Category Archives: All ages
A Note from a Fifth Grader
Dear Mrs. Barchowsky, My name is Atula, and I am thrilled to send you an e-mail. I love your writing method and it is helping me a lot in school. I am in 5th grade. I go to [school name … Continue reading
Cursive!
This article in the New Yorker makes a lot more sense than all the cries about the demise of conventional cursive: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/08/when-cursive-cried-wolf-1.html
For Older Students
This comes from Steve Graham, a respected professor at Vanderbilt University. He is frequently quoted in the media. When an average paper written by a school-aged child is written less legibly (hard to read, but readable) versus more legibly, the … Continue reading
More Curious Cursive
There is so much misunderstanding about “cursive” writing that I am going to risk redundancy.. The original meaning of the word is flowing as a river flows, the course of the river, flowing freely. Before books were printed, they were … Continue reading
The Birthday Gifts
Mom: Happy Ninth Birthday, Alex! Alex: Thanks Mom! (Opens a small present.) Um…like, what am I supposed to do with this? Mom: It’s a pen. You write with it. It may help you to write in a more grown-up way. … Continue reading
News from Iceland
Too many years ago Gunnlaugar S E Briem encouraged the Iceland schools to adopt his italic handwriting program. Fast forward to now. The Ministry of Education in Iceland has formally adopted this fine program.
Beautiful Handwriting?
Beautiful handwriting? Beauty in anything is all in the judgment of individual eyes. However, legible handwriting that looks like the writer’s pen flowed freely usually will have my vote for good looks. The right look is achieved when the pen … Continue reading
Please Look
I just had another look myself! http://66.147.242.192/~operinan/index.html Go to “Handwriting Repair.” This relates to what I wrote about cursive in November, and tells about handwriting in such a clear and imaginative way. Briem is a valued mentor to me.
Curious Cursive
Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting presents basic and cursive italic. The basic letters are essentially the same as the cursive ones. Once the basic letters are learned they move easily into cursive, but is it cursive as you understand cursive? What does … Continue reading