Instructify

I remember when I learned to write in cursive. I felt excited to finally be able to read and write with the kind of letters grownups used. One problem I didn’t count on was nobody being able to read what I wrote. My handwriting was, and still is, often compared to chicken scratch, cockroach trailings, and other unflattering animal activities.

If you’re teaching handwriting to your students, you can help avoid sloppy writing before it starts by heeding PaperPenalia’s Tips for improving your handwriting.

According to the site, a lot of bad handwriting is caused by over-relying on the fingers, or “drawing” the letters. This leads to bunched, tight writing, and a few years later, encouragement to take a typing class. Good handwriting requires the whole arm get involved, and PaperPenalia offers a few exercises to get those arm and shoulder muscles moving.

The lessons are tough going for a lost cause like me, but your young, impressionable youngsters can probably adopt these practices easily since they have fewer bad habits to correct. You may even want to give a few of these tips a try yourself. If your writing is anything like mine, you’ll need all the help you can get. -BILL FERRIS

Tips for improving your handwriting via PaperPenalia