modern cursive," according to History.com. Centuries later it became expected that men and women use different handwriting from each other, as well as people from different classes. Various professions had their own signature style of handwriting as well.

Two methods prevailed in America. In the 19th century, it was the Spencerian method (the original Coca Cola logo is an example) and then the D'Nealian script starting in the 1970s.

The decline of handwriting began in the 1980s as computers and their associated keyboards became commonplace and learning to type took precedence over beautiful handwriting.

Where did all of the cursive go?

A decade ago, during the surge of Common Core State Standards' popularity, cursive writing took a backseat and was eliminated from most curricula across the United States. (Common Core is a set of educational standards established by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in 2009. They are followed by 41 states.) "The Common Core standards seemed to spell the end of the writing style in 2010 when they dropped requirements that the skill be taught in public elementary schools," reported a 2019 article in the New York Times. Common Core demands a sufficient grasp of keyboarding skills by the fourth grade and doesn't have any specific cursive writing requirements; this initiated the shift away from cursive.

Can cursive work with Common Core?

iofoto/Shutterstock

While it's true that the Common Core standards do not specifically list cursive writing as a required testable skill, some, including Todd Misura, a former fourth-grade teacher and occupational therapist with Learning Without Tears, believe that learning cursive complements the standards. "Cursive handwriting supports students' efforts in areas the Common Core Standards measure, including written expression and critical thinking," he tells Reader's Digest.

Benefits of cursive education in elementary schools

Learning to write cursive has many benefits, that handwriting in print does not, notes Misura. "Cursive is faster and more efficient than printing and offers students a life skill that is valuable for brain development, note-taking, and test-taking and is valued in many careers," he says. "Learning cursive builds upon the strong motor and cognitive skills established with printing mastery."

The link between cursive and reading

That extends to reading, and Misura points to reading specialists he has worked with who believe the use of cursive helps writers visually "chunk" spelling patterns. "For example, the -ing, -eigh, -ough endings in words become a visual pattern that our amazing brains can instantly recall to assist writers when quickly responding. The physical act of forming the letters helps cursive writers cement these spelling patterns in a way writing in print doesn't." Indeed, various studies have shown a positive association between writing by hand and reading fluency.

Cursive and test-taking

One of the key arguments against cursive is that it doesn't align with mandatory testing students are required to pass to move through grades and ultimately to graduate high school. However, Misura feels that the opposite is true, as the College Board found that students who wrote in cursive scored slightly higher than those who printed on the handwritten section of the SAT the first year that they added this section, according to an interview with a test developer that appeared in the New York Times. Aside from testing, research shows that writing by hand, in general, can make you smarter and help your recall even more.

The problem of not reading and writing cursive

In addition to the benefits of learning cursive, students who don't know cursive can hit a few roadblocks. One of the main areas of concern is that they can't read primary source documents (such as the original Constitution, written in cursive) or teacher/adult handwriting. Many also worry that these children won't be able to "sign" their name in an official capacity. While this may be true, there are no state or federal laws that mandate a signature must be in cursive; print signatures are acceptable.

States that are bringing cursive back

With the above in mind, 18 states now require cursive be taught in some way; there is a particularly high resurgence in the South, most recently in Texas.

The case against cursive

While no one is arguing that teaching cursive is a bad thing, some are resistant to its reintroduction because there is a concern about where it would fit in the curriculum. "There are a finite number of instructional hours in the school day," says Goldie Grossman, PhD, the director of educational development and product safety at Fun and Function and a former assistant principal. "In recent years, we've been devoting more classroom time to social and emotional learning, coding, financial literacy, and free play. Which of those should we take away to teach cursive?"

Learning cursive outside of school

If you live outside of one of the 18 states that require cursive, you still have options for learning the skill. Some students are taking matters into their own hands, and reviving cursive as an art form through clubs, competitions and free time. The New York Times reported on a 10-year-old who won a national competition for his cursive writing, after being self-taught from a workbook rather than at school. Other students have found outlets for their interest in beautiful handwriting of all kinds by joining or creating a school calligraphy club. The takeaway? Computers may be the wave of the future, but cursive doesn't seem to be-and shouldn't be-going away anytime soon. Next, read on to discover what your handwriting reveals about you.

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Should Schools Bring Back Cursive Handwriting?

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Jo Howell/Shutterstock A variety of educators and politicians across the country are pushing back against the death of cursive, resurrecting the rite of passage. Here's why. Ask anyone who completed third grade in the 1980s or earlier and chances are they will have a memory of trying to get that capital G loopy enough or have a favorite letter to swoop and scrawl.

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Many of us would answer: "Very important!" While Montessorians have deliberated for years whether children should learn to write first in cursive or print, we've all thought cursive was an essential skill. Now there is a lively debate occurring in the field of education about whether, in this age of technology, cursive handwriting is necessary at all.

Cursive is not required by the national educational Common Core Standards. Many states across the country are removing or reducing cursive instruction from the curriculum while only a few states have deliberated and decided to keep it.

What's the best way to respond when parents ask why handwriting is a key component of the Montessori environment? Montessori discovered the importance of learning through movement and the senses. Research corroborates the vital hand/brain connection, proving that new pathways in the brain develop as children use their hands to explore and interact with the world. Of course it doesn't need to be an either/or decision: children can be computer literate and learn cursive.

Research Shows the Value of Learning Cursive

Fascinating new research points out the benefits of cursive writing for cognitive development. One study concluded that elementary students need at least "15 minutes of handwriting daily for cognitive, writing and motor skills and reading comprehension improvement." A recent article in Psychology Today cited research which shows that:

Students "wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard." This study included second, fourth, and sixth graders.

"Cursive writing helps train the brain to integrate visual (and) tactile information, and fine motor dexterity."

The regions of the brain that are activated during reading were "activated during hand writing, but not during typing."

Learning to Write: Cursive or Print?

"Written language can be acquired more easily by children of four years than by those of six. While children of six usually need at least two years to learn how to write, children of four years learn this second language within a few months."
-Maria Montessori

Observers of Montessori schools are often astonished by the beautiful cursive hand of four-and five-year-old children. Montessori noted that the straight and oblique lines of printing were more difficult for children to form than cursive. The uninterrupted movements of the hand may make cursive letters easier for children to form, and for this reason, some Montessori primary classrooms introduce children to cursive sandpaper letters first. Other Montessori schools wait to teach cursive to lower elementary students.

Some non-Montessori reading experts have begun teaching cursive before printing, because they find that cursive instruction improves literacy outcomes for many students and that "the connections between letters required in cursive writing may reduce letter reversals."

Whether we begin by teaching print or cursive, it's clear that it is a very different process to touch a key and see a letter appear on a screen, than it is to develop the skills and brain/hand connections necessary to be able to write that letter yourself.

"We directly prepare the child, not only for writing, but also for penmanship, paying attention to the beauty of form (having the children touch the letters in script form)..."
-Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method

In the Montessori primary classroom, children trace the Sandpaper Letters with their fingers and often draw letters in a sand tray or on an easel or chalkboard. As they progress, children can copy onto paper the words and sentences they build with the Movable Alphabet.

In the 1950s, my aunt in Nebraska had never heard of Montessori. Searching for a way to help her struggling students form letters, she poured sandy cat litter into a box and encouraged the children to draw letters with their fingers in this material. They loved it!

Handwriting across the curriculum is encouraged in the Montessori classroom. Older children write their own poems, stories, and research reports. One of the best ways for children to learn geography, history, science, and even math, is to work with the materials and write about it (with a pencil!)

Older children are also fascinated with learning to write with a quill pen or Chinese calligraphy brush. Teaching elementary-age children different scripts, such as italics, and showing them illuminated manuscripts with decorated capital letters can inspire students to view handwriting as an art form. Teachers have reported that their students' own cursive writing improved after working with calligraphy pens and different scripts.

"We Are Writers!"

I once had the pleasure of teaching at a Montessori school in an extremely diverse community where over 30 languages were spoken. One day during recess, two eight-year-old boys from my class - one whose mother tongue was Tagalog and the other whose first language was Mandarin - were perched at the top of the jungle gym waving sticks in the air and tapping them on the highest bar with great enthusiasm.

They shouted to me: "Guess who we are? Guess who we are? "

Expecting that they were pretending to be gun-wielding superheroes, I walked over to get a better look. Before I could speak, they called out: "We are ! And we are writing the next Goosebumps book." (At that time Goosebumps books were as popular as Harry Potter.)

Again the boys flourished their sticks and now I could clearly see their proud faces, fingers holding their sticks in the proper pencil grip, the cursive writing flowing across the top of the monkey bars.

-by Irene Baker, MEd, Montessori Educational Consultant at Montessori Services. She holds both primary (ages 3-6) and elementary (ages 6-12) Montessori certifications and has taught at all three levels. For over 15 years, she has served as a Montessori teacher-trainer for both primary and elementary levels and has presented workshops for teachers at schools and AMS national conferences. Her work with both students and teachers is infused with the knowledge she has gained from her passions: history, social justice, non-violent (compassionate) communication, nature, meditation, music, and poetry.

-Originally Published 2013

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Many of us would answer: "Very important!" While Montessorians have deliberated for years whether children should learn to write first in cursive or print, we've all thought cursive was an essential skill. Now there is a lively debate occurring in the field of education about whether, in this age of technology, cursive handwriting is necessary at all.

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Should schools be required to teach cursive handwriting?

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Agreed

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Happy kids learning cursive

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Cursive handwriting is dying. But some politicians refuse to accept it.