Quote: "Handwriting research suggests that moving models are much more effective than still models, which suggests that worksheets on the letters aren't very useful because children often don't form the letters correctly. Researchers recommend that children watch teachers to see how letters are formed and then practice forming them themselves. Also, teachers supervise children as they write so that they can correct those who form letters incorrectly." Thompkins, p.137
Comment: As teachers, we are the best models for our students. I agree with this statement that actively learning is much more effective than filling out worksheets. i know that I do not learn as well filling out a worksheet, so we should not except children to learn such an important skill that way either. It is easy to think that students are not watching us just write on the board, but they are taking note of how we write and using it as a model for their own writing. I think that handwriting should be taught in a way that is interesting and makes the children excited about it. The more the teacher is involved and excited about the topic themselves, the excited the students will be. We learn best by moving and doing, so it makes sense that handwriting is learned best through moving models.
Question: This quote talks about correcting students when they are forming letters incorrectly. How do you correct a student without them feeling like they failed and is it ever best for them to figure out their mistakes on their own?
I completely agree with your comment Sammie! As a child I hated worksheets to teach me how to do handwriting and I remember the frustration of trying to figure it out on my own. As teachers we need to make the lesson fun and engaging, just as we learned in Breaking the Learning Barrier in Drama class. Some fun examples could be to have the students pretend to be the letter and make the letters with their body movements, or to have students draw out their favorite letter and then teach them how to make it legible. As for your question if a teacher has a one-to-one conference with a child when the other children are engaged in another activity will take the awkwardness out of the situation and the child will feel that he has been helped and not criticized. However, there are times when it students should check their own work and look for mistakes themselves because that is when they learn how to fix them.
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