Handwriting

The Importance of Handwriting

My son was writing his practice essays for his VCE English exam a few weeks ago. I couldn’t help but remind him to slow down and work on his letter formation so the examiners could read his handwriting when they mark his tests. In my articles this year, I have been writing about phonics, reading, and writing at school, but handwriting is also an important part of literacy. In an article titled, “In an increasingly digital world, it’s more important than ever for students to develop their handwriting skills” published by ABC Education this year, the importance of handwriting was emphasised.

Lately, our literacy data shows that FPS students do very well in reading and parts of writing.  When I say ‘parts of writing’, I mean that they have great ideas and strong voices. We have identified that FPS students need to work on spelling and grammar and punctuation. Research has shown that handwriting supports better retention and recall of information. Research studies have also found that the process of handwriting, rather than typing, enhances memory and improves spelling skills as well as grammar and punctuation.

At school we write every day!

How to support your child with handwriting at home?

Let’s start with some writing tools: pens, pencils, notebooks, journals, chalks, whiteboards, whiteboard markers, anything to write with and to write on. 

When a student is going on a long trip, I always recommend writing a journal during their trip. It could be one interesting thing they have seen or done that day or a short reflection, or anything they would like to.

With Christmas and New Year coming, what would be better than a lovely handwritten card to loved ones.

Have a lovely rest of the year and thank you for all your support this year, whether it was unboxing and barcoding new books, sorting out classroom library books, or reading with the children in class.

Below is the link for the video for the research.

~ Binh Hoang, FPS Literacy Learning Specialist