The Case for Cursive

1. The Casefor Cursive William “Billy” Hatridge, MS, CAS, OTR/L Occupational Therapist and Certified Handwriting Specialist TheOTDad@gmail.com

2. What is Cursive? • Any style of penmanship in which some characters are written joined together in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster. • Formal cursive is generally joined, but casual cursive is a combination of joins and pen lifts. • The writing style can be further divided as “ligature”, "looped", or "italic".

3. Cursive Subclasses • Ligature • Writing letters with lines connecting, so that one does not have to pick up the pen or pencil. • Looped • Writing with some ascenders and descenders looping. • Italic • Also known as chancery cursive, is a semi-cursive, slightly sloped style of handwriting and calligraphy

4. History of Cursive • Ancient Romans were among the first to develop a written script for transactions and correspondence • Penmanship became a specialized discipline found primarily in monastic settings • Charlemagne tasked an English monk with standardizing the craft. • Influenced by Roman characters, Carolingian miniscule was designed for maximum legibility and featured lowercase letters, word separation and punctuation.

5. History of Cursive • Johannes Gutenberg used a dense Gothic approach for his printing press in the mid-15th century • Italian humanists soon revolted against the heavy look by reverting to a more Carolingian script and inventing a cursive form of it, known as Italic • Elegant handwriting emerged as a status symbol • By the 1700s penmanship schools began opening their doors • In the mid-1800s an abolitionist and bookkeeper named Platt Rogers Spencer attempted to democratize penmanship by formulating a cursive writing system, known as the Spencerian method

6. History of Cursive • Austin Norman Palmer replaced the Spencerian method in American classrooms, where students learned to form loopy characters between horizontal lines on chalkboards • D’Nealian script originated in the 1970s and was designed to ease the transition from printing to cursive writing • Another style, developed by Charles Zaner and Elmer Bloser for elementary-aged children, dominated textbooks for much of the 20th century • Schools began to eliminate penmanship classes, and by the 1980s many U.S. children received little formal training

7. So Why Cursive? • Improves the ability to read it • Improves writing speed and skills • Improves sensory and fine motor skills • Connects people with the past • Improves the ability to retain information

8. HandAnatomy101

9. Quick Facts • The hand is made up of… • 27 bones • 29 joints • 34 muscles • 123 ligaments • 3 main nerves • 45 nerve branches • 30 arteries

10. The Anatomy of the Hand

11. The Anatomy of the Forearm

12. Stabilization & Skill Skill Side of Hand (Radial and Median Nerves) Stabilization Side of Hand (Median and Ulnar Nerves)

13. Nerve Innervations of the Hand https://www.orthobullets.com/hand/6008/physical-exam-of-the-hand

14. Grasping Patterns

15. Hand Strength is Key!

16. Cursive Basics

17. The Handwriting Pyramid

18. When to Begin Cursive • Formal Instruction in 3rd Grade • Can be taught in 2nd with focus on easy letters/connections • Student has difficulty mastering print writing • Cursive instruction should not proceed if student can’t master pre-cursive exercises

19. Pre-Cursive Exercises • Under to Over - a d g o p • Up and Down Retrace - i t u p h k • Up and Down Loop - b f l • Descending Loop - g j y

20. Eight Key Components • Memory • Connections • Placement • Size • Start • Sequence • Control • Spacing * Speed

21. 4 Basic Connections • Baseline Connections • Easy: baseline to baseline he • Tricky: baseline to high ca • High Connections • Easy: high to high ou • Tricky: high to low or

22. Remember Who’s Boss • Teaching connections using only two letters • Write letters separately then connected • The ending of the first letter can NEVER change • The first letter is the BOSS • Second letter changes its start

23. The Instructional Stages • Stage 1: Imitation • Student watches then imitates • Stage 2: Copying • Student looks at prompt then copies • Stage 3: Independent Writing • Student writes without prompt or model

24. Cursive Teaching Order

25. Developmental Teaching Order • Lowercase then Capitals • Start with familiar letters • Mastery of the “c” stroke • Easier to more difficult connections • Similar formation patterns

26. Lowercase: Magic “C” c a d g

27. Lowercase: Familiar Letters h t p

28. Lowercase: Similar to e e l f

29. Lowercase: Recognizable Letters u y i j

30. Lowercase: Common but Unfamiliar k r s

31. Lowercase: Tow Truck Letters o w b v

32. Lowercase: m & n m n

33. Lowercase: Infrequent & Challenging x z q

34. Capital: Same as Lowercase A C O U V W X Y Z

35. Capital: Ready, Set, Up & Over P B R N M

36. Capital: Ready & Set H K T J

37. Capital: Difficult Formations I J D L

38. Capital: Unique Instruction G S E

39. Capital: The Problem with “Q” Q

40. Multisensory Lessons

41. Wet Dry Try Write prompt with chalk Student traces with wet sponge Student dries with dry paper Student tries with small chalk piece Addresses sensory-motor skills and tripod grasp development

42. Imaginary Writing • Air Writing • When reviewing letters/numbers, trace with pencil in the air • Follow the Ball • Similar to air writing, but with teacher and students holding balls • Laser Letters • Have students write along with laser tracing prompt • Have students use laser pointer to trace along prompt

43. Connection Inspection • Write words on board • cursive = easy • print = hard • Divide class into teams • One student is the inspector • Have teams solve word problems by becoming letters and “connecting” • REMEMBER WHO’S BOSS!!!

44. Voices • Verbal instruction can get boring • Switch it up by using voices • loud, soft, squeaky, high, low • Allow students to lead using their own fun voices • Great instruction for verbal learners

45. Mystery Letters • Teaches correct letter formation • Students start letter, then wait for instruction • Magic “C” Letters • “Magic c, wait. Turn it into ______” • Magic “C” Words • “Magic c, wait. Add the letter ______” • Other Lowercase Letters • “Start at the dot, wait. Turn it into _____. Add the letter ________”

46. Letter Stories • “Inside “g” lives a little man named George” • “’i’ and ‘t’ should be closed. If they are open a bear could get in our tent!” • “If ‘m’ has big gaps, they will fill up with trash when the garbage truck comes.” • “The cursive ‘n’ has two humps, so let’s turn it into a nose” • “The letter ‘q’ is followed by ‘u’, so let’s add it to the tail” • “When you make ‘s’, start with a jet takeoff!”

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