A Cursive Writing Program – Pen/Pencil Grip Part 2 of a series - A Cursive Writing Program Pen/Pencil Grip In a cursive writing program, how important is pen/pencil grip? Different individuals hold a pen or pencil in different ways when they begin writing letters or numbers. The most common method is to hold a pen or pencil between your thumb, your first finger (Pointer), and your second finger. If you pick up a pen or pencil from a flat surface, you generally do so in this fashion using these three fingers. It all comes apart when the person picks up a writing tool in this manner and then transfers the grip to a position between the 3rd and 4th fingers. The change of position limits the number of letters or digits that the student can then create. Although I have seen students with different pencil grips reach fluent levels of cursive production, it is rare. Hand Movement Across the Page Human beings can write legibly 20 â 30 words per minute (150-160 numerals or letters) as long as their writing is not impeded by their slow thought processes. To do so, their hand must be able to move smoothly across the page as they write. This makes the pen/pencil grip so important! The simplest measure of this skill is to have the students make hash marks in sets of 5 on a sheet of lined paper (////). The fifth hash mark runs in the opposite direction across the initial four marks. Students can typically generate 150+ marks per minute without errors. The most common error is to not stay on the line but to drift up or down the page. Students generally start out making quite large marks, but quickly learn that smaller sets of five lines are much quicker to make. Creating sets of 5 lines also makes counting their production much simpler and faster. It also requires the Student and Student to concentrate on counting to five and then repositioning the pencil for the next set. Hand Movement Exercises Teaching the student to move their hand smoothly across the page can be accomplished by having them write a simple pattern of strokes repeatedly for practice. Nothing says you have to start with letters or numbers in a cursive writing program. The number of strokes in any set should be designed so as to be counted easily (e.g. five or ten strokes per set). eeeeeeeeee oooooooooo (connected) uuuuuuuuuu aaaaaaaaaa If this task proves too difficult (e.g., more than 6 errors or fewer than 50 characters), the task should be changed to see/trace letters. Once the student can see/trace 100 letters per minute, the task can be changed back to see/write. Further Recommendations Elizabeth Haughton and Jonathan Amey have done more work in cursive writing programs for students than I have. Anne Desjardins’ âBig Six,â the early work with Anne and Eric Haughton, is also something you should learn about, and start with effective instruction design. Bonus: Check out the FREE lessons of the Maloney Method Digital Reading Program. If you can read, you can teach a child to read. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR DIGITAL LEARNING WITH VIDEO LESSONS AND THE MALONEY METHOD
