The Educator (Volume 45) - IAMPETH

14
What is your most difficult penmanship
problem? The responses of
8,000 teachers to this question indicate
that the application of good
writing in all writing situations is
our most difficult problem.
Teachers and supervisors of handwriting:
are aware of this fact. I believe
that we are reminded of this
much more frequently than any other
group of instructors. However, the
examination of a thousand manuscripts
of pupils who were requested
to write an original paragraph revealed
the fact that sentence constructon,
punctuation, spelling, and
word usage functioned no better than
the handwriting. The teachers of
these skills had not failed, for most
of the papers showed sincere effort
and a passable degree of achievement.
Angelo Patri says, "Any school
child's work should bear the mai-ks
of his apprenticeship, not the finish
of the master. Work that is the expression
of a child's full power should
be marked high and praised as
worthy."
Results Seen at a Glance
The reason that penmanship receives
the greatest amount of criticism
can be attributed to the fact
that the results are so readily apparent.
One glance at a page frequently
serves to appraise its worth
with relation to writing. It takes
more minute examination to detect
other faults.
Likewise we find many who would
discount all our efforts because the
child uses a certain amount of finger
movement while we have stressed the
relaxation of the large arm muscles.
Again the finger motion is easily detected
while the movements of the
large arm muscles are mostly a matter
of relaxation and less easily seen.
This defense of our teachers of
writing does not remove the problem,
but is merely offered to remind teachers
of other subjects that we are not
alone in this responsibility. To more
nearly approach its solution should
challenge our most serious thought.
Developing Proper Attitude
To inculcate the ideal of good writing
at all times we must be as much
concerned with the development of
proper attitudes toward penmanship
as we are with the development of
speed and quality. The mutual relationship
between handwriting and
other school subjects is very high.
It functions constantly in connection
with the child's general learning activities.
This being the case, these
same activities should form the basis
of motivation for the formal drill
necessary to achieve adequate skill.
:
Penmanship Activities
T. M. MINSTER, GREENSBURG, PA.
Pennsylvania State Teachers Association
Correlation
The regular writing class should
be a period of preparation for real
writing situations. If based on problems
vital to the pupils themselves,
interest is immediately aroused and
proper attitudes are largely the result
of interest. For example, the
lesson might be based on capital M.
The teacher places the letter on the
boai-d and analyzes it thoroughly.
Proper movement drills are given and
the letter is applied in meaningful
words. All this is very well but if
this procedure is preceded by asking
the pupils to refer to their notebooks
in order to discover their habits concerning
this letter and where to apply
the remedy, the interest is vitalized
and the practice becomes more
purposeful.
The comparison of notebooks and
collateral writing with specimens
made in the regular writing class
should be carried out frequently. Is
the comparison satisfactory or unsatisfactory?
All pupils cannot become
excellent writers but all can
make their collateral writing compare
favorably with their specimen
writing.
The same opportunties exist
in handwriting as elsewhere to
encourage the cultivation of fine
attitudes and development of
suitable traits of habits and
good character.
Tabulating Results
Convincing evidence of the value
of this activity is shown in the following
study. Teachers under supervision
were requested by bulletin as
follows
Early this month devote a writing
period to the thoughtful inspection of
notebooks, spelling blanks, and tablets.
Base your inspection on neatness
and the observance of principles
taught in the penmanship class.
Make a list of those whose work you
consider satisfactory. Post the list
on the bulletin board. Do this at
least twice this month. List results
below.
First inspection: Number satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Last inspection: Number satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
The tabulation of one hundred
teachers involving the work of 2558
pupils were as follows:
:
First inspection: Number satisfac-i
tory 1501, Unsatisfactory 1057. >
Last inspection: Number satisfac-l
tory 2006, Unsatisfactory 552.
Thus the application of writing]
impioved fifteen per cent in one
month. ;
Selecting Supplementary Material j
Supplementary material for thej
writing class should be selected fi'om
his daily .school studies and activi-j
ties. The following report is a sum-i
mary of some of the best ideas sub-i
mitted by teachers in response to the!
question, "How do you provide sup-i
plementary material for your class?"'
(1) Practicing as part of the hand-,
writing lesson, words frequently
missed in the regular spelling class.
(Either group or individual work.)
(2) Re-copying corrected papers;
from English or other subjects.
(3) Letter writing, including notes
to pupils ill at home, invitations to
parents or other classes, "Thank
you" notes, and envelope addressing.
(4) Writing rules, definitions, andi
facts from any subject.
(5) Making provision for individual
progress Ijy permitting best writers
to practice special page writing
for displays, etc.
(6) Placing new words contacted
during day on the blackboard to be
used during the last half of handwriting
class as special supplementary
drill.
Correlating Capital Letter Drills
Good ideas for capital letter drill
were
(1) Practice the names of pupils in
class beginning with the capital letter
studied.
(2) Practice the names of days,
months, dates, and special holidays.
(3) Practice proper nouns from
any subject, and especially from history
and geography, including the
names of prominent persons and
places of history, names of nearby
towns, counties, states, state capitals,
and important cities.
Figure Correlation
Interesting figure correlation can
be had by:
(1) Cori'elating with arithmetic or
number work.
(2) Drilling the date each day for«
two weeks to cover and review all
figures.
(3) Practice writing outstandini
history dates.
These are types of activities thai
constantly keep the need for goo
writing in the minds of the pupils