the dreaded day when brides acknowledge wedding gifts by e-mail

The title for this post is thanks to Newsweek's article on the much-discussed Vanderbilt study that found that the "majority of primary-school teachers believe that students with fluent handwriting" produced more and better writing. I haven't been able to track down Steve Graham's actual study (if anyone knows where to find it, let me know) but every summary I've seen of it includes that important distinction "believe"--which suggests perception more than the reality of some impending writing apocalypse. And if all the apocalypse brings is brides sending thank-you notes by email, then I think we can all rest easy.

I imagine that the study probably cast handwriting in terms of a larger discussion of writing fluency; obviously one's ability with writing technologies (whether a pen or a keyboard) are important. I composed a very elaborate post on this subject while laying in bed a few nights ago, but because I was too lazy to grab a pen most of those ideas have been lost. However, in yet another version of the Johnny can't write hysteria, reporters are emphasizing the importance of handwriting over all else. When the codex was introduced, writers lamented the loss of the scroll; when keyboarding becomes the norm, we lament the loss of handwriting. Will we ever learn that shifting writing technologies will signal the end of all thought and knowledge.

I think the most interesting aspect of the reported study, the part that deserves scrutiny is that teachers believe that good handwriting equals better writing. Perhaps we should focus on encouraging teachers to critique their assumptions? I had endless troubles with handwriting in school. I taught myself how to write before school (well, my version of writing anyway) so I held the pencil with my fist. I could write quickly, but my first grade teacher was worried I wouldn't be able to learn cursive, so she made me write with one of those rubber grips to learn the appropriate finger placement. In third grade, I can remember getting berated in for not being able to scribe perfectly slanted cursive r's. Luckily I was tenacious and kept writing, eventually giving up my flat-topped r's altogether for a print/ cursive hybrid. If my teacher had given me a little more flexibility with those r's, maybe I could have spent more time crafting my stories and poems. I'm not saying we should give up handwriting instruction, but couldn't we give kids who struggle with the process other options, like say keyboarding?

Several years ago, I would have thought the link between handwriting skill and composing fluency even more suspect, but through my work at the Literacy Action Center I have realized that there is some relation. I've been lectured in handwriting technique because some members of the writing group couldn't translate my letterforms. I've also brought in books that no one could read because the typefaces used weren't standard or tried to mimic handwriting. For the writers very early in their writing development, an "a" was a very specific thing and the tiniest of alterations led to confusion. However, if handwriting were made a key component to composing, if they had to first master their letterforms, these writers would never get anywhere.

So, we look for options for them. We transcripe stories that they dictate. Even if they aren't technically "writing" they are learning about content, structure, characterization, chronology--all the things that make writing writing. Many writers have also jumped immediately to keyboarding. One of the writers has severe cerebral palsy and can't even feed herself. She lived a life of desperately wanting to learn and no one teaching her because she didn't seem to have the capacity. She can't do any type of handwriting (other than being able to marginally sign her name), but she can write. She's an incredible storyteller. She began by dictating her stories and then typing up what she had dictated. In the process, she gained fairly solid keyboarding skills and now she is beginning to compose her stories directly on computer.

Rather than bemoaning the loss of handwriting skills, perhaps we should consider how to use new technologies so that teachers no longer believe that the students with good handwriting are the ones composing well.