Penmanship: Teaching and Supervision

by Leta Severance Hiles

We do know that all pupils who enter the commercial department of our public schools soon take it for granted that penmanship is a part of their stock in trade. The laws of necessity are plainly followed. These pupils have credits for penmanship.

In the requirements for good penmanship, consistency should be shown from the lowest to the highest. The closest cooperation from the superintendent down to the first grade teacher is urged. Set a standard, and bring the pupils up to it, as is done in other subjects. One grade teacher may teach well, another poorly or indifferently, and thus the pupils are passed along. The school system where this prevails may be compared to a chain with now and then a weak link. Unless there is unity and cooperation among teachers the subject suffers greatly. The right kind of supervision is helpful, but it cannot accomplish all things. Not infrequently we hear the remark, “I am not the penmanship teacher; Miss So-and-so teaches all the penmanship.” Our “second speech” is too important a matter to be left to one person unaided. Upon whose shoulders shall be placed the responsibility? If a school does remarkably excellent or noticeably poor work in any subject, whose is the reward or the blame?

The proper attitude of the Superintendent and the principal will go far to popularize any subject, penmanship no less than any other. This attitude will be reflected unconsciously upon the teacher, and the pupils will be quick to take the cue.

How often is the muscular movement writing supervisor told by the boys in particular, “My father writes that way.” The right attitude is established immediately because the boy sees the relation of the school to a practical need. In fact, parental influence is a factor to be reckoned with in penmanship and the thoughtful teacher will do well to inquire into the attitude of the parents toward this useful art. Many times it means leverage for the teacher. In case the pupil is old enough to realize a motive for improving, the influence of the teacher alone may be sufficient. On the other hand, the boy frequently decides to follow the occupation or trade of his father, without regard to capacity or aptitude. Vocational guidance is essential.

In the consideration of this subject, by parents, superintendents, principals, and teachers, let us not forget that we are living in a rapidly changing age, that we should ever be on the alert to study the present day needs, and that an open mind is essential to progress.

Chapter Five
SUITABLE EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

TEXT

When the conclusion has been reached that some muscular movement system should be followed in order to inculcate the best writing habit, it still remains to select the text. Great care should be taken in this. A satisfactory text should abound in instructions to be read until fully understood, and illustrated with a sufficient number of models to answer all purposes of visualization. The text should be of convenient size; the drills and cuts should be arranged in a logical manner. The instructions should be in such simple language that all pupils can comprehend them. A manual with model forms only for the lower grades would prove very helpful, the teacher supplying the instruction. First grade pupils should write on the blackboard, but only from correct models placed there by the teacher in the presence of the pupils. Many primary grade educators favor no writing in the first grade except such as is taught from the board.

She would be far more than an ordinary teacher who could give a class of pupils (without the help of a text) the pictures in her own mind in a sufficiently clear and vivid manner to result in correctly executed work on the part of the pupil. Surely all reasonable aids should be given pupils in their efforts to learn penmanship. A good text is as much needed in this as in any other subject. We should laugh at the idea of teaching arithmetic or English without the aid of the text; yet many good school people seem to think writing can be absorbed in some mysterious manner from more or less indefinite word pictures and a few blackboard copies done in a more or less skillful manner.

Again we hear of schools that arrogate unto themselves the right to change the author’s plan, or to accept it in part, frequently omitting the most important and vital points. There is no unity and no consistency in this manner of doing things. McMurray’s question and answer along this line is pertinent when he says, “What should be the attitude of the young student toward the authorities that he studies?” The answer is, “Certainly, authors are, as a rule, more mature and far better informed upon the subjects that they discuss than he, otherwise he would not be pursuing them.”