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Handryting
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Improve
your handwriting speed & legibility
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Steve
T. Bett, Ph.D.& Kate Gladstone co-owners - rev. Jan, 2002
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URL for the first page >
http://www.unifon.org/rr-1.html
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TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Identify
your problem
Ask
Dr. Alphabet
Submit
a writing sample
Develop
a solution
The
3
R approach
Readable Rapid Ryting
A quick
lesson
Plan
- Outline
Set
Objectives
Evaluation/
Assessment
RELATED
LINKS |
Learn
to write rapidly without the loss of style and readability
join
the 3R discussion group - Learn more about handwriting and writing systems
Handwriting Improvement
Discussion
Group
The handwriting
group recommends the teaching of a straight forward no-nonsense Italic
handwriting style. Italic is a type of "print writing" Letter forms
are based on the printed shapes. Letters are connected only when it makes
sense. This Italic hand is not loopy or fully connected but it is
semi-connected.
Italic
is a true cursive in the original sense of the word. Cursive
means flowing. It comes from the same Latin root as current.
In the italic hand, letters are connected when there is a natural flow.
As with spelling,
people are concerned about correctness. Just as people need experts
to endorse more economical and phonemic spellings such as "thru"
they need experts to endorse and legitimate "print-writing". What
counts is economy of effort, speed, legibility, and beauty. On all
of these counts italic is clearly better than the commonly taught cursive
writing. [more]
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The primary objective,
our raison d'etre, is stated in our 3R logo. Readable Rapid
Ryting [writing].
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ryting
is a spimplified transcription of writing
that eliminates one unnecessary redundant letter. w
and substitutes y [as in my,
rye, and and fly] for the ambiguous i.
It could be reduced to rYtG with the cap G representing the nasalized velar
/ng/ and the Y representing /aa-ii/. See simplified
spelling pages.
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This group certainly endorsed
abbreviation and simplified spelling but there are practical limits.
Writing is a code and the utility of the code depends on the diciphering
ability of those who receive the written mesages. Obscure codes [including
those that are logically superior and less redundant] take more time for
the reader to decipher unless the reader happens to be ourselves.
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The writing code should
maximize readability for the intended reader. This limits the number
of short cuts, abbreviations, and technical jarbon that can be effectively
used unless the reader happens to be yourslef. Shorthand works because
individual messages are usually read by only one person, the writer.
Nan Barchowsky writes,
"Many adults write a form of print script. "For speed, they allow
the pen to drift from letter to letter creating a true cursive."
This kind of "print
scripting" is also common among children who retun to their first learned
motor skill and habits ingrained during the first two or three years of
school.
This is not a
deterioration of handwriting but a natural return to a more comfortable
style. A style that should have been taught at the outsdet.
Handwriting instruction
as advocated and practiced by the teachers who belong to this group is
an extension of a natural style of writing.
Two goals of the
60 or so members of this group is to
1. Make
people comfortable with print-writing if this is their natural style of
handwriting and
2. Help people
who want to adopt a more legible style of writing.
3. Promote italic
cursive [print writing] in the schools.
4. Assist parents
with home school teaching of handwriting
Welcome message
- an MP3 file, takes 30 sec. to load
motto:
The 3R goal: readable rapid ryting
Featuring "Ask
Dr. Alphabet!"
If you have any questions
about writing systems, fonts, handwriting styles, transcriptions, paleography,
or linguistics, write to Dr. Alphabet at handryting@yahoogroups.com.
You will receive a prompt response.
Sample Questions:
Dear Dr.
Alphabet:
In my geneology
research I came upon key piece of information written in an unknown French
script dated 1320 that no one has been able to decipher or translate.
Can you help?
Dear Dr. Alphabet,
I would like
your recommendation on the best handwriting books and software for home
schooling? Should I buy the book, Handwriting without Tears?
A typical discussion might
concern the general decline in writing skills and the teaching of handwriting
in the schools. We seem to have moved from incidental instruction
in handwriting to accidental instruction... What is the value of
good handwriting in a world increasingly dominated by keyboards?
The handwriting
egroup
can help you improve your teaching and writing skills and knowlege of writing
systems, alphabets, and handwriting styles.
Join now and improve the
legibility of your handwriting and/or your teaching skills subscribe-handryting@yahoogroups.com
At this time, there are
no up front charges although donations are accepted. We have set
up a non-profit corporation for this purpose making your donations tax
deductible. [contact
sbett@lycos.com]
The group consists of teachers,
learners, and those with an interest in handwriting and communication.
It includes historians, paleographers, scholars, writers, linguists,
calligraphers, graphotherapists, handwriting teachers, those who
aspire to be better teachers, and people with questions.
Handwriting has always
been and will continue to be primarily a skill that is best taught live.
The Handryting egroup is an experiment to determine how much can be conveyed
and imparted at a distance. Check out a sample
lesson in the recommended italic hand by Prof. Briem. See
also "7 ways to improve your handwriting" [p. 4]
One of our projects is
a handwriting course for doctors and other professionals who are cursed
with illegible handwriting. We are searching for a sponsor of this
course because we would like to offer it free of charge for CEU and professional
training credit.
The goal is readable rapid
writing - speed writing with style & legibility
Most of the recommendations
are common sense but since you probably haven't questioned the myths
you were told in primary school and are still saddled with bad habits
- the simple truth may be a revelation.
The following pages [1]
list some of the principles of good handwriting
[2] illustrates how
one person was able to improve their handwriting in 10 mintues. [3]
critiques some of the better examples of calligraphers art in terms of
the goal of rapid writing with legibility.
What appears or will
appear on the instructional web pages will reflect the kinds of questions
that people raise in this new discussion group. .
Cofounder, Kate Gladstone,
has been teaching handwriting improvement for 10 years, check out her site.
She answers a hundred email inquiries a week. The egroup will allow
you to listen in on her tutorials, recommendations, and discussions.
What appears below is just a start. [subscribe
now] Enter your email address at the bottom of this page.
Recommended Books? [draft
to be updated]
Barchowsky, N.
Sassoon, R. & Briem. Write Now: A Complete Self Teaching Program Getty,
Barbara & Dubay, Inga. Better Handwriting
George Bickham's Penmanship
Made Easy: Young Clerk's Assistant. Dover reprint
Rodgers, V. Your Handwriting
Can Change Your Life,
Reynolds. Italic Calligraphy
and Handwriting: Exercises And Text
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