Evidence…suggests that “handwriting — forming letters — engages the mind, and that can help children pay attention to written language.”…starting around fourth grade, cursive skills conferred advantages in both spelling and composing, perhaps because the connecting strokes helped children connect letters into words. For typically developing young children, typing the letters doesn’t seem to generate the same brain activation. …studies on note taking have suggested that “college students who are writing on a keyboard are less likely to remember and do well on the content than if writing it by hand.”
Why Handwriting Is Still Essential in the Keyboard Age, The New York Times, 20 June 2016
As you can see, a number of studies show that good handwriting benefits people of all ages. Personally, I love taking notes by hand—there’s just something about creating each stroke on a physical piece of paper that seems to lodge in my brain whatever thought I’m documenting. I’ve also met plenty of people who similarly enjoy taking notes by hand, but can’t read their own handwriting when they read them! No bueno.
So, congratulations on taking the first step to improve your handwriting! More so than print, cursive can really up your handwriting game since it involves subtle yet beautiful details—letter frosting, we could call it—and delicate connections between letters that, when practiced, will refine your motor skills and improve all aspects of your handwriting, print included.
Indeed, I don’t actually write in cursive day-to-day. I write in print (which you can see at the end of this course), but it has been very influenced by my cursive writing. While I teach just one way of cursive writing in this course, there are many other styles, and furthermore, you can build off what you learn in this course to add your own unique styles.
Okay, let’s get on with it then! But before diving in, a little inspo below: The Declaration of Independence. Check out those signatures, eh?! Back in the day, everyone had to have nice handwriting. Humanity will probably never have a signed document this beautiful again (unless everyone takes this course, hehe).
Yes.