[senco-forum] Handwriting

When I was at school in the 50's -- we used to spend an hour lesson a day

Dear Brendan

I don't make many contributions to this forum as there doesn't seem to be 
much call for ideas to help with number and maths development - this is my 
passion teaching kids (SEN) to gain insight into the absract number system! 
and in so doing I have to admit that I have become extremely boring - not 
the work I love it, just that I don't do anything else!
Reading your last was an absolute hoot and welcome distraction, as this was 
indeed a trip down memory lane for me.... early 50's left handed, heaven 
forbid, old scottish teacher who thought that left-handers were the devil's 
sporn... get the picture? forced to use my right hand, board rubber thrown 
like missiles (she was a great shot!) eyes of a hawk and would ALWAYS appear 
when I dared to switch hands to quickly write a couple of lines of 
unblotted legible handwriting before the ruler impacted on my extremities. 
She succeeded in providing me with this life changing skill, with 
side-effects of irreparable confusion to my brain. I continued the rest of 
my education never knowing which hand to use for say netball, tennis, hockey 
( and later squash,)  eating or needlework! Although I can proudly state 
that for needlework and eating my left hand prevailed!!!!  This however, 
came at a price as the one and only time I got the cane (got caught using 
the boys corridoor ) I was asked which hand I wrote with, 'right hand Sir' 
so I got three swift strokes and then joined my class which was double 
needlework!!!!

I was still confused in adulthood when playing tennis/squash where I learned 
to simply change hands depending on which side of the court the ball was, 
until the game speeded up and I had no time to left go, not all bad though 
as I developed a pretty good double backhand  (even though I say so myself!)

Thanks for the interuption........Vikki

Managing Director
Maths Extra Limited
3 North Street
Mere, Wiltshire
BA12 6HH UK
T: +44 (0) 1747 861 503
F: +44 (0) 1747 860 882
W: www.mathsextra.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <kngbrndn at aol.com>
To: <SEN at tringham.net>; <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Handwriting

> When I was at school in the 50's -- we used to spend an hour lesson a day 
> on handwriting practice. We all had to conform to a very ridgid set of 
> rules. Our teachers were not gifted inspirers of wisdom and knowledge --  
> but they could all write on the blackboard in chalk with perfect model 
> cursive script.
>
> Older folk will remember the specially lined paper -- so that the height 
> of the t's were below the height of the looped letters, and all high 
> letters were of regular height. Also the up slope of the loop had to be a 
> very precise straight-up angle and all loops perfectly executed and 
> similarly formed -- and even the dot of the i had to be of precisely the 
> same height as the t. The roundness of the a's and b's, etc., had to be 
> perfectly regular -- everyone was supposed to produce perfectly cloned 
> copper-plate script -- so that no one's writing was distinguishable from 
> one another.
>
> Problem was (despite the impossibility of this to many youngsters) we had 
> very poor quality paper in our copybooks, and we wrote with school-made 
> powdered watered-down ink, with pens who's nibs were ruined from being 
> used as darts. So it was like writing on blotting paper with a couple of 
> tightly crossed pieces of scratchy fine-wire. Ink-wells used to be plugged 
> with blotting paper by wags, just to make the writing task a complete 
> nightmare. The blotting paper transfered in little blobs onto the page 
> smearing all attempts at writing into an illegible set of smears.
>
> We were just getting around to buying our own biro's -- but these were 
> banned as an abomination and a 'devils-tool' to encourage sloppy (though 
> speedy and legible!) writing.
>
> Some rich kids were allowed to use very expensive and prized gold tipped 
> nibbed fountain pens, filled with parent supplied Watermans (or Stevens) 
> fountain pen ink. So these half dozen produced the fine copper plate style 
> of the teacher -- in parent supplied excercise books with quality writing 
> paper, purchased from Smiths.
>
> It was their work that was pinned on the wall for the inspection of HMI, 
> the visiting priest and the rich kids influential parents. Our efforts 
> were usually in the bin (page roughly torn out) at the end of each lesson.
>
> The teachers did encourage our best efforts -- but this was by hitting us 
> sharply over the knuckles with a rule, as we struggled to write, if they 
> considered we were not conforming with the blackboard copper-plate script 
> we were copying out. This numbed our writing fingers and made any 
> dexterity and nimbleness in respect of dexterous wrting impossible
>
> A nightmare and a waste of time -- as we all developed our own styles in 
> our private ball point writing to each other -- and as soon as we left 
> school. We loved developing our own style of sloping tiny writing (frowned 
> upon from up on high) and rebelling against the teacher tyranny just for 
> the sake of rebelling.
>
> Bring back the good old days (I say) of hours of handwriting practice, 
> endless pages of timed dictation, spelling tests and the cane for any lack 
> of ability to achieve the teachers impossibly set tasks.
> Brendan King
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEN at tringham.net
> To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
> Sent: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 8.19AM
> Subject: RE: [senco-forum] Handwriting
>
>
> Handwriting is not really addressed by the NC other than to say that it
> should be cursive by Year 4.
>
> Teachers are now rated at NO. 1 for poor handwriting pushing doctors to 
> the
> NO 2 spot, and unlikely to be making handwriting a priority ( and where in
> the timetable exactly(!)
>
> It is not just legibility that is at issue but also speed.  Does child x
> only produce 1/2 a page because he is a poor descriptive writer or because
> he has poor procioceptor feedback, motor difficulties or dysgraphia?
> Without testing writing speed for the whole class periodically how can you
> know.
>
> Recent Y4 whole class speed test found that many were writing in the 
> bottom
> 20% speed wise and were not necessarily the children that might have been
> expected to have 'problems'.  It is an area that has been overlooked for 
> too
> long.
>
> The collection of primarily Primary writing speed tests that I have found
> are still up for grabs.  Secondary speed test available online at PATOSS.
>
> Sharon Tringham
>
> --
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> 13:58 