Comments on The Fischbowl: Is the Pen Mightier than the Keyboard?

At first I was really surprised to hear that writi...

2009-10-15T07:44:09.743-06:00

At first I was really surprised to hear that writing with a pen was easier and faster than typing with a keyboard. But after thinking about it, I realized that just because kids know how to use the internet by age 7 doesn't neccesarily mean that they can type perfectly from the beginning. Maybe schools should start putting in typing classes into their elementary school curriculums.

Hi Karl, I am a fourth grade teacher at East Elem...

2009-10-07T21:28:24.914-06:00

Hi Karl,

I am a fourth grade teacher at East Elementary. I found out about this blog post through Chris and Niki's 5th grade blog. I am so glad you wrote what you did on the NSBA blog. I completely agree.

As I read, I was thinking "of course these students were writing more and faster with pen because that was most likely what they had been writing with for all of their previous years of schooling." I'm guessing they had minimal use with a keyboard. I kept reading the responses and couldn't believe no one was making that point. Then, there was your post. Just interesting that it was a fellow LPS teacher that was making the same point I wanted to make.

With the purchase of more netbooks for our school last year, we were able to have our fourth grade students on the computers quite a bit the last trimester of the year. I think just having that short time of exposure really set them up for all of the blogging and technology use that is now expected of them as 5th graders. I think the bar is set high and they rise to it. This year, we've able to get our students using the netbooks right away!

In my opinion, the research isn't valid. In order to make it so, they would need to conduct the research using students who had equal amount of instruction with a keyboard and with a "pen".

My hope is that in the near future, students will be taught both handwriting and keyboarding skills very early on. That way, when they do reach fourth or fifth grade, we as teachers can focus on content and the keyboarding won't have to get in the way anymore.

I'm glad I came across your comment.

Thanks,
Jane

@Mark - I'd be curious to hear more about how you ...

2009-10-07T15:30:46.202-06:00

@Mark - I'd be curious to hear more about how you practice keyboarding/writing with your third graders - is it pretty straightforward keyboarding tutorials, or something else?

@Barry - Perhaps. But our district piloted netbook...

2009-10-07T15:26:36.489-06:00

@Barry - Perhaps. But our district piloted netbooks in 5th grade classrooms last year, and those kids scored better on their state-mandated, paper-and-pencil tests. I'm not arguing that we should stop teaching students how to print, but I'm not sure I buy that once they know how to print that they can only improve their performance on a writing assessment by writing without a computer.

For the second graders in this study, I'm betting that most of the standardized tests they'll be taking by the time they get to the end of high school will be computerized. (Our state is looking at this right now for our standardized test.) Does that mean - based on the standardized test argument - that we should stop having them print at all?

Finally, of course, is the simple argument that instead of being reactive we should be proactive. If we believe this is what's best for kids, and I think most of us reading/commenting here probably do, then we should do it. And we should demand that those testing organizations adapt to how we actually work here in the 21st century instead of foisting anachronistic means of assessment on children.

(Cross posted on http://plethoratech.blogspot.com)...

2009-10-06T15:00:29.445-06:00

(Cross posted on http://plethoratech.blogspot.com)
Last year I blogged about things in education that should continue to be taught. The item that generated the most comments (and controversy) was the issue of handwriting.

Dean Shareski, Ken Rodoff, and Carolyn Foote had weighed in, among others sharing that overall, they felt that handwriting should not be emphasized in school in this age of keyboarding.

I aired out the question of handwriting to members of my Dodge Research team from my district. They are all technology savvy teachers who use it frequently for personal use as well as in their classrooms. They felt that handwriting needs to be taught, and even remediated, especially on the high school level. The source of their claim: standardized tests.

Think about it: New Jersey standardized tests (ASK, GEPA, HSPA), SAT's, ACTs, and Advanced Placement tests...they all require students to write essays or short answer responses that are scored. One of the teachers who was a reader for the SAT's told me that they were instructed to not score a writing passage that could not be decifered or was illegible.

In colleges, the blue book essay on exams is still a staple.

It goes even further: For graduate school, students have to take GRE's, GMAT, LSATs, and MCAT's...all of which require a writing sample.

Further still: Licensure exams, like the one I had to take to become a school administrator have a writing portion.

While I agree that handwriting doesn't have to be artistic, is does have to be legible and expeditious. If a student can't make time limits on tests... or is illegible and loses points as a result, they will not get a true assessment and potentially be penalized for it.

Until ETS, colleges, and other testing companies go to laptops or keyboarded writing responses for all tests, handwriting needs to be taught and remediated or the kids will suffer.

Karl, I think your point about keyboarding skills ...

2009-10-05T22:16:38.053-06:00

Karl, I think your point about keyboarding skills of young students being overlooked is very important.

I can tell you that after a month of keyboarding practice and exposure to computers on a daily basis, many of my third graders write much better (not just faster) on a word processor than with pencil/paper. Their peers in other classrooms are left in the dust.

Kids will learn and excel if we give them the latest tools and teach them how to use them - early.

Oh how I wish my third graders had been exposed to this stuff in second grade. They would REALLY by flying by now. - Mark