•  On May, 08, 2022
•  Tutoring Primary
•   Blog

Handwriting – Improve It

Handwriting – Improve It in the older child can begin with the  3-Point Principle:

>>Model the letter. Work on two letters a week.
>>Say: “All downstrokes are vertical.
>>All upstrokes slant to the right.”

Often called ‘joined up writing’, ‘running writing’ or similar, we mean writing in script. Older kids are often sensitive. If you want to teach them the basics of hand-writing again, stick to a simple principle: Say

“All downstrokes are vertical, all upstrokes slant to the right.”

The slant to the right enables the student to join the letters. This is the upstroke. The downstroke is the way the actual letter is formed. This keeps it simple and will also produce results. Following these simple guidelines will improve it in most Year 5 to Year 9 students.

With the older student:

1  —  Only tackle real problems in their handwriting and ignore the rest.
2  —  Ten minutes regularly spent on explicit writing instruction should see improvements within a few weeks.
3 —  Ask the student to work on two letters for a week at school. They have a lot of other things to think about.
4 —  Model the way you want the letter formed first. Doing this is the only way to get the desired result.

For early primary students — links to two Posts:  How to Teach Hand-Printing, Post, Teaching Handwriting, Post

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