5 Benefits of Explicitly Teaching Cursive Handwriting - Guest Post from Together in Literacy
I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on the Together in Literacy podcast with Emily Gibbons and Casey Harrison. We discussed my journey to advocacy and how Right to Read empowers families who are supporting dyslexic learners.
Together in Literacy is a podcast for educators, families, and advocates that connects the research of reading, dyslexia awareness, and the whole child. As literacy dyslexia specialists, Emily and Casey have come together to talk about literacy, dyslexia, and the connection to the social-emotional impact that it has on students, their families, and the educators who serve them. I highly recommend their podcast!
Emily and Casey have agreed to share some of their expertise with us here on the Right to Read Advocacy blog! In this blog post, Emily and Casey will be sharing about bringing handwriting into literacy instruction.
We recently began using Handwriting Without Tears - Cursive Handwriting at home with my son, Evan, to reinforce what he’s working on in the classroom.
“I can already see that he feels so empowered when he’s writing in cursive!” - Jennifer Bernheim, Founder of Right to Read Advocacy and mom to Evan
The Benefits of Explicitly Teaching Cursive Handwriting
This article was originally published on the Together in Literacy blog. It appears here with the permission of the authors.
Even for those students who do not have difficulty, handwriting in the early years is essential. Until students can form letters with reasonable legibility and speed, their concentration and their focus are often spent on letter production.
When students have yet to reach automaticity in their letter formation, it taxes their working memory and places a higher demand on their cognitive resources. The physical aspects of handwriting are so cognitively demanding for children when they're still learning how to form letters correctly and fluently, that they often need extra time to think about the formation of each letter.
Then in addition to the handwriting work, students are asked to apply that knowledge to other areas of literacy and activities like:
Spelling
Sentence structure
Planning
Reflection within the written expression
All of these tasks are cognitively demanding.
When cognitive overload occurs it creates a cascading effect where other elements of writing become overlooked, often leading to errors in spelling application.
That leads us to understand the role of handwriting within our classrooms. To help circumvent those challenges our students bring to us, it’s important to explicitly teach handwriting to all students.
Effective handwriting practice will lead to stronger spelling, reading, and writing performance.
Explicitly Teaching Letter Formation
We want to make sure we're explicitly teaching letter formation, whether it’s print or cursive.
There are some benefits to teaching each of these. We know that in schools we’re teaching print early on. Print was designed for the printing press, but it will help students bridge into the text in the books. It can help link to the alphabetic principle and provide an avenue for communication for students.
Throughout our structured literacy lessons, we're always practicing the connection between decoding and encoding, and so explicitly teaching print provides students with the ability to transfer that knowledge back and forth between their reading and their spelling. So, we want to make sure that we explicitly teach letter formation.
When we look at handwriting, we want to look at the whole child by emphasizing a multisensory approach and a kinesthetic approach. That is what the student is going to get the most benefit from.
Here are 5 Benefits We See in Teaching Students Cursive Handwriting:
1. It was designed for the human hand.
When writing in cursive, we have the same starting position every time. We move from left to right just as we read.
2. It reduces the inclination to reverse directions.
When we’re printing b, d, p, and q, these are common reversals. By teaching cursive handwriting, we eliminate that confusion because they all start in different positions. By eliminating confusion, we free up working memory.
3. Promotes a rhythmic movement.
Cursive handwriting is a continuous flow of letters. This promotes speed and fluidity of ideas. Students who become more proficient in cursive handwriting can produce work more quickly.
4. If you can write in cursive, you can also read cursive writing.
Not only is it beneficial to learn cursive handwriting in written form, but also to learn how to read it. This can help with reading primary sources in the content areas, particularly history and social studies. When we're reading things like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, that's cursive handwriting.
5. It's a confidence builder and a motivator.
Believe it or not, your students want to learn how to write in cursive and are motivated and excited to do it! When we give them the time and the space to learn how to do it properly, they look forward to that practice and explicit instruction by showing the proper letter formation and just giving them a chance to let that continuous flow develop. Kids do find this so motivating!
For even more on literacy, dyslexia, and the connection to the social-emotional impact that it has on students, their families, and the educators who serve them, check out the Together in Literacy podcast. If you like what you hear, leave a positive review and subscribe! And, don’t miss my episode, Supporting Families Through Advocacy with Jennifer Bernheim!
Meet the Authors
Emily Gibbons
Emily is a mom of four and an educator who loves creating, sharing, and talking about all things literacy! As a Certified Orton-Gillingham Educator and Dyslexia Specialist, she strives to provide resources to assist teachers, families, and children with all aspects of structured literacy and dyslexia.
Casey Harrison
Casey Harrison, LDT, CSLDS, CALT, is a Certified Academic Language Therapist and Licensed Dyslexia Therapist with over twenty-six years of experience in education specializing in literacy and dyslexia.
She has a private practice, Wimberley Dyslexia & Learning Center, and is the founder of The Dyslexia Classroom®. Casey works with students, parents, and educators by providing dyslexia therapy, consultations, resources, and training.
Her dedication to advocating for dyslexic learners and highlighting the connection between academics and social-emotional intelligence and well-being is evident in her work.
Connect with Casey at The Dyslexia Classroom. Visit her shop, and follow her Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.