Quote: "Some teachers write sentences and poems on the chalkboard for students to copy in the hope that this activity will develop writing fluency. Copying isn't very effective, though, because students are passively recoding letters, not actively creating sentences, breaking the sentences into words and spelling the words."
When I was in Elementary school it was very common for my class to have to copy sentences that my teacher had written on the board. It is true that I would focus much more on my handwriting than on the words and meaning of the sentences. I did not realize what it meant nor how to make my sentences flow from this activity. I have seen that it is much more worthwhile for me to learn and develop writing by expressing my own ideas and to practice spelling the high-frequency words used. When I even copy notes today, I am so focused on getting all of it down on my paper very quickly that I do not realize what the message is in the notes. Writing also flows much easier for me when it is what I am thinking not what I am trying to copy. Fluency will increase if students write their own ideas! It is great to be learning that educators are seeing what works and does not work in literacy such as copying the teacher, and red robin reading! I can now look back on my own experience in grade school and see how these activities did not facilitate my learning. As a teacher I can now fix this and apply better activities that will help not hinder my students learning.
Question: How should a teacher approach a student that seems to be writing and developing some very good sentences with meaning and fluency but he/she has horrible handwriting that is very hard to read?
hello! in answer to your question, I think one idea would be to have the child type on the computer instead of trying to write everything. that way you can read it and they can read it too. you could also send home some handwriting practice for their parents to work with them on. i totally agree with you on the quote. copying sentences from the board does not do anything for children except give them some little dumb assignment to do. we need to make sure we are providing them with opportunities to write for themselves or else they wont improve very quickly.
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