The Educator (Volume 45) - IAMPETH

18
Our Lesson in Manuscript Writing
By Jane Elaine Wilson
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This month we have reproduced a part of a lesson prepared by Blooma Stewart, a teacher who has been preparing
herself to teach Manuscript Writing, along with about one hundred and seventy other teachers of the Harrison
County, West Virginia, Public Schools. Miss Alma Shackleford of Clarksburg, West Virginia, is the Supervisor
who is setting a good example by taking the work along with her teachers.
In practicing sentences be sure that your words are so spaced that they stand out as a unit, as in type, and that
there is sufficient space between words for easy reading. Too much space is almost as bad as too little space.
Where there is not enough space between words, they run together and it is difficult to quickly pick out the words.
Get the spaces in letters the same as the space between letters. Watch the circle letters. The e, a, d and g
should contain a perfect circle. This circle should be in appearance as wide as the one section of the m or the
h and n. Measure your letters to see if some letters are wider than others. How about the small letter s ? Is it
too narrow or too slanting?
See that your circles do not have any flat places, otherwise they will look lopsided. Turn the page upside down
and look at your circular letters. You can often see many things with the paper upside down that you could not
see otherwise. Are your u's and n's so made that they look well when the paper is reversed?
By holding the paper straight in front of you, you are more likely to make the down strokes vertical. Manuscript
writing should be vertical the same as type. This gives the child only one slant to learn in the beginning.
In practicing this and similar copies, watch size, space, slant and circular letters.
Notice the nice spacing in the copy. The words stand out clear and distinct, which makes reading easy. The
spaces in letters are the same as the spaces between letters.
Give special attention to the circles. Join the circles and straight lines in a, d and g. Be sure to hit the head and
base lines with both the circles and straight lines. Do all of your letters stand up as in the copy, or do some of
them lean forward or backward?
The s usually requires more practice than some of the simpler letters. Avoid getting it top-heavy or off slant.
Draw slant lines along the outer edges of the letter to see if it stands up.
What are you doing to improve your teaching ability?
Supplementary copies for practice, by F. B. Courtney, Detroit, Mich.
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