Cursive Writing?

Next week we are having a department meeting on whether or not--and/or how--to teach cursive writing in our classes.  My school is an all boys school for fairly high level students in grades four through eight. Although I now teach without the use of paper of any kind, I'll admit I'm on the fence; but I am finding, after a good deal of thought and discussion, I find I am leaning towards integrating cursive into our curriculum somehow.

My greatest nemesis as a young boy in a Catholic school was the daily drudgery of cursive writing--drudgery that was reflected in a steady stream of C's and D's on my report card, but it was all I learned to do; I never learned block printing except on my own. I did, however, learned to love writing even if it was legible only to myself. The bookshelf over my desk is fell of personal journals that fully expressed my inner and outer life as it unfolded over many years.

All of my poems, songs and ramblings have been transcribed out of the cryptic text of my journals. Oftentimes, I would write and completely rewrite my pieces many times until the final form took place. I have to think that the process of writing and revision was more thoughtful and complete than the approach I use today, which is all accomplished on the laptop I am using now. I still edit and revise, but I don't always go over each word time and again: I search for words, phrases and sentences that need work, but I don't "physically" rewrite the entire piece over and again. Perhaps I should. Perhaps the best of my potential is lost in my eagerness to hit save and publish and sooner reveal my work to the world.

Last weekend I brought my old moleskine journal to my kids soccer game and idled my time writing poetry and sketching ideas for assignments and writing pieces while sitting in my folding chair on the side of the busy playing fields. It was time well-spent.  Within the scrawl of my pages beauty emerged--beauty that never would have come to be had I simply shouted, "Get the ball!" a hundred times over. It was no big deal to return later and "rewrite" the best of what I produced into my online journal. Though the actual cursive writing was still a mess to behold, it was the nature of the cursive experience that enabled something magical to happen for me that would otherwise been lost. And that has to be worth something.

One of the conundrums of education is in making time where it does not practically exist. In my six years as an 8th grade English teacher I have not had a single parent or student request that I teach or require cursive writing as a part of my curriculum. They want good writing skills to be taught and reinforced, and, for whatever reason, cursive writing skills simply don't carry an equally compelling weight of importance. Teaching the mechanics, structure, and content of good writing is our primary goal as teachers of writing, and they are the ones paying the price of tuition to learn those skills.

So where can cursive fit in? After reading millions of words written by my students, I just can't buy into the argument that cursive writing is a "necessary" skill to learn in this day and age, but it is a rewarding and practical art that can enliven and compliment our repertoire of skills as writers. Cursive writing expands the possibilties of opportunity to respond in any moment to the intrinsic power of the written word in a fluid and natural way--and that in itself has to be worth something!

My inclination is to recognize cursive writing as an art, and to teach it as an art that is preferably learned in the studios of the artwing and then practiced in the classroom through assignments that recognize the unique value that cursive can have in our lives. For my part, I am going to have my students write personal letters each month--actual letters sent to real people--that try to capture the best of what cursive writing can offer us as an exercise in expressive and heartfelt writing. Maybe in this way i can kill two birds with one stone: I can pay homage to the personal touch that only cursive writing can offer,  and I can teach a practical writing skill. I would bet that most of my kids don't even know what a postage stamp tastes like:)

I won't (or at least I don't want to) take time out of my class to "teach" cursive, but I will encourage the boys to reengage what for most of my them is a distant memory. If I can't attach an overarching value to cursive writing, I will hardly be able to convince them that it is anything more than a fleeting assignment.  We--and more especially our students--have to experience a reward that will live in them through their lifetimes, and maybe they will someday paraphrase my final thought:

Thank you, Sister Margaret Jean Beatrice.

Comments

[xiousgeonz]

It also can link the ol' brain hemispheres if students are thinking letters while writing them. It's not true for everybody, but some folks' spelling will improve...