Freddie has been sent home with a sheet not dissimilar to this. His target for this term is to learn all the letter sounds. He knows all the letter sounds, so is that a good target?
Mind you he is struggling to regognise some of the letters when presented in this way. I mean just look at the r and v. And Fergus really struggles with this. I can see the reasoning behind it and maybe Freddie will cope, but is this really appropriate for an 8 year old, possible dyslexic, who is already struggling to recognise/differentiate letters? I suppose it does mean that, eg, b is not a mirror image of a d, etc.
I could cope with this, as the actual letter shapes are more clear, the upstrokes being secondary. I think having them all the same thickness leads to an artificial writing style: I've seen it. And anyway, it is print that they see all around them, so that is what they know. I think for reading it should be print, surely? Isn't this making it a bit too complicated for them at the beginning? Me and my two girls manged to move from print to joined up writing at an appropriate stage...
And what's wrong with the Montessori cursive anyway? it has flicks, but not the upstrokes, which, as far as I'm concerned are not actually part of the letter.I just bumped into ed psyc H for a coffee, and had a great chat about this. She says most parents hate this- they seem to do it in all the schools round here from day one, although there are many incongruities, ie the alphabet curve (in print) on the classroom wall. The one thing I've seen in Freddie's classroom is the interactive whiteboard, which they have to drag their own name onto the cow (for milk-ordering!) each morning. It's written in a cursive font, but I think this is a lot moe readable than a single letter.
But really I am tending to think at the moment...
7 comments:
I agree and will always prefer to let writing flow naturally in the writer's own style. Handwriting is and should be an element of personal expression IMO - each sample unique and characterful.
I hated writing when I was at that stage at school, because I felt I was being forced into expressing myself in a false and ungainly way. As a teenager I had to work quite hard to drop the prescribed technique and invent my own style, which I then settled into much more happily and could write with much more quickly and even sometimes legibly!
Zara's been allowed to learn handwriting in the natural way and is working on her style now, at about the same age as I was when I did.
Ooh - so - maybe the schooling makes no difference, then :-)
First example of letters I learned in my school during World War 2 so that's definitely out of date!!!! The up strokes on letters like m and n can be particularly confusing because how many bumps do you have anyway?? Lots of letters show no real resemblance to the printed versions. The second example is much more sensible but the most important thing is that pupils form the letters correctly in print and then just join them naturally. No problem! And the capital letters can be the same as printing.. why not?
Rosie I don't know how you get time to write all this on your blog but it's very interesting and probably very cathartic and anyway I go on Second Life and get very much the same benefit.
I don't like using the f word except in it's proper context (ahum) but the point of cursive is that it is quicker to keep your pen/pencil in contact with the paper and write continuously if you have to do any writing by hand which comes up in school and other places too quite often. You just take your pen off after each word. But you should see the speed Japanese people get up taking their pen off all the time anyway and I have known many people who always print too. Probably because they were faced with trying to learn that first example of cursive writing! XXXX Mum
Gill: yes, I agree about personal expression- this is so stifling and dictatorial... surely everyone's own writing should be their own individual expression and interpretation of print- i'm sure i was just told to join up the letters that I could already print...not really how to join them up...and even then found it hard to find my own style till mid-teens. it's hard enough to learn to write fast enough to do exams!
I seem to remember peer-pressure to write in a "cool" style!!!! but that's all part of it. I just think the way they seem to be doing this: you have to form each letter starting on the line and with an upstroke- even if it's at the beginning of a word, or in isolation...a bit absurd.
Mum: "most important thing is that pupils form the letters correctly in print and then just join them naturally." can I quote you on this? ;-) I shall be watching carefully to see what happens with Freddie- I just can't believe they're starting with the joined-up version first...is this like the "new" thing that phonics is the only way to learn to read...like, some statistic said it's better so then all children must do this and only this; it's absurd. (they don't have this attitude, fortunately, although, as it happens, i think both the boys will respond to phonics)
..."And the capital letters can be the same as printing..." yes, actually they are on the sheet- should've photographed it really.
"I don't know how you get time to write all this" ...I don't have a TV, remember ;-) or a husband!
F-word: *cringe* how come the only ever time you look at my blog it has the f-word in it!!! I don't think there is a proper context;-) In fact it's inappropriate usage was discussed here quite recently!
hmm...back to topic in hand ;-)
I know I don't join up my writing in the accepted fashion, I think I just started doing it my own way in high school after they had given up trying to tell me how to do it, but like i said, I don't think it was ever dictated so rigidly. It basically had to be readable and neat.
...I saw Fergus's teacher after school and expressed my concerns. It turns out that there seem to be lots of different versions of the cursive style- every one seems to be different, although the font they use on the interactive whiteboard must be always the same. The example she showed me, that she has been using with Fergus, is written by hand, and has lots more sensitivity- ie you can differentiate the letters from the upstrokes. Some of the examples didn't even have upstrokes. she also gave me some flash cards of short words, which I totally forgot abot all weekend- oops!- and they are in print. She agreed that, yes, it is the printed word tht they need to be able to read, but explained that with writing they start with cursive. Fergus has been sent home with a cursive "c" with upstroke, which he hated doing.
...and it turns out that it is my friend, the ed psyc, that I have an appointment with in October. It is to decide whether he needs to be formally assessed, to get extra money for extra help. The teacher is quite keen on me bringing work that he has done at home, which is good, I think, that she is acknowledging that.
Trying not to worry too much about it all... I think that they should just leave him alone and let him learn when he's ready, but hey, that's not my job now is it?
ooo er!
sorry, that was a rather brief comment! 'i get what you're saying' or 'yes that'! was the intended message, but my brain is fried.
"Ooh - so - maybe the schooling makes no difference, then :-)"
I'm wondering if we'll see the same here. The almost 9 year old has been put straight onto cursive, but was also given a lesson on sounding out letters....
it's horrid having it taken out of my hands, but. oh yeah. I put them in there. sigh.
not sure i can weather it out tbh. i've a lot of pressure to keep them in now, but i'm feeling sick. if i can expend so much effort to get them to the wretched school, surely i can muster that for the home ed groups and other activities!?!?!
plus, i'm going to have to do background work, ( HOMEWORK!!!!), to help them out. all i need to do is do that and i'm home edding again iykwim.
the whole of me is shrieking NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
but the boys enjoyed today a lot. 'it wasn't boring like home' .(((
i want to scream though.
o yes- i know what you mean about the effort involved and I could have easily gone to home ed groups with less effort. I think I'm actually finding less resistance this wa though... for a start it's nearer, and whereas home-ed groups tend to be a bit random and less regular, school is every day and you know what time it is and you really can't be late and its so early you haven't got half a brain to even think about whether you want to go or not. I used to get at least one of the children, if not all, refusing to go every time I decided to go to a home ed group. I did managed to have a regular weekly routine with the local group, that the boys would happily trot allong to, but hardly anybody else came, so it felt a bit pointless.
The other thing about having to do all the work, in a way that you know is not right and not working for your child's needs, not to mention all the admin of letters...it's like a full time job! I'm hoping this will get easier... i am actually trying to distract myself as much as possible as I was expecting the first bit to be difficult for me, but I know that it is already less stressful than the anticipation before they started...
hope it gets easier for you
Trying not to worry too much about it all... I think that they should just leave him alone and let him learn when he's ready, but hey, that's not my job now is it?
(((Rosie)))fwiw I think you are right and he will do it when he is ready. It sounds very difficult. I hope it all evens out soon.
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