48 - Cursive writing helps kids: memorize faster, improve motorskills, stimulates part of brain linked to reading, etc.

Cursive helps students memorize material faster and activates parts of the brain that lead to increased language fluency.

   I know it sounds mean, but I required all my students to write in cursive unless they had some type of disability which made it difficult for them.  I was so mean that I minused points from their grade if they didn’t write in cursive, or I gave extra credit points. Constantly I thought about throwing out

this lesson, tired of my students' grumbling,  that other teachers allowed them to print. But my

perseverance was reinforced when a parent talked to me at a Parent Conference. He was ecstatic that I not only taught but reinforced the necessity of using cursive. 

   He was a professor at California State Northridge University and shared that he found that over the

years more students were coming into his classes trying to take notes by printing. Yes, some came in

with laptops, but not many. (In the late 80’s)  He found that the students who used cursive took notes faster because they didn’t have to pick up their pen as often as those who printed. They constantly asked for him to repeat the info, therefore, slowing the lesson down tremendously. He asked me to speak to the English teachers at Pacoima Junior High in which I did. 

    Did you know that almost half the states do not require teaching cursive mandatory and yet there’s

tons of research to prove that it not only does one memorize faster, but the act of cursive relaxes them. Why should we teach this outdated writing to our children when they use computers and phones to look up information or to write to friends? 

Reasons to Teach Your Child Cursive:

1.  Cursive writing helps develop your child’s fine motor skills.  Rand Nelson of Peterson Directed Handwriting believes that when children use cursive, changes occur in their brains that allow a child to overcome challenges with motor skills. Using cursive gives the child a natural way to train these fine motor skills. He believes that the act of physically gripping a pen or pencil and practicing the swirls, curls and connections of cursive handwriting activates parts of the brain that lead to increased language fluency.

    Moreover, cursive handwriting stimulates brain synapses and synchronicity (working together) between the left and right hemispheres, something absent from printing, typing or keyboarding.

   http://davidsortino.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10221/brain-research-and-cursive-writing/          material below      

2.  Research shows that handwriting stimulates parts of the brain linked to learning to read.   The thinking level is increased when writing cursive because the hand-eye coordination varies for every single letter. This action makes it more demanding than making single strokes as in letters like A, E, F, H, etc.  Also, since cursive letters are different than printed letters, children usually read more easily, especially dyslexics.  And many transpose some of those similar looking letters less.  https://education.cu-portland.edu

   “Handwriting dynamically engages widespread areas of both cerebral hemispheres. Virginia Berninger, a researcher and professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says that brain scans during handwriting show activation of massive regions of the brain involved in thinking, language, and working memory.”  https://education.cu-portland.edu

   Research has shown that handwriting stimulates parts of the brain linked to learning to read.

3.  At Indiana University  Professor Karin James of psychology found that college students remembered information better when they wrote it in cursive, compared to when they printed or typed it.

     One reason for improved memory is that writing things down is slow. Therefore, it’s impossible to write down every word a teacher utters. The student has to mentally engage in the material and summarize it, or paraphrase or write down keywords or questions.  As a result, you are already starting to memorize the material. When students were given a full week to study the material, the laptop users did worse on the test than the handwritten note takers.

   The College Board found that students who wrote in cursive for the essay portion of the SAT scored slightly higher than those who printed.  Experts believe this is due to the speed and efficiency of writing in cursive, so the students focused on the unification of ideas in their essays due to the flow of the connected cursive strokes.

4.   Although cursive may be difficult for those with dysgraphia or dyslexia, educators have learned it is an excellent exercise to develop kinesthetic skills. Both Montessori and Waldorf schools use handwriting as part of their curriculum for its kinesthetic benefits. According to Rand Nelson of Peterson Directed Handwriting, exposure to cursive writing allows a child to overcome motor challenges. Gripping a pen and practicing cursive with its swirls and connections “activates parts of the brain that lead to increased language fluency.”

5.  Many educators have noticed a calming in the classroom when students start writing in cursive.

     When Alan and I visited Japan and stayed overnight in the temple for fun, one of their activities was writing a prayer in cursive with a calligraphy pen.  I had meditated for years and recognized that my body was doing the same thing: my breathing slowed down, and every muscle in my body relaxed.  I was pleasantly surprised. 

6.  Teaching cursive to your child helps children with behavioral or sensory processing disorders.

7.  Cursive keeps our brains active as we age. Keeping the brain busy lowers the rate of cognitive decline. Handwriting is a good cognitive exercise for those who wish to keep their minds sharp.

   So if all these statistics support the need to teach cursive, why is it not being taught in elementary schools anymore?  I guess becasue it 's not needed to raisae state test scores. Opps, did I say that?