Why Handwriting Helps You Learn

Did you see our last blog post, “From Symbols to Siri: Where is writing headed?” that compares the differences between speech-to-text versus pencil to paper? Though we feel the future of writing is headed in a much different direction for generations to come, we know handwriting and keyboarding skills play an important role in they way children learn to write right now. 

Nowadays it’s less about putting pen to paper and more about turning on your laptop. But are we losing out by letting the art of penmanship die? Lots of evidence shows handwriting for kids stimulates the brain and offers benefits typing doesn’t.

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Is the Pencil Becoming Obsolete?

Though K-5 students are required by the Common Core to practice writing with digital tools, writing by hand seems to stimulate brain development far more than keyboarding. Though K-5 students are required by the Common Core to practice writing with digital tools, writing by hand does far more to stimulate brain development.
Helping children become stronger writers while making sense of the Writing Common Cores can be challenging. WriteSteps offers techniques that bring teachers and students success; this is what we want to discuss in our newly launched blog.

For our first post, however, we want to join a different conversation: the question of whether handwriting instruction in elementary classrooms should go by the wayside. This has been hotly debated ever since “Handwriting is History” first appeared online. Throw in the fact that the ELA Common Cores are silent on the topic of handwriting (while saying plenty about essential writing skills), and the decision by some districts to make handwriting instruction optional after second grade — what are teachers to do?

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