Penmanship: Teaching and Supervision

by Leta Severance Hiles

THE PHYSICAL TRAINING PHASE

Pupils who are apt at athletics will easily recognize the purpose of muscular movement penmanship. They will draw upon former experiences in the field or gymnasium and compare the value of relaxation, good posture, rhythm, and continuity of movement. They will recognize that the same laws of control govern Indian club swinging, field sports, and penmanship. They will appreciate the fact that to obtain good results with the pen they must follow with military precision the directions of the leader. Interest will be doubled when pupils really find themselves. Many pupils obey the laws of correlation naturally, and through their athletics they gain control of the muscular adjustment that operates in the process of writing.

Adult learners of muscular movement frequently have more difficulty in relaxing completely than do younger pupils. Often with adults the habit of bodily relaxation has not been developed along with other habits, and therefore muscular tension prevails. A leading criticism on Americans is that we never relax.

James says: “It is your relaxed and easy worker who is in no hurry and quite thoughtless most of the while of consequences who is your efficient worker; and tension and anxiety, present and future, all mixed up together in our mind at once, are the surest drags upon steady progress.”

At Attention

Relaxation

Ready to Assume Correct Position of Arms, Hands, Pen and Paper

The mind must be concentrated upon the relaxation of the muscles in order to get the best results. As writing is feeling passed through thought and fixed in form, it is very important in writing that the mind help make the muscles to make movements, just as it helps them to relax. By putting the muscles in a workable condition at the beginning of each lesson, great improvement in muscular response will be observed. Muscular relaxation must be considered seriously if we would make real progress in muscular training. We all know how cramped and tremulous the letters are when they are written by a hand that is under nervous tension. The nerves must be at ease, the pen must rest lightly in the hand in order to obtain the best results. Teachers who have not the ability to relax themselves, cannot hope to lead the class to do so. The tone of voice used in giving directions, whether musical or strident, has to do with inducing relaxation. The following plan has proven of value in the class room:

1. Pupils sit erect in seats, stretch arms out even with the shoulders, feet on the floor, heads erect, while the teacher counts softly to ten, with the pupils; at ten, drop the arms to the sides. Repeat six times. A practiced eye will soon see whose arms are tense. Ask pupils to become as limber as they would in skating, jumping, dancing, horseback riding or swimming.

2. Pupils sit erect in seats, bend forward from the hips, raise arms over the desk, and six inches from the desk, make a square turn at the elbow, count ten slowly, drop the arms on the desk; repeat six times.

3. Pupils sit erect, bend from the hips, both elbows on the lower corners of the desk, relax, dropping the forearm on the desk; repeat six times.

4. Retaining position in paragraph 3 let pupils roll the muscle below the elbow in a circular manner to a soft musical count, from one to ten. Eyes should be first directed toward the arm, then away from it, toward the ceiling. By following the last suggestion, it is observed that pupils relax unconsciously. All of this drill will be of no value unless pupils are able to retain a relaxed condition of the muscles while the writing instrument is in use. Let them take the handle end of the pen, and prepare for this circular motion before making it.

5. It will be necessary for the teacher to spend a few minutes at the beginning of every lesson with one or more relaxing exercises during the first months of each school year, and later if found necessary. It is advisable to break the lesson with relaxation exercises if it is observed that pupils are becoming keyed-up through effort.

6. Rhythm and regularity of movement are essential. Pupils’ counting aloud relieves the tension. It may be necessary to lay the pens down once or twice, for a few seconds each time, during the lesson. Ability to control the writing arm comes in proportion to our ability to relax the controlling muscles. Control in the matter of penmanship is a vital educational factor. Says a well known authority: “Could the school teach effectively the lesson of self control, we need have little fear of the results when the product of the system is thrown upon the currents of the world. What is the most important attribute of man as a moral being? May we not answer, the faculty of self control? This it is which forms a chief distinction between the human being and the brute.”