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Improve Handwriting
by Carl Peterson
Become a better writer
Poor handwriting is a major
barrier for life.
Some employees take several hours
to write a letter.
Why?
------------------------------
Lack of handwriting success
causes avoidance.
Competing verbal time
limits practice.
----------------
OUR RESULTS
All our students
make major improvements
in their handwriting skills.
How?
Handwriting is taught in
high speed practices.
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REASONS FOR POOR HANDWRITING
A negative response
to constructive criticism
in toddler and preschool years.
"Color between the lines"
and other disparaging remarks
limit necessary practices.
Children also have poor handwriting
because of:
Limited practice
Competing activities
Television and computer games.
----------------------------------
COMMON PROBLEM
WRITING AVOIDANCE
Early attempts to write are
a painful experience
caused by unpleasant reactions
to constructive criticism.
Writing becomes associated
with embarrassing experiences.
Avoidance is usually a reaction
to previous:
Constructive criticism
Public putdowns
Feelings of inadequacy
Inability to please parents
Low self-esteem
Low self-concept
Apologizing for handwriting.
Writing quality is easily measured.
Students know they are easily measured
and are unlikely to measure up.
There is an absence of reward.
Writing behavior
is unlikely to be repeated.
---------------------
PETERSON INSTRUCTION
Characteristics:
Simple assignments.
Hard to get confused.
Practice is paced by the tapes
instead of a teacher.
Easy self correction of progress.
Our classrooms schedule students
for handwriting practice
until it can be accomplished
in much less than an hour.
Result:
Homework quickly becomes regular.
Usually takes less than an hour.
---------------------
COMMENTS ABOUT
ALL AGES OF STUDENTS
Students learn common uses
of capitals and periods.
Some phrases have capital letters
and periods to be practiced.
Capitals start each cluster.
Periods end complete sentence
clusters.
Phrases allow student to learn
spelling patterns
and variations on meaning.
Students learn common ways
to organize phrases then sentences.
Students learn common grammar patterns
at the same time.
We can rationalize
the time we spend
on handwriting practice
because we are making improvements
in other areas at the same time.
---------------------
WE TEACH SEVERAL SKILLS
AT THE SAME TIME
HANDWRITING
VOCABULARY
GRAMMAR
SPELLING
We make improvements
in all these areas
during the same practice hours.
Combining all these goals and results
allows you to justify
the hours spent.
We compare pre and post scores
in all four areas.
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PHILOSOPHIES
PETERSON HANDWRITING
Below are the essential steps
for getting around the reluctance
to put words on paper.
1.
Student must be able
to do the assignment.
2.
Student is motivated
by opportunities to succeed
in a group.
3.
Student must have quick successes.
4.
Emphasize self-correction.
5.
Eliminate teacher correction.
6.
Nothing is allowed
to interfere or halt
student practice time.
7.
Repetitive auditory pronouncements
pace the student during
tracing and copying practices.
------------------------
SPEED
High speed interaction.
Limits time required
for writing.
30 word per minute rate
1800 words per hour.
15 words per minute
900 words per hour.
10 words per minute
600 words per hour.
-------------------
CAUSES OF POOR HANDWRITING
ERROR CORRECTION
HURTS NEW WRITERS
Students who attempt to write
receive a lot of criticism
from parents and peers.
SELF CORRECTION
AVOIDS DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
Peterson's students
correct most errors
as they make them.
Self-correction develops
critical thinking skills.
Tracing and copying
gives immediate feedback
rather than "helpful criticism."
The student will eventually
make the right decisions
without parental help.
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HIGH SPEED WORKS BETTER
Problems go away quickly
after daily hours
of high speed practices.
Slow practices allow too much time
for the student
to be self critical.
Intermittent practices
allow intermittent progress
or no progress.
The child needs to see
a solution within months not years.
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REVIEW
TRACING VS
LOOK, UNDERSTAND AND COPY
Let the student
work as close to the model as possible.
Immediate self-instruction,
immediate self-feedback
when they write outside the line.
Easy homework assignment.
Easily graded by teachers.
Limits criticism by parents.
Limits confusion in the assignment.
Easier self correction.
Easy to compare results.
Easier to push for speed.
Avoids transposition
and reversals of letters.
Students practice the correct shapes
rather than practice mistakes.
Auditory memory and inner speech
response has the same
or better benefit.
Tactile and kinesthetic memory
is enhanced.
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CONTEXT LEARNING
Tracing of phrases or sentences
rather than word by word
or letter by letter.
Get time on task
and speedy hand movements
before asking for complex quality
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DEFINITIONS
Print - letters are separated
Cursive - letters joined together
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PRINTING OR CURSIVE?
Printing practice helps the student
match the letters
in printed materials.
Learning cursive is helpful for speed.
Students almost always write faster
if they can write cursive.
Cursive word counts
are consistently higher.
Why?
A.
The pen doesn't have to
leave the paper as much.
A.
It may be easier
to establish a rhythm.
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PETERSON CURSIVE PHRASES
We print some
of the meaning phrase books
with a cursive style.
We mix both styles in the drills
until the cursive habit is learned.
Students usually choose cursive
once they find it is faster
for them.
We stop using our cursive
books when adequate
cursive writing style is learned.
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PROBLEM
Tracing in other printed books
can be difficult.
Less than 14 point type
is too small to easily trace
or read.
SOLUTION
Larger type helps
easy recognition
for easy tracing.
We use 16 point bold.
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PROBLEM
Most handwriting practice texts
are not very interesting.
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SOLUTION
Clustered meaning phrases
add interest
during the handwriting phrase.
Most students will go along
with the class
and even enjoy
the timed speed drills.
Speed scores are kept by students
and students like the winning.
No teacher criticism is allowed.
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PROBLEM
Word processing on computers
has replaced many forms
of handwriting.
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PROBLEM
High speed writing
is essential for note taking.
We need to take notes to remember.
A computer
is not always available.
Hand-held personal computer note-taking
is too slow.
Palm Pilots require users
to learn different
slow printing styles.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SKILLS TOO LOW?
Ability too low?
A.
Unlikely.
SERIFS OR NOT?
A.
Printed letters work
with or without serifs.
You could choose
to start without serifs.
Your mind
will quickly recognize
that each style
means the same thing.
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COORDINATION PROBLEMS?
Early writing failures
might have been exacerbated
by a slight developmental delay
of coordination skills.
The good news.
Most coordination problems disappear
before kindergarten.
The bad news.
The psychological reaction
to early criticisms
usually lasts forever.
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