Teaching good handwriting skills in the digital age

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Image courtesy

Image courtesy

Technology is bound to continue developing. Nowadays, everything has been digitized including learning. Kenya has not been left out of the technology revolution. What with the introduction of the Digital Literacy program to schools.

This fact prompts many fears, one of them being the extinction of good handwriting. We were having a conversation with friends who happen to be lecturers, about students’ poor handwriting. Some students write in a way that makes it impossible to read what they have put on paper, making it impossible to grade them. Some fail their exams, not because they did not know the answers, but due to their poor writing.

Here are a few tips to teachers when it comes to teaching good hand writing skills to their students.

Timeliness– The earlier good writing habits are instilled the better. Children should be taught how to write right from an early age. This is kindergarten. If you don’t insist on clear writing at this stage, then it would be an uphill task developing the habit at a later stage.

Tight grip– The best way to hold a pen or pencil is to let it rest next to the base of your thumb. Hold it in place with your thumb, and your index and middle fingers. Some people have bad writing because they do not hold their pens correctly.

Try fun writing games– Writing can be fun, for example, your class can have role plays as actors giving their autographs or doctors writing prescriptions. You can get as creative as possible with your class depending on their age. This way, you will develop a habit of good writing.

Tracing Tokens– You may even introduce a reward system for the best or the most improved writing. This will motivate your students to be better writers. The reward system may be as simple as pinning the best written essay on the board for everyone to read. It might even be in form of a pen as a souvenir.

Take time off tech– Technology is great, but every student must get back to the basics. In this age of texts and Facebook, maybe a little letter writing for fun can remind students of their good writing skills.

All these are good ideas that need the dedication of a teacher or parent. There are other ideas out there. Feel free to share them in the comments section.

About the writer

Juliet Otieno is the Brand and Social Media Associate at Eneza Education. She is trained in journalism and Public Relations and is a blogger who likes to play with words. 

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