Tip 3: Use All the Learning Modes

Tip 3: Use All the Learning Modes
When teaching a student how to write, always use all four learning modalities: seeing, hearing, doing, and speaking. Show the student how to form the letter (seeing) while providing explicit directions orally (hearing). Then ask the student to repeat the action (doing) while repeating the directions aloud (speaking .)
Tip 4: Begin with Large-Motor Movements
Teach letter formation using large muscle movements originating from the elbow. The motions may be demonstrated on a chart with the index finger. The students may then practice the sequence of movements in salt boxes, on the white board, with chalk, or in the air. Textured letters such as sandpaper letters are also useful as they engage the student s large-motor memory with a high sensory experience .
Tip 5: Emphasize the Rhythm of Handwriting
Fluent handwriting is rhythmic with pauses only at the natural stopping or reversal points in the letters. Otherwise, the pencil should continue in a steady motion. When teaching handwriting, it is important to provide the students with rhythmic directions that emphasize the natural rhythm of writing. The full explicit directions in The Logic of English® Handwriting Program provide students with clear and explicit directions on how to
form each letter. Bold key words provide abbreviated directions which accent the natural rhythm of each letter .
Tip 6: Do Not Trace
The students should not be taught how to write through tracing with pencil and paper. This sort of tracing hinders the development of a rhythmic, fluent stroke. When writing a lowercase "i" in cursive, the pencil begins on the baseline, swings up to the midline, stops, then slides down to the baseline and either stops or continues smoothly into the next letter. There are only one or two stopping points. When a student traces, he treats the activity like a connect-the-dot puzzle. The pencil moves in jerky stops to each of the dashes, stopping and starting many times. In this manner, tracing does not aid in developing the fluid muscle memory necessary for writing .
Tip 7: Do Not Leave Students Alone to Practice
Until students have mastered letter formation, they should not be left alone to practice. Careful teaching and guidance from the beginning will prevent bad habits from forming. If teachers invest time in the beginning to ensure that each student has a clear understanding of how to form each letter and develops the correct muscle memory for each letter, huge amounts of wasted time and pain will be avoided in the future not only in writing but in reading as well. This is because handwriting instruction is formative to reading as well as to spelling.