Technology and handwriting

Technology is a huge part of our world today. It’s become a necessity for getting through our daily lives and staying in touch with the world. However with technology use growing more and more, it is starting to have some effects on our newer generations and how they are developing a new and unique fine motor skillset, specifically for use with the digital classroom.

The way that students hold a mouse puts pressure on the wrist, and we are seeing that repetetive use of them is causing carpal tunnel symptoms in very young children. Something that was not seen in the past.

That’s why messy handwriting is often caused by poor motor (movement) skills, like fine motor skills. (This is the ability to make movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists.)

Sadly, in my opinion, the art of handwriting seems to be a dying one but it still has a place in the curriculum. Developing that fine motor skillset, also transfers over to artistic ability and creativity. Pride of presentation and an inner feeling of satisfaction that comes with that is being transferred over to the digital tools- they are definitely impressive, and have a creativity of their own...which have also hold a valuable place in the curriculum.

so...how do we strike a balance. Some of these tips may be useful for you to implement in the classroom

Encourage your students to write daily.

Letter formation can easily be integrated into the daily timetable, if only for just 15 minutes a day. Part of the issue as I see it, has been the advent of the IWB where every teacher finds it incredibly challenging to write neatly on one. The old style chalkboards and whiteboards have more grip to them, making handwriting easier to demonstrate. Without this teacher modelled lesson, then it is unrealistic to expect our students to produce flawless writing.

So what are some common handwriting problems children face?

Wrong pencil grasp, poor letter formation, poor sizing of letters, difficulty in copying words, spacing of words, sense of direction, poor pencil pressure, inconsistency in upper and lower case writing, etc.

Bad handwriting skills often stem from lack of proper fine motor skill development.

The first most important thing is to hold the writing tool correctly. Children love sketch pens and crayons, but to help them practice their handwriting always ensure that they use good quality pencils.Thick, good lead is vital and the pencil’s length must not be more than 6cm.The pencil should be held in place with the thumb, index and middle fingers.

Relax the grip

Closely monitor your child’s writing. If there is a strong imprint on the next page or pad/desk, then that means the child is applying under pressure on the pencil.This could be due to stress. Pencil grips can also be a useful tool and easy to purchase through ebay.

Use inviting stationery

To improve your child’s handwriting and not leave any marks on the fingers, it is very important for every child to use good stationery.A good pencil helps the child improve his/her grip, apply the least amount of pressure, not get stressed and produce dark and neat write-ups.A good eraser must be able to clean up errors at the very first shot. Spending a lot of time adjusting and fixing stationery can be very stressful for a child who is learning to write.It could also lead to a loss of interest in the whole writing process.– Do not provide the child plain white paper or regular ruled pages to start off. They need to first learn to size their alphabets and space the letters right.– They should be provided four lined pages with brightly coloured lines. This will help them pick up cursive handwriting much faster and easier.

Use visual clues

Verbally describe the letter formation to your students as your form them, especially if you are teaching your letters by the way they are formed.

Tall letters, body letters and leg letters...or however you choose to describe them can be an invaluable tool for many students. ( see the visual prompts used in the first image where a giraffe has been used to support letter height)

Be encouraging

Every child learns. Every child has potential. Some take a little longer than the others. Patience plays a huge role in this handwriting-honing process.Children have a low attention span and get easily distracted if they do not get something right at the first shot.

A happy and positive environment plays a huge role in a child’s growth. Children feel encouraged and excited to try new things.They do not get discouraged when they make mistakes and are ready to try again. Handwriting is one such skill.

Resources that you may find useful

FInd them in my SELZ store or on TPT

Resources that are affordable and will help your students to enjoy their handwriting sessions. The giraffe cards are fully interactive with a cute little unicorn that will demonstrate to the students how to correctly form each of the letters in their state's font.

A Prowise link is supplied for these so that they can be used with iPads and the IWB.

Printable low ink versions are available

Rainbow Writing Cards

Multiple tracing over letters has been a tried and true activity for many years. There is a student copy availalble for both NSW and QLD fonts for them to practise their rainbow writing. Each come with a self assessment activity on each page. Letters are organised in SATPIN order, but can be changed to suit your needs in the powerpoint version.

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