Educators

For most children today, schoolwork is done electronically. The educational shift from paper to screens, beginning as early as second or third grade, is surprising to many who still imagine students at desks with books and pencils at hand; however, educators in the U.S. have come to know that fewer opportunities for handwritten, creative expression exist in today's standard English Language Arts curricula. 

Classroom Friendly

The good news is Dearist makes it easy to bring back handwriting practice via letter writing - a FUN writing activity that many students have never done before. The Dearist Classroom Packs provide everything needed to support a unit on letter writing, including the guidebook series, stationery, and postage stamps so students can begin writing at the peak of inspiration. Recommended for 3rd-6th grades. For younger children, see Little Dearist. 

The Diminishing Presence of Handwriting 

Now a decades-long loss, the diminishing presence of handwriting in most American elementary schools is traceable to the early 2010s. During this time, most states adopted the Common Core Curriculum, which emerged as a result of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. This new curriculum deprioritized handwriting proficiency and creative writing vehicles like letter writing, narrative writing, poetry, and cursive. Instead, an emphasis was placed on uniform benchmarks in math and reading to meet federal standardized testing mandates. 

Nostalgia aside, there are material implications for generations who do not practice writing by hand. Research demonstrates the benefits of handwritten work are far-reaching, touching everything from fine motor skills to neural pathways, and from fact retention to idea generation. Other studies prove that children who write letters and words by hand, versus children who type on a computer, have stronger word-decoding skills, leading to improved reading acquisition.   

The narrowing of academic study became one of the unintended consequences of the national effort to measure academic progress. Standardized testing also introduced a new challenge of teaching children to type earlier than before, primarily in order to take the tests. Over time, these small but significant changes have led to our current reality, in which students use school-issued devices for gamified lessons on reading and math. And when recess moves indoors due to weather, devices are on hand for entertainment as well.

Did We Mention the Emotional Benefits?