TR&W Issue 20

ON H I ERARCH I ES Writing is primarily about ideas and content. Then there are sentences, made from well-chosen words. Spelling comes next, so that words are at least recognisable to the reader. Finally, there’s handwriting: forming the letters in those spellings. There’s a true hierarchy in that order, but at the point of actually writing , you can flip it. If you have to think about letter formation, you can’t think about the rest; if you have to think too hard about spelling, you can’t think about sentences or content... We demonstrated this earlier in the year with 80 teachers and phase leaders. We taught a simple poem by heart, and modelled how this might be innovated to create something new. We led a shared-write to demonstrate the process and provided images to stimulate thinking about potential subject matter, encouraging oral rehearsal before writing. Year 2 children would have been fine. Then we required everyone write with their non-dominant hand, and this room full of highly-educated adults…struggled. About half the room resorted to copying the shared-write. Having to think about transcription took too much cognitive space, and the learning that had been taking place was squeezed out. Christine Chen and Lindsay Pickton are primary education advisers (primaryeducationadvisers. co.uk ) supporting English development nationally. goal is easy flow from mind to page, not letters that look lovely. The latter can be developed once fluent movements are secured. This single mindset change can be the difference between a handwriting approach that isn’t working and one that does. Assess children’s physical strength – on both small and large scale – in all year groups, not just at Foundation Stage. Ensure there are frequent opportunities for all pupils to use scissors, make small models, get better at colouring; also look at climbing, swinging, monkey-barring, crawling (from the toes, not knees), wheelbarrow races and the like. Keep in mind that if a child can’t sustain an upright position at a desk, they will likely lose control of their pencil. Teach letters as movements, rather than end-products; praise accuracy of movement, not nice-looking representations of letters. Teach letters in movement families too; The National Handwriting Association has useful advice if your scheme doesn’t go down this route. Remember as well that joining letters isn’t a goal: it’s a means towards greater fluency. When children believe joining is the goal, they may go back and add false joins afterwards – surely the opposite of fluency! Accurate movements flow towards the next letter, mostly, making many joins happen easily. Does practice make perfect? Handwriting practice must always be accompanied by teaching, in order that correct movements are imitated. Without instruction and modelling, children may imitate outcomes rather than movements. Some form of looped animation will reinforce the movement during practice. Regard line-guides as being like floats in swimming lessons or cones in ball-sport drills – they are useful props and reminders, but can’t be depended upon forever. Keep in mind too that handwriting practice is about the development of automatic movements, not lovely-looking letters. The idea is to get to the stage where the letters form without thought, freeing up focus on content and expression. Therefore, judge handwriting improvement when applied to actual writing; handwriting practice is like ball skills in football practice: building automatic movements so you can think about ‘the match’. A lot of handwriting practice is too long. If you see a few well-made letters followed by some iffy ones, then bad ones, the practice was too long and may have compounded bad habits. If we aren’t monitoring everyone closely (almost impossible in a class), it’s better to keep practice very short; make it more frequent instead. Consider a brief movement-reminder followed by a very short handwriting practice, in the exercise book pupils will be using, at the start of any lesson in which they’ll be writing. This has huge time-saving benefits while also sharpening skills before ‘real’ writing. Keep it moving As soon as possible, link handwriting practice with high-frequency word spelling, as both depend on motor-memory, and both contribute to fluency of thought onto the page. When children achieve true fluent legibility, their handwriting practice should shift to improving speed without sacrificing their style. Finally, when children seem to be lagging, use the language of personal bests rather than comparisons with peers. Remind pupils of this core principle: we get good at the things we spend most time practising. Give individual letter (or join) targets so that goals are achieved in the short term. Telling a child to “Improve your handwriting” is like a sports coach saying, “Swim faster,” or “Score more goals”. 10 | www.teachwire.net “It’s better to keep practice very short; make it more frequent instead”