Cursive 'falling by the wayside'
Students at K'alemi Dene school ask teacher to learn handwriting
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 23, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Donovan Black-Quitte has been learning handwriting for about a week. The 12-year-old K'alemi Dene finds it difficult, but has filled up a sheet of lined printing paper with the handwritten alphabet, and has created a signature.
Donovan Black-Quitte, 12, is part of a group of students who asked to be taught cursive writing at K'alemi Dene school. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
His teacher Anna Hernandez - who teaches Grade 7 and 8 at the kindergarten to Grade 12 school - said cursive, or handwriting, has taken a back seat to word formatting on a computer, and is not in the curriculum for the grades she teaches.
But about two weeks ago she took out her driver's licence and showed it to the students, prompting them to ask about her signature on the card.
"They said to me, 'Well I don't know how to sign my signature,'" said Hernandez, who then decided to teach them cursive writing.
Hernandez said she's noticed even basic printing isn't strong in her students. Often, their assignments are illegible, making it difficult for her to mark them. She said she's hopeful teaching them basic handwriting will boost their ability to express themselves on paper, and better prepare them for the world ahead.
Outside the Ndilo school, the debate over cursive's relevance smoulders.
"Some people feel it's very important, other parents think, 'I don't write very often in my job, so it's not a necessary skill anymore,'" said Mira Hall, Yellowknife Education District No. 1 trustee, of the debate.
She's heard the issue come up multiple times during Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) meetings in the past, raised by a faction of concerned parents who worry their children aren't learning the basic skills of cursive writing and can't even print legibly.
Parents who are more interested in seeing their children pick up basic computer skills disagree, said Hall.
"It's quite a controversial issue," she said.
Rachel Simmons, principal at William McDonald school, said she's heard complaints about penmanship, but because at the high school level almost all work is performed on computers, she wonders whether good penmanship is an asset.
"We look more at skills in literacy that are more computer and technology based," she said. "At this stage for us to turn around and say we're going to ... take out those cursive writing books and put them in (the classroom), is difficult."
Simmons said students who haven't been taught how to write stand out.
"Those who are not taught, or do not have a natural ability, definitely, it is very difficult to read some of their writing," she said.
Paul Bennett, principal at J.H. Sissons school, said cursive writing is on the curriculum in Grade 3, and students touch on it in Grades 4 and 5, but agrees with educators who say it loses any spotlight to computer-assisted learning.
"What is being done to replace those fine motor skills?" he said.
The issue keeps coming up, according to Yk1 board chair John Stephenson.
"That is an ongoing comment ... raised at the school (PACs), to encourage schools to get kids writing, to use their handwriting," he said. "We're all plugged in to computer keyboards, and so cursive writing is falling by the wayside."
There are many demands on classroom time, said Stephenson, and teachers are faced with a big challenge in keeping up with the steady march of technology, and so he understands how it's difficult to justify taking time to work on how students write. But he suspects students would lose out if the ability to write disappeared from the classroom altogether.
"My mother writes me a letter every week. She's 90 years old and her handwriting is unbelievable," he said.
"I believe we need to maintain that in school, because it's a different connection to our brains. I credit my mom's mental acuity to her ability to write. She writes every day. They say, with our brains, as we get older, the more we use (them), the more protection there is against the symptoms of old age."
Hall works at the Centre for Northern Families where a lot of the work focuses on fostering skills and abilities for parents. She said that writing has a purpose beyond simply recording information on paper.
"Writing is more than just writing," she said. "It's fine motor skills. It's patience. It's organizing your thoughts slowly."
