When I learned to write, in grade 1, I learned cursive writing. In grade 2, I had to learn the other style when I changed school. Then, back to cursive in grade 3. Is that why my cursive handwriting was so fluid? Maybe so.
Good handwriting
Throughout my elementary grades (and after too), i was known as having a nice handwriting. Often, students in my class were told to pay more attention and write more legibly, but that was never an issue for me. On the contrary, i was often being praised for my handwriting. When we had gold stars for various skills or behaviors, i would always get one for handwriting.
Mimeograph
Back in the 60's, photocopies were far from the norm, so in order to have documents in multiple copies, the staff used mimeograph. The original document had to be either typed or handwritten on a special type of paper before being put as a "plate" on the rotating machine to create multiple copies.
I was picked
Since i had a nice and easy to read handwriting, one day, in Grade 5, the teacher asked me if i would be willing to "write" the exam for the class. It meant that i would obviously read all the questions ahead of everyone. Although i might have seen the multiple choices, i am not sure i had access to the actual answers, but in exchange for my work and my time, i was going to be exempt from taking the test. What a treat!
Did you have a particular skill that teacher could use when you were in school? What was it? Tell us in the comments below. We are all curious!
2 thoughts on “Remember when…? – Writing”
Like you Cassel, I loved Cursive writing and enjoyed “Penmanship” as it was called then. I too had always been asked to do any writing examples that were required for class. In my senior year in highschool I was brought to the attention of the entire class to display, in book-keeping class, that I had not only written out my homework beautifully but that I had used two (2) different colors of ink with a fountain-pen and under-lined the major subject headings in red. The teacher was pleased and I was embarrassed. That same year they gave out Awards for Excellence in Penmanship and any pride I might have felt in my acheivement vanished when it was not my name, but my sister’s that had been carefully penned on the certificate, the sister that had a hand-writing that was often referred to as “Chicken-Scratch” and was practically indecipherable.
Not to change the subject, but did you know that (according to my 14 year old grand-daughter) cursive is no longer taught in schools. I discovered this when I questioned why she printed everthing with little care or nary a thought to elegance or beauty. Hopefully this is just a phase. I was informed also that hand-writing was passe since the advent of my beloved computers. Say it isn’t so! Please!
Yes, I read that cursive was no longer taught in some areas. However, researchers have found “that learning to write in cursive is shown to improve brain development in the areas of thinking, language and working memory. Cursive handwriting stimulates brain synapses and synchronicity between the left and right hemispheres, something absent from printing and typing.”