Cursive writing may be going by the wayside among many younger people, but Oklahoma school districts are still teaching that form of writing, which has been in use for many generations.
Sherry Been, Northeastern State University associate professor and elementary education program chair, said as technology advances in schools, the art of cursive has become a complex issue.
"There are arguments that cursive should be required for all students, while others view it as out of date," Been said. "I believe students benefit from exposure to many forms of communication, including cursive reading and writing. However, I am also a firm proponent for empowering educators to make decisions concerning what is best for the students they serve."
Been said she believes print should be mastered, and then exposure to cursive can be appropriate for the students.
"Within our elementary education coursework at NSU, we focus on preservice teachers utilizing current research and developmentally appropriate practices to determine the best curriculum decisions for the students theyserve," Been said. "Other considerations include contextual factors of the student population, school district, and current events provide a backdrop for the decisions teachers make as they create curriculum. And finally, aligning curriculum decisions to the Oklahoma Academic Standards. Once all these areas havebeenconsidered, then a thoughtful decision can be made concerning cursive instruction and the appropriate grade or context."
Kair Ridenhour, Tahlequah Public Schools elementary education and special programs executive director, said cursive is an Oklahoma Academic Standard, which means the form of writing must be taught in schools within the state. Learning cursive starts in the third grade and continues until fifth grade.
Ridenhour said TPS does not have a cursive curriculum, but it is based in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reading series.
"[The reading series] starts them all the way from kindergarten, and even our pre-K students; it's just learning to help them improve their fine motor skills, their hand-eye coordination, and enhance their overall writing abilities," Ridenhour said.
Many students want to learn how to write cursive, Ridenhour said, as some think it looks more "sophisticated" compared to print. Ridenhour said educators try to teach cursive to TPS students through positivity, encouragement, by breaking down the process, and allowing for ample practice opportunities.
Kathleen Sanders, a Cherokee Elementary language arts and reading fourth-grade teacher, said she spends 10 minutes each day with her three classes, having them practice and learn cursive.Sanders said the school's coursework has is mainly focused on the individual letter, instead of diving into the connections portion of the practice. To help her students learn more about this aspect of cursive, Sanders enlists help from a couple of workbooks that make it easier for students to understand how to apply connections between the letters.
"In my class, we do a lot of the connecting letters, showing how to make those connections between the cursive letters, forming our words, and then building on that and writing our sentences in cursive," Sanders said.
Before Sanders has students begin on their daily worksheet, she shows them how to write the individual letters, connect them, and form words on the whiteboard. Once the students finish that work, Sanders checks the assignment, and if the letter has been erroneously formed, she then creates the letter herself, has them trace it, and finally, lets them create it on their own again. After a good foundation has been established with cursive, Sanders said, she has her students write a letter, often to veterans for Veterans Day in cursive only.
A common question Sanders' students ask her is why they have to learn this style of writing.
"I tell them, for one, it's good for you to do it, because they have studies that have shown when you write in cursive, it actually helps you to improve your spelling, so I will also have them write their spelling words in cursive," Sanders said.
Connecting the letters and the structure of cursive is not just beneficial with spelling; it also helps out with penmanship.
"I have some students that their print – their manuscript writing – is barely legible, but when they start to write cursive, I actually read their cursive better than their print. Most people wouldn't think that would be the case; they think it would be the opposite," Sanders said.
Ridenhour said he believes cursive is a vital skill, even though some students may not ever write in that form, as it still gives them the foundation for the style.
"They have to learn not only how to write in cursive, but they have to learn to read in cursive, because you know most of our historical documents and handwritten materials are in cursive," Ridenhour said.
