James Williams
My Handwriting Perspective
DISCLAIMER: James’ personal information shown in Figure 2 is for
display purposes only, and should not be used to solicit the
presenter. If you want to contact James, please use his Day
number, not his Evening number.
I grew up in a town with a fragmented
school system. The elementary and
middle schools were served by districts
separate from the high school.
As a result, the high school district had a
handwriting policy that was separate
from that of the elementary and
middle school I attended.
When I was a 5th grader in the
1999-2000 school year,
cursive was mandatory in
my elementary school,
starting from the 2nd grade.
In the 5th grade, I still had
some struggles with
handwriting.
Figure 1. Recreation of words
from spelling tests I had,
and how I wrote them,
since original tests were not
preserved.
Notice how the word “rubies”
is spelled “rulies.” I knew
how to spell the word but
miswrote the letter “b,”
writing it as an “l” instead. I
learned from my mistake,
and it was the only word I
ever spelled incorrectly on a
spelling test the entire
school year.
Also notice the inconsistency in the
size of my letters. Due to fine
motor coordination issues, it
was easier and took less energy
for me to write my cursive
letters larger, and I endured
fatigue when trying to write
smaller letters. I also used the
lines as a guide to properly
maintain letter size with larger
letters.
Finally, the word “basic” was a
word from an assignment I was
given after the spelling test
with “rubies,” which is shown
here to demonstrate that after
making the “rubies”
handwriting mistake, I learned
how to write the letter “b”
properly in cursive. I took pride
in my spelling (and was one of
the top spellers in my 5th grade
class), and this mistake on a
spelling test motivated me to
learn how to handwrite
properly.
In contrast, the high school had the opposite
policy—you were expected to print and
cursive was frowned on. Teachers would tell
you that printing was easier to read and
encouraged you to write that way.
Figure 2.
Section of a job
application I
quickly filled
out by hand
while in high
school,
showcasing the
printing style
commonly used
to complete
assignments at
my high school.
Twelve years later, in
the 2012-2013 school
year, my younger
sister started 5th grade
in the same
elementary school,
where she was subject
to the same cursive
expectations.
Figure 3. Sample writing
assignment given to
my sister in the 5th
grade, which
showcases the same
expectations that I
was subject to in
1999.
My development was unlike that of most children, in that I
learned how to read and write before I learned how to talk. I
also learned how to type before I could handwrite, and to this
day, I prefer typing over handwriting.
But in elementary school, I still had many struggles with
handwriting. Some of them were due to fine motor issues that
are very subtle and invisible to the eye. These struggles
resulted in fatigue after writing for long amounts of time, and
a tendency to write large. It was hard for me to write in
smaller sizes and within the lines of lined paper.
In the fifth grade, it was hard for me to write small letters. My
teacher threatened to take points off assignments unless I
learned how to write smaller. However, my teacher did let me
type my homework assignments because it was easier for me.
I also tended to get higher scores on typewritten assignments.
Later on, as a high school student during the 2006-07
school year, I served as an intern in a kindergarten
classroom with my former kindergarten teacher.
There, I observed how the kindergarten curriculum
revolved largely around handwriting, and how a
student’s ability to handwrite was often determined
to see if they needed special education services.
As was required of the internship, I kept a diary of the
activities I participated in and created for the
students.
While I was completing the internship, I attended the
2006 MAAP Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. At
this conference, the keynote presenters—Dr. Brenda
Smith Myles and Dr. Tony Atwood—two prominent
figures in the autism world, both shared that they
believed that handwriting standards should be
removed from school curricula.
I was shocked when I heard those statements.
From my publication “Diary of a Kindergarten Intern,” originally written
in 2006 (with all names and identities changed):
“During music, Mrs. Michaels, an occupational therapist, came to the
room to discuss with Mrs. Shapiro the state of Roger’s handwriting.
Apparently Roger is able to write properly with a grip but refuses to
do so when he is forced. And unlike the situation I was in when I was
his age (writing with an improper grip but quite beautifully), he not
only wrote with a bad grip but wrote poorly.
“What also deepened the problem was that not only was he unwilling
to write, but because of his intelligence, he did not qualify for special
services or an IEP at the school (he lacked a 504). I informed Mrs.
Shapiro and Mrs. Michaels that I had done a free time handwriting
project with him, but since I did not force him, he was willing to
comply and wrote quite well.
“My project consisted of asking him to write his name in two styles—
block letters and typewriter (serif) letters. I was going to write
bubble letters next but did not due to lack of time. However, since
that did not consist of the handwriting they required for a “valid”
handwriting evaluation, those sheets were not valid, but I was still
given recognition for my effort by Mrs. Michaels. It’s truly sad that,
due to bureaucratic rules, they can only take a formal evaluation
sheet as a record of a student’s performance, even though my “fun
activity” had already shown that the problem was more likely the
evaluation sheet than his actual writing ability.”
The passage from this diary illustrates how
handwriting impacts a teachers’ judgment of a
student, as well as the importance of properly
teaching handwriting to students. In this situation,
I engaged in a fun “handwriting activity” with a
student, only to learn later that this same student
actually had been formally diagnosed with
handwriting deficits.
Sometimes, kids need to learn handwriting
differently. The “free time” activity I did was not
meant to show Roger’s ability, neither was it
intended to teach handwriting—it was just an
activity I created that inadvertently showed a
possible learning disability.
Similarly, descriptions that showcase how teachers view handwriting in
the educational curriculum can be found in children’s literature.
One example of such a description can be found in the book “Ramona
The Pest,” written by Beverly Cleary (1958):
“The next day the seat work got harder. Miss Binney said that
everyone had to learn to print his name. Ramona learned right away
that this business of names was not fair. When Miss Binney handed
each member of the class a strip of cardboard with his name printed
on it, anyone could see that a girl named Ramona was going to have
to work harder than a girl named Ann or a boy named Joe.
“Not that Ramona minded having to work harder—she was eager to
learn to read and write. Having been the youngest member of her
family and of the neighborhood, however, she had learned to watch
for unfair situations.
“Carefully Ramona printed R the way Miss Binney had printed it. A
was easy. Even a baby could print A. Miss Binney said A was pointed
like a witch’s hat, and Ramona was planning to be a witch for the
Halloween parade. O was also easy. It was a round balloon. Some
people’s O’s looked like leaky balloons, but Ramona’s O’s were
balloons full of air.
“’I like the way Ramona’s O’s are fat balloons full of air,’ Miss Binney
said to the class, and Ramona’s heart filled with joy. Miss Binney liked
her O’s best!
Miss Binney walked around the classroom looking over shoulders.
“That’s right, boys and girls. Nice pointed A’s,” she said. “A’s with nice
sharp peaks. No, Davy. D faces the other way. Splendid, Karen. I like
the way Karen’s has a nice straight back.”
Ramona wished she had a K in her name, so that she could give it a nice
straight back. Ramona enjoyed Miss Binney’s description of the letters
of the alphabet and listened for them while she worked.”
A second example can be found in the book “Felicity Learns A Lesson,” the
second book in the Felicity series written by Valerie Tripp (1991) about
Felicity, a historical character in the American Girls Collection (set in
colonial Virginia in 1774), proper handwriting is shown to be considered
an essential skill for girls to become gentlewomen:
From Chapter 1 (set in Felicity Merriman’s house):
“Felicity sat up. ‘Am I to be apprenticed, Father?” she asked hopefully.
Some girls were apprentices. They learned to be seamstresses, or to
make hats, or even to work in shops. Felicity had always dreamed of
working in her father’s store.
“’Goodness, no!’ exclaimed her mother. ‘You are fortunate enough to be
the daughter of Edward Merriman, one of Williamsburg’s most
important merchants. You are to be educated as a gentlewoman.’
“’Oh,’ said Felicity. She was disappointed. ‘What am I to learn?’
“’The things my aunt taught me,’ said Mrs. Merriman. ‘You will have
lessons in dancing, handwriting, fancy stitchery, the proper way to
serve tea—” (emphasis added)
From Chapter 2 (set during lessons with Miss Manderly, Felicity’s teacher):
When the tea tray was cleared away, Annabelle went off to practice
writing fancy capital letters. Miss Manderly wrote out a phrase for
Elizabeth and Felicity to copy into their copybooks:
Think ere you fpeak,, for Words, once flown,
Once utter’d, are no more your own.
“Miss Manderly sat back and read it aloud, ‘’Think ere you speak, for
words, once flown, once uttered, are no more your own.’’ I would like
you to practice writing this phrase,’ she said. ‘The word ‘ere’ means
‘before.’ The phrase tells you to think before you speak. And I think it is
a good idea to think before you write, too.” She smiled, and then left to
help Annabelle.
And finally, in a third example, from “There’s A Boy In The Girls’
Bathroom,” written by Louis Sachar (1987), demonstrates how a
student’s performance in school, in handwriting for instance, can
improve with the proper motivation:
In this story, the main character, a boy named Bradley Chalkers, is failing
academically. He exhibits many tendencies of a disability, but his
condition is not named. He finally receives help from Carla Davis, the
new school counselor, which also motivates him to help himself:
“Bradley lay on the bed, on his stomach. He chewed the end of his pencil
as he looked hopelessly at the arithmetic book, opened in front of him.
“Next to the book was a piece of paper. In the upper right-hand corner
he had written:
Bradley Chalkers / Homework / Arithmetic / Page 43 / Red Hill School /
Room 12 / Mrs. Ebbel’s class / Last seat, last row / Black eye
“His handwriting, which was messy anyhow, was made worse by the
fact that he wrote with a dull pencil on top of a soft bed.
Later on, after school at the playground as he starts his arithmetic
homework using handwriting…
“Hey Bradley, what are you doing?” asked Ronnie.
“Homework.”
“What’s homework?” she asked.
“It’s work you do at home.”
“Is that supposed to be funny?” she asked.
“No, really. That’s what they do at school. They give you work to do at
home and they call it homework.”
“You’ve never done it before,” she said.
“I’m doing it for Carla. Now leave me alone so I can concentrate.”
Key points to notice in the following passages:
- In each passage, handwriting ability
impacts performance in a school setting,
regardless of the era and setting.
- The students in each passage comprehend
handwriting better when they have
sufficient motivation, and when instruction
relates to something they can understand:
an example is Ramona personifying the
letters she is writing.
To continue with my experiences…
A year after completing the internship, I was selected to serve as
one of several scribes for a student in my high school (as part
of our schools’ “peer mentoring” program) who had a hand
deformity and could not write on his own. He got good grades
in the class where I served as his scribe.
The selection was made after a special education teacher went to
several classrooms and asked active peer mentors in those
classes to give him a handwriting sample, in hopes of finding a
peer mentor with the most legible handwriting. I was
considered to have written the most legible handwriting in the
class.
The next year, he lost his accommodation to have a scribe. I was
in one of his classes as a classmate, and was told that I could
not write things down for him. Without a scribe, his grades
and ability to perform in the classroom declined significantly.
This added to my understanding of how handwriting
performance impacts classroom performance.
Looking back at my experiences, I have concluded the following
about handwriting in education:
1. Teachers and schools need to spend less time emphasizing a
specific handwriting style, and more time on whether or not a
student’s handwriting is legible.
2. In addition, alternative methods of holding pens and pencils
should be allowed by teachers if these methods enable
students with motor issues to write legibly. Conventional
pen/pencil-holds do not work for everyone, and sometimes it
takes longer to learn to hold a pen conventionally than it takes
to learn to write. I learned to handwrite before I learned a
pen/pencil hold. And there is more than one efficient way to
hold a pen/pencil.
3. Although computers and iPads are more widely used in schools
and society, handwriting is still essential. For example, we
still need to sign our names, and sometimes need to address
letters and fill out forms by hand. However, in each of these
cases, what matters the most is legibility, not a specific style.
Furthermore, in high school, the supply list for each school
year always included: “All classes require paper and pencil.”
Finally, though the ability to write is an
essential skill for other classes in school,
and for life, a student with handwriting
issues should use assistive technology in
classes unrelated to handwriting
performance (such as science and history).
When you need to teach handwriting, teach
it in a handwriting class and/or during
designated handwriting practice session.
However, a student who is still learning
handwriting skills, and/or who has
handwriting deficits, should not be
penalized having these deficits and/or
instructional needs.
Works Cited
Cleary, Beverly. Ramona The Pest (1958). Book is part of the “Ramona
Quimby” series. Published by HarperCollins.
Williams, James. Diary of a Kindergarten Intern. First written in 2006,
self- published on my website, www.jamesmw.com/diary/, in 2011,
with names and identities changed to maintain confidentiality.
Tripp, Valerie. Felicity Learns A Lesson (1991). Written as part of the
“Felicity” series, and published as part of the historical character
series by The American Girls Collection. Published by American Girl
Publications.
Sachar, Louis. There’s A Boy In The Girls Bathroom (1987). Published by
Scholastic, Inc.
School district policies in this presentation refer to
Northbrook/Glenview District 30, and Northfield Township High
School District 225, school districts that serve portions of
Northbrook, Illinois and Glenview, Illinois, two suburbs of Chicago.