Personally, I see cursive as belonging on the endangered curriculum list because we won't need it in the future any more than we need to be good at quill calligraphy or chiselling stone now. We have cursive fonts on the keyboard and that is enough for me.
Sure, it's good to be able to read cursive and some people find cursive helps them take faster notes. There's certainly some benefit to learning cursive (although I would put Latin well ahead given the choice) and I have recommended it for students with dysgraphia who never developed good printing skills due to phonemic awareness issues. I'm not at all opposed to anyone learning cursive. And this link http://time.com/2820780/five-reasons-kids-should-still-learn-cursive-writing/ shows even more reasons to consider learning cursive.
It's just that there is so much to cover in school that takes priority, I cannot justify giving cursive studies any more than cursory attention. Cursive isn't the only victim of progress. Many ways I was taught in school have mostly and thankfully gone the way of the dodo. My grade 5 teacher (loved him anyway!) made us do timed drills of the times tables. This wreaked havoc with the perfectionists, demoralized the average kids, and utterly drove the math-shy further into hiding from all things numbered.
So my question becomes, "How, as a teacher, can I provide opportunities for students to take responsibility for their own learning, cover the most critical learning tools, and still honour the traditional learning that is valuable but not required?" And my answer is a sort of Chinese menu homework strategy. I require that students work toward certain homework goals which they set within parameters.
My students have to complete a certain number of minutes of homework per school day within each week. I based this on the requirements set out by our school board director which is 10 minutes per grade. So my grade 7 students are expected to complete a minimum of 70 minutes per school day which can be distributed through the week as fits the individual schedule.
Within the minutes, each student must make up the time from 3 categories of homework: reading, math, and other. I encourage them to balanced these fairly evenly but I also encourage them to proportion the minutes based on what areas they need most improvement and which areas they enjoy.
Finally, the homework they do is a combination of required and chosen work. The required work consists of any incomplete class work, any assignments or projects, remedial work specific to the individual student needs, and time spent studying. The remainder is made up of chosen activities and may vary depending on what we are doing but at base consist of math mastery (khan academy), French (Duolingo), independent reading, Genius time pursuits (instead of Genius Hour I call it genius time because we don't have an hour at a time and I encourage students to work on this outside of school so they develop lifelong learning habits), independent writing, or something else of their choice related to school work (but I ask them to have me approve it).
This method works because homework isn't shoved down their throats like regurgitated worms. Students these days still mostly hate homework and they mostly seem to hate it because on top of eating into texting and gaming time, it's not relevant in their perception. By giving them freedom to choose from beneficial activities, I'm allowing them to develop habits of not just doing learning after school but thinking about what they are doing and taking responsibility for what they do. I don't expect they can decide what's best for them but I also have seen an increase in how much they do. I review their progress weekly and ask them questions about what they need to do next. These reviews spur conversations about what they are learning and why.
This method is designed to increase metacognition and self-awareness, responsibility and accountability in students.
So where does that leave cursive? It is an option among others for students who are interested. Perhaps their parents have requested it or they have asked, or I have suggested it because we can't read their printing. This method is what I call a 'soft push' because the directive to complete the homework is there but the parameters are malleable to suit the child. I like to think of it as an iron fist in a velvet glove approach; it's inviting but firm, not intimidating but not weak.
I'd rather they choose to do cursive (or even calligraphy) than just curse the homework.
I have one major issue with the author's approach, namely the idea that we are meeting the needs of our students by allowing them to choose whether they want to learn cursive or not.
ReplyDeleteFirst, students can always choose to learn something on their own. So providing students with the option to learn cursive doesn't add anything to their learning experience. It's much like crowing about a favorite restaurant because it allows patrons to choose any item on the menu. Taken to a logical extreme, I provide every one of my physics students the option to learn Assyrian if they wish. If that's their inclination, by all means they should go for it. I can't help them, but by golly I provide them the freedom to learn it if that's their heart's desire.
Furthermore, students in K-12 don't have the real-world experience to predict whether they will need cursive writing or not. When I teach at the college level, I write in cursive on the whiteboard. Whether a student will likely find themselves in a classroom like mine is not something they can predict.
At some point, we need to decide whether the skill of cursive writing is important to possess or not. If it is important, then we need to teach it. If it is not, then we don't. Making it optional provides educators a way to absolve themselves of the responsibility for making these tough decisions and instead places the responsibility on the students, who are under no obligation to shoulder such responsibilities.
I see that you have a personal interest in having students arrive in your classes prepared to decipher your personal script. Clearly, that would benefit all in your circumstances. However, I cannot help but notice you've missed my point. As an elementary school teacher, I have an incredibly diverse selection of options to cover: far more than can possibly be covered in a school year even with oodles of homework time heaped on top. Your comparison of my encouraging them to take responsibility for selecting the homework that is most relevant for their needs with an offering of learning an obviously unrelated subject, Assyrian, is absurd. The needs of elementary school students do not align with those of the university student such that the comparison is not only moot but obtuse.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's fine to eat at McDonald's if you're in a rush to fill your gut, a much more nutritious and varied assortment at a fine dining establishment encourages dinner conversation.