THE EFFECT OF PUPILS’/STUDENTS’ BAD HANDWRITING ON THEIR EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE AND THE LASTING SOLUTION (PART 2)

Courtesy: wikihow

You are welcome to the concluding part of this interesting discussion. As we mentioned in part one, the effect of bad handwriting on the general success of our student could be disastrous. What are we to do?

Majority of our schools today have seen the handwriting subject as the remedy. They have gone as far as giving their teachers extra training just to improve the handwriting of their students. But it has not given them the expected result.

Before we go further, we want to know the root cause of this problem.

Children end up with very horrible handwritings because of the following factors.  

• Heredity: Many children inherited it
• Laziness:  Some are so lazy that they get tired before getting done with two lines.
• You: Yes! you. There is something you are not doing right. For a child to grow up with good handwriting, there are stages to pass through which is basically tour responsibility.

When a child scribbles, it is a stage. In this stage, the child is freeing his wrist. If you notice, some students bend or slant their note books before they write. Why? It is because they can’t turn their wrists enough. This is a bad way of writing.  A child should be allowed to scribble well enough so as to help his wrist grow flexibly. Then they should write in a big boxed note books. Writing big helps them to freely move their wrists. Then, the box will be reduced till they can write the letters and numbers neatly. Next is to teach them how to write on lines.

Writing should never be a subject. Why? The pupils will only want to write well in their 2Ds and write roughly in their other notes.

What if from basic 1 to basic 3, they write all their notes in the 2D notebooks? Won’t they be used to writing well? For this to be effective, the teachers too need to write on a 2D magnetic board. It will be a waste of time if the teacher would start to rule the board in 2D and start writing.

We have custom made 2D magnetic boards. 

Now lets see other benefit of having these kids write on their 2D notes for their basic 1-3

They will perform well. They will love to read their notes all the time. Do you know that kids with bad handwriting know they have a bad handwriting, and they hate how they write? They don’t even want to open the note unless someone compels them to. If they can’t read their notes on their own impulse, how can they do well academically? Hence, when their handwritings is neat and beautiful, they are proud of themselves and will always want to open their notes, read and admire their own handwritings.

Again, do you know that at their age, they get tired of reading full pages with many words? YES they do. In our 2D note books, you can write just 10 lines of not too many words. When our kids open their 2D note books with good handwritings, they find it easy reading, because, they read just 10 lines and flip to the next page. The impact - they can easily understand what they have just read because its short and brief, as they flip the pages, they feel a sense of accomplishment. No one will have to beg or force them to read.

If this is the case with 98% of your pupils in a class, what will be the implication? The student will be in each other’s heel.

Pupil A: 98

Pupil B: 97

Pupil C: 95

Pupil D: 93 ……

This is a healthy competition. They will want to overtake one another because the gap is very close.  Pupil D can still aim at the first position. Just with 6marks, he or she can do it.

But in situation where you have:

Pupil A: 98

Pupil B: 86

Pupil C: 65

Pupil D: 40 ……

Is there competition here? Pupil D is ready to give up; 58marks will be too much for him to catch up with pupil A.

These can be achieved with good handwriting.

I will suggest that in the basic 1-3 class room they have 4sets of magnetic boards in their class rooms.

Each will be 4x4feets.

2pcs of the 2D board. 1pc of Ruled board and 1pc of Plain Whiteboard.

If you are worried about space, we have a sliding 4-in-1 magnetic boards.

I hope I’ve been able to bring these things to your attention.

Thanks for reading.

Till I come your way next time with another interesting topic, may the peace of the lord be with you, your loved ones and your students.

Please drop your comments to ask questions or to ask for more information concerning the Magnetic Boards discussed.