LUCY BURDETTE: today we welcome back good friend Ang Pompano, who has a re-release of an excellent book, and as always, some comments on changes in the world…
ANG POMPANO: Thanks so much for inviting me back, Lucy. I always enjoy visiting with my Jungle Red friends.
Some of you may know the Peter Allen song “Everything Old Is New Again.” It’s not a new idea, Jonathan Swift was saying the same thing centuries ago. But it’s been on my mind lately, especially when I think about education.
I taught for thirty-five years. That’s long enough to watch trends sweep in with the next great idea, disappear when another idea comes around, and then, inevitably, return. Early in my schooling, I remember my second-grade teacher teaching us phonics from a book she kept hidden in an open drawer, ready to slide shut if the principal walked in. Phonics was out; whole language was in.
Fast-forward to my own classroom years later, and we were proudly teaching cursive writing with impunity. I don’t even remember whether I was taught the Palmer Method or not, but I do remember loving the feel of the pen in my hand and the way ink flowed as letters connected with loops and swirls. There was something satisfying about it. And I saw that same pride on my students’ faces when their handwriting finally “clicked.”
Then, toward the end of my career, the powers that be decided cursive was no longer necessary. Keyboards would take its place. Once again, veteran teachers found themselves doing what my second-grade teacher had done years earlier, quietly teaching cursive while keeping one eye on the door.
And now? Everything old is new again. Some states have begun reinstating cursive instruction, recognizing that penmanship teaches more than how to write pretty letters. It builds fine motor skills, strengthens hand–eye coordination, reinforces spelling and reading, improves memory and focus, and encourages patience and persistence. Skills that matter well beyond the page.
Speaking of things coming around again, I’m happy to share that my book Diet of Death has been rereleased, ahead of its follow-up, Simmering Secrets, which will be out next year. Proof that even in mystery writing, everything old is new again. Readers, what do you think? Should penmanship be taught again?
How exciting that "Diet of Death" will be re-released . . . lots of new readers are sure to discover your wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteDo I think penmanship/cursive handwriting should be taught? Most definitely [and so should phonics . . . cheers to your teacher who saw the importance and taught what she knew her students needed to learn]. Everything old may become new again, but there are some things [especially in education] that should never be allowed to slip away . . . .
Joan, Thank you so much! I hope new readers enjoy Diet of Death as much as the first ones did. I couldn’t agree more about penmanship and phonics. There’s something timeless about the skills that give children a foundation for learning. I’m very grateful to my teacher, who clearly understood their importance and made sure we learned them. Some things really are too valuable to let slip away!
DeleteNope to penmanship! It is an art form and as a non-artist my version of cursive, caused me to get Ds in spelling in 3rd and 4th grade after As and Bs in 1st and 2nd. Half of our spelling grade in 3rd and 4th was for cursive writing. My fingers just did not do graceful curves. Writing cursive always left me feeling the same clunky awkward ugly duckling way as ballet classes did. Thank goodness in 5th grade spelling grades went back to be for the correctness of the letters not their beauty. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteThat's a difficulte story Elisabeth! Things are hard enough when we're young...
DeleteI had similar struggles, Elisabeth. I have a vivid memory of being in around third grade and the rest of the class was doing math but the teacher had me just working on penmanship, saying, "I know you already know this math. Just keep practicing your writing, dear." The thing is, no matter how much I practiced it never got much better. I suspect in today's world I would have been diagnosed with some kind of small muscle coordination issue. I could never write very legibly, and could never master skills like crochet or embroidery or painting.
DeleteElisabeth, I’m truly sorry the system failed you. I don’t know where or when you were in school, but I want to believe that an experience like that wouldn’t happen today. Teachers have always worked incredibly hard, and still do, but that’s exactly why methods evolve. Teaching is an art, not a science, and sometimes it takes time to recognize when the focus has drifted away from what truly matters. If you’d care to send me your contact information, I’d love to send you a copy of Diet of Death, a small gesture of thanks for such a meaningful comment.
DeleteThank you, Lucy and Susan, for understanding. Susan, needlework also escaped me, until my late 20s when needlepoint embraced me…I was not particularly skilled but I loved the rhythm and the counting of stitches and the magic of a picture appearing from so many small stitches. Elisabeth
DeleteJust one more thing. I don’t remember having trouble reading cursive just writing it. Then again I have no memory of learning to read, long before I arrived in school. Elisabeth
DeleteAng, thank you. Third grade was 70 years ago and in CT. I liked my teachers and they were good teachers. In fact the fourth grade teacher, all I remember Mr. Cronesomething, used to mark my spelling grade separately from the penmanship grade and almost always added, “Fifth grade is only a few months more!” Elisabeth
DeleteSorry to run on so, but that great 4th grade teacher was the first male teacher I ever had (remember when men didn’t teach in elementary school, Ang). I announced to my parents, the first day of school as I boarded the bus, “If I get THAT MAN, I’m NEVER going back to school.” What a blessing that I went back the next day. He taught us so much more than spelling and arithmetic…and how to jump rope…double Dutch solo…he really got us to learn. Elisabeth
DeleteI suggest that the teachers in those two grades were at fault, not cursive writing.
DeleteAnd congratulations on your old is new again release! Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteEverything had to be printed in my engineering classes, and I never looked back. But I have no problem with cursive being taught. My mom had beautiful handwriting, thanks to the nuns who taught her.
ReplyDeleteLisa, ah yes, those sweet nuns and their Palmer Method turned out students with such beautiful handwriting. Cursive was more than just nice writing; it taught discipline, patience, and obedience.
DeleteMy mother always said she could recognize the children who went to parochial schools because they had such beautiful handwriting
DeleteAng, hi! The cover for Diet of Death is beautiful, is it a new cover? Congratulations on its re-release.I haven't read it yet. Did you revise the book or is it the same as the original?
ReplyDeleteI was shocked to realize that cursive writing wasn't being taught any more when my son was in school. It does teach a kind of coordination that helps with other types of learning and it provides a basis for reading script written by others. So I see value in it being part of the curriculum. As a former Special Education teacher, I know that most students can learn to read and to write, but each person may need a different approach. So throwing one method away and forbidding its use is foolish at best. Even in a class with a normal range of skills, students should be provided with more ammunition for attacking new words.
Hi, Judy! Thanks so much. Glad you like the new cover for Diet of Death. The interior is essentially the same as the original, with just a light polish here and there, but no major revisions. I’m thrilled it's getting a fresh life.
DeleteCursive is not just about handwriting, it’s coordination, pattern recognition, and being able to read what generations before us actually wrote. As you say, throwing out one method entirely makes no sense, especially when kids learn in such different ways. More tools in the toolbox can only help.
I'm a great believer in the value of cursive for all the reasons listed by Ang Pompano. Additionally it's just more legible than what is written in printed form. I'm a retired teacher and I taught older grades, and their work was often hard to read and often misspelled. I'm sorry Elisabeth had a teacher who made handwriting part of her spelling grade. The only value in writing spelling words repeatedly is to practice spelling them correctly, which is the only thing that should be graded.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I want to read your books (a new discovery for me.)
Elizabeth, the one with s not z here. The grading for spelling was SCHOOL requirement, not an individual teacher. Third grade was 72 years ago for me. Elisabeth
DeleteWhat a strange school requirement. As I said earlier, I'm sorry you had such an experience. As a student, it would have soured me on spelling, or handwriting, or both.
DeleteElizabeth, tying handwriting to spelling grades is such an injustice. Practicing spelling makes sense; penalizing handwriting doesn’t. They’re two different skills and should be treated that way.
DeleteI'm a big proponent of handwriting, Ang. I read about a cursive club some high school students formed, so they could learn and practice. Also, you can't use AI when you're writing by hand.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new book! It's a great cover - who is rereleasing it?
Both my sons - 37 and 39 - were taught cursive, and the flow of connected letters really helped the older one, who didn't have great fine motor control at the time.
DeleteEdith, the fact that some students asked for a cursive club shows there’s both interest and a need for it. I’d favor giving everyone an introduction to cursive in third or fourth grade, with perhaps an elective class in the upper grades. As with your older son, it’s not just about pretty writing, it’s also about developing fine motor control.
DeleteEdith, Diet of Death was re-released by the wonderful Shawn Reilly Simmons at Level Best. Book 2, Simmering Secrets, will follow.
DeleteCongrats on your book being re-released.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Dru Ann!
DeleteNice to see you here, Ang! Did you teach elementary level?
ReplyDeleteWhen my millennial daughters were in their primary years our school district taught the D'Nealian method of cursive: slanted letters joined with a curlicue of sorts. They spent hours practicing in workbooks.
My grandson, now about to turn 21, was not taught cursive, but he taught himself, using the standard classroom banners of the printed and cursive alphabet around the walls in his first or second grade class. I can't say he has the best handwriting, but at least he can read other's writing.
Last year I was watching a family member's daughter-in-law unwrap her baby shower gifts. She got to mine, and opened the card, preparing to read it aloud, as she had all the rest. But she just looked at it. I was sitting next to her best friend, who said, "Taylor can't read cursive." I was floored. Taylor is 32, and has a really good job at the bank, but cursive is like a foreign language to her.
Wow! that's astonishing Judy.
DeleteGood for Zac for teaching himself! I agree, it's shocking to find someone who can't read cursive. She'll never be a historian - my historian d-i-l is 36 and has read lots of primary sources, all written in cursive.
DeleteZak was already reading chapter books, so he kept himself busy while the other kids were still learning.
DeleteI was really shocked, that's the precise word, Edith. She is such an intelligent woman, and that seems like a major handicap.
It's so great to be back, Karen. Thank you. I taught at both the middle school and elementary levels and saw how much early handwriting exposure matters. I feel for Taylor. The fact that she’s so intelligent and can’t read cursive may indicate an overlooked issue. Teachers do their best, but sadly, sometimes kids slip through the cracks. Your grandson teaching himself shows there’s still real value in it.
DeleteKaren, I'm wondering is Taylor might have a form of dyslexia?
DeleteDeb, I was thinking the same thing.
DeleteI would be surprised if she did. Her job entails a lot of writing, but on a keyboard. She has send me emails, and I have seen her typing texts a lot. But is that definitive?
DeleteHi Ang, Congratulations on the re-release. I learned cursive as a child and liked some parts of it, although mine was pretty messy. Then we spent 6 months in the UK and they used an italic script that was sort of in between the two options of cursive and printing that we had learned here. My handwriting ended up closer to the italic--printed letters connected with each other. I do think we should teach some sort of penmanship in schools, for the reasons you cite. As an adult, I often take notes for meetings and find that I do a better job handwriting notes than if I try to take them on a computer. I type faster than I write, but I am focused on keeping up and correcting errors. Writing by hand makes me think and summarize the discussion as I go.
ReplyDeleteEdith Woo Hoo! Thank you thank you!
You're welcome - it's in the mail!
DeleteHi, Gillian. Thank you! I’m familiar with the Italic style you describe. It’s a beautiful hybrid of cursive and manuscript. I could never keep up taking notes if I had to print them.
DeleteIn spite of my own struggles, mentioned in a comment above, I do think the ability to read cursive is important, and I suspect the only realistic way to learn that skill is to learn to write it. I just hope today's world has a little more mercy for those who struggle with it. By about 5th grade I was typing all my papers for school. And in college, my notes were all printed, as I was unlikely to be able to read my own cursive when written as quickly as notetaking required. Actually, for my own notetaking purposes I had my own sort of hybrid printing/cursive thing. It looked awful, but I could reliably read it later.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Susan. I think schools today focus more on what each student actually needs rather than strict uniformity. Your hybrid handwriting is a perfect example. Sometimes the “messy” or unconventional approach is exactly what works best! There’s definitely room to honor both tradition and individual learning styles.
DeleteI retired in May of 2025 after 38 years of teaching. Kids in Arkansas have been taught cursive for the last few years. I’m all for it! For children who use tablets so much, I think cursive is extremely beneficial. (So is using scissors.) My students were really proud of their cursive and enjoyed writing with it. It seemed “grown up” to them. I’m sorry to hear abt teachers in the past more concerned with the look of cursive than the content of students’ thoughts. Unfortunately there are always those who are misguided in their intentions. Since students use computers for high-stakes testing, teaching keyboarding is also a challenge for teachers and students. That’s a whole different set of skills. From Mignonne in Arkansas
ReplyDeleteMignonne (what a lovely name, by the way), I felt the same about sewing--so many home ec teachers insisted that beginners turn out pro-level garments that "look as good on the inside as they do on the outside" that it turned off an entire generation of would-be sewing enthusiasts. It galls me that so many have to pay someone to stitch a button for them, just because of impossibly perfectionist teachers in their past.
DeleteCongratulations on your retirement, Mignonne, and thank you for sharing your perspective! It’s wonderful to hear that kids in Arkansas are still learning cursive. It really does give them a sense of pride and accomplishment. I agree that both cursive and scissors teach skills that go beyond the practical. They develop focus, coordination, and confidence. And you’re right, keyboarding is a whole other skill set that today’s students need, so teachers have a lot to juggle!
DeleteI believe both cursive and spelling should be taught in schools.
ReplyDeleteDianne Mahoney
I totally agree, Dianne. It really depends on how these skills are approached. I think schools today are far more focused on supporting kids’ individual needs and making learning engaging than when I was in school.
DeleteI definitely believe cursive should be taught again! I have a young (40ish) friend who is a teacher and she’s been teaching cursive within other subjects for a couple of years now.
ReplyDeleteGood for your friend, Suzette. There's no reason why cursive can't be taught within teaching, Social Studies, Science, or even Math.
DeleteI think Edith makes a good point that many careers hinge on the person being able to read cursive from years gone by. I volunteer at the library with programs that focus on teaching fine motor skills to preschoolers and being able to at least print your letters takes a great deal of concentration on fine motor skills for these little dudes. Ditto using scissors, glue, etc. I also agree that teaching any form of penmanship is an excellent way of working on spelling, as well as honing concentration skills. -- Victoria
ReplyDeleteVictoria, they say that "play is a child's work." That's certainly true when they use scissors, glue, etc.
DeleteBig fan of learning cursive, for all the reasons mentioned here. Try doing genealogy without reading cursive! As a left-hander, learning to write anything--cursive or printed--required effort. Now I hand write in a mixture of the two and I have to slow way down when writing to make sure it's legible for others. Youngest nephews didn't learn cursive and their signatures prove it.
ReplyDeleteOh, exactly! Me, too! My handwriting is so terrible sometimes I can’t even read it. But if I slow down I can. I have even had readers turn around in the signing line and show me my inscription and say… Can you read this for me? Oh well :-)
DeleteI remember in elementary school a teacher telling me my writing looked like chicken scratches. Ugh. Left handed, but was that an excuse? See below about my fountain pens, but using them means, most times, slowing down, and that's part of the meditative joy of using fountain pens. I'm currently copying, with my pens, Mansfield Park, never having read it before. Surprising, given that I've been an Austen devotee for years. Anyway, I copy very slowly, word by word, not looking ahead, which increases the pleasure. That said, I do have a slower speed and a not-as-fast speed.
DeleteMy husband's handwriting has always been difficult to read. Students had great difficulty reading his comments on exams and papers. Sometimes he'd even show things he had handwritten to me, so I could figure out what he had written! I tried to make things legible in my comments when grading, but I'm sure I was not always successful.
DeleteFlora, I hear you! Being left-handed makes it tricky. My grandson (in the picture) is left-handed too, and he’s learned to slow down to keep his writing legible. I couldn’t imagine doing genealogy without being able to read cursive.
DeleteI don’t think you can look at census data or passenger rolls on ships for genealogical research without knowing cursive. — Pat S
DeleteI am glad they are bringing cursive writing instruction back to the curriculum in schools for all the motor skill etc. reasons already mentioned. And yes, it is also an art form that should be preserved.
ReplyDeleteI hope they bring back how to read an analog clock and how to count coins and make change too. The cognitive test they give seniors where you have to draw the face of a clock and add the numbers and the hands telling a particular time will soon be obsolete if they don't.
How great for you, Ang, to have your book re-released! Hope many new readers are enticed to pick it up and read it.
Thank you for the good wishes for the book, Brenda. I was going to mention that reading an analog clock is another skill that I wish would be brought back.
DeleteI'm a fountain pen geek, left-handed, and actually taught myself to write differently so I wouldn't be smearing the ink. Those of us who learned cursive are the lucky ones. It's just so much slower to print everything. I can't imagine writing an exam that way. That said, my husband's handwriting isn't great, and he prints fairly often. As others have said, if you can't read cursive, you can't do historical research.
ReplyDeleteI’m left-handed, too, and learned to turn the paper so I don’t smear the ink. I still do it that way!
DeleteMy mother told me to do that! My parents and my older sister were left-handed. We kind of ganged up on our younger sister, and she became left-handed, but her writing was always a mess. She should have been right-handed. But my writing was dreadful back when I was in school. I'm not sure why. I'm sure I was using cursive, but I wasn't getting great results in terms of legibility. Whereas my mother and my older sister had beautiful handwriting. Now that fountain pens are my passion, I do my best to make the writing look good, but it definitely means slowing down, in my case.
DeleteBeth, when I was in high school, cartridge fountain pens were all the rage, and every kid had to have one. They were the Stanley Cup of the day. My papers were always a mess because I’d stop writing and leave the tip on the paper. You’d think I would have learned! You’ve made me nostalgic; I think I’m going to buy one and see if I do any better.
DeleteNatural lefty here, but, well, nuns. IYKYK
DeleteHank, I'm not sure I knew you were left-handed!
DeleteHooray, Ang, this is great news! Congratulations! As for cursive. You’ve got to be able to know how to read it, that’s ridiculous. My handwriting is terrible, but at least I can do it. As a left-handed, I struggled with making my letters perfect. But nobody ever really cared. If my grandsons— both high school and college — only print. And they each kind of created a signature. But the idea that someone wouldn’t be able to write is destructive and an obstacle to understanding.
ReplyDeleteDo I actually write things much? Notes to myself, sure, but I do a lot of dictation. But bottom line,I CAN write, and I would be lost without it.
Hank, thank you! I completely agree, being able to read cursive is essential, and in modern education, expressing yourself matters more than being perfect.
DeleteI never learned cursive because the year it was taught in my Maryland school, we had moved to Florida to be with my stepfather while he was making a film. When we moved back to Maryland the next year, everyone in my age group could write cursive and I was stuck trying to pick it up on my own. It didn't help that I'm left-handed. Today, I have the worst handwriting possible, a mixture of homegrown cursive with letters I never learned to write that way. But I think cursive should be taught because it's easier to flow the letters without having to lift your pen between each one, something I've learned in the last year of writing hundreds of postcards for Indivisible. That advocacy organization insists that we print our get out the vote messages because they tell us no one can read cursive anymore. In my case, nobody can read what I write anyway!
ReplyDeleteSusan, My grandson is a lefty too. I’m glad it’s not the “curse” it used to be, when kids were forced to write right-handed. Nice handwriting or not, thank you for all your work getting out the vote!
DeleteI have horrible handwriting. In my reporter days I sometimes couldn't read my notes! I taught myself to type when I was in the sixth grade. I think it was a great relief to my teachers when I handed in typed papers. That said, I envy those with beautiful cursive handwriting. There's something special about getting a letter written with a pen! And for heaven's sake, if they aren't going to teach cursive in school, could they please at least spend some time on printing? My grandkids can barely even to that!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Gerri. I think in the early grades the focus is on getting thoughts down on paper rather than worrying about spelling or penmanship. I’m sure it will all come together over time. I actually taught myself to type by practicing on The Raven, typing it over and over until I had it memorized, learning the poem and typing at the same time.
DeleteAgreed that penmanship should be taught in schools. As a Deaf child, suddenly deafened at two years old, Phonics would not have worked for me. I was blessed to have a brilliant teacher at Catholic school who taught us how to read and write. She cut the shape of the alphabetical letters out of Sandpaper and we traced out fingers on the letters and formed words. Within a month, I was reading books on my own and I could write.
ReplyDeleteDiana, what an amazing story! Your teacher’s approach was so creative and clearly made a huge difference. It’s incredible how the right guidance can open the world of reading and writing, even when traditional methods don’t fit. It really shows the power of teaching that meets each child where they are.
DeleteAnother lefty here. I learned cursive in fourth grade and loved it. I use it constantly in genealogy research. In college, I took Russian. We not only had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, but use cursive to do the homework. I discovered that my cursive in English changed slightly, making it easier to form the letters , adapting from the Russian cursive. Who knew? Then when I took Farsi, there was the Arabic alphabet, going the other way across the page. Cursive again for the homework. Anyway, when I taught fourth grade myself, sometimes I could see the kids get tired of the practice, so I would change it up by suggesting , "lets do Russian today, and translate the poem when we're done writing it". They took to it very well...more of an art assignment than handwriting practice. Just a thought. By the way, it's easier for this lefty to write from right to left , than from left to right.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun journey! I love how your English cursive adapted from Russian. Turning handwriting practice into a mini cultural/art lesson was brilliant—no wonder the kids loved it. Lefty or not, that’s a creative way to make learning stick!
DeleteCongrats on your rerelease! Love the title.
ReplyDeleteOn penmanship. I remember we couldn't use ink pens (and these were flowing ink pens, thanks to the Estebrook Company) until we could write cursive. Penmanship began in first grade, and most of us were inking it by second. I still have my Estebrook pen, although it needs attention. Who else remembers the flashcards that lined the top of the chalk-boards? I never could form that capital F!
Oh yes—those flashcards, Kait! I could never get that capital F right either. It was so fancy!
DeleteKait, your Estebrook pen is probably very collectible!
DeleteI'll bet it is, Deborah!
DeleteI grew up learning both phonics and cursive handwriting.I moved to a new town where only manuscript was taught and I was completely bewildered.because it was just assumed I would know what to do. Initially I tried large and small versions of the letters because no one explained that the letters were formed differently.
ReplyDeleteMy brother had the same problem and wound up with almost totally illegible writing. It was the beginning of learning how to use a typewriter so his teachers could read what he wrote.
What do people use for a legal signature? Most children, and probably a lot of adults, have no idea what signing your name means. How do you sign a check? Of course if you do everything online you probably don’t even do that.
How many authors still write in what is now called longhand, a term which seems to be a conglomeration of handwriting styles.
It is so different when you look at original manuscripts and letters-how many people even write them
as opposed to a computer generated format. It may make work a lot easier for authors. There is a loss of the personality when the physical writing isn’t used, the hand editing, notes and comments are no longer available to see the thought process. Everything that isn’t perfect can just be deleted.
With computers you really don’t need to know how to spell, I won’t even mention the computer language of abbreviations or basic math such as adding, subtracting, etc.
I think the end of teaching phonics was the beginning of a lot of children developing reading problems Phonics have made a resurgence and have increased an interest in reading.
Then there are graphic novels…
Another ‘improvement’ in teaching methods was the new math which neither the teachers nor the students understood. I remember my younger cousins trying to learn it and their parents couldn’t help them because they had never learned it. Is that still taught?
ReplyDeleteSo many good points! The switch to manuscript can really throw kids, and there’s just something about signatures and longhand that shows personality in a way computers can’t. I’m glad phonics is back. And “new math” still seems to baffle parents everywhere. Teaching methods really do matter.
Ang, I'm chuckling about the coolness of high school fountain pens. My first pen, which was maybe in 6th grade, was a Waterman (which leaked) and the cool thing was turquoise ink cartridges. And, yes, I was taught both phonics and cursive and am a huge proponent of both, for all the reasons you mentioned. I bought my granddaughter cursive workbooks as soon as she could print legibly, and now, at ten, she has a nice cursive hand. Which is more than I can say for myself! Like some of the other commenters, I never had great fine motor skills, but I don't remember being marked down for my handwriting. Nowadays it is a combination of cursive and italic, and I do a lot of notes and plotting by hand because it seems to help my thinking process in a way that typing does not. I'm also a fountain pen nut, as everyone here knows!
ReplyDeleteCongrats of the rerelease of your book, which I'm off now to order (great cover, btw!) and thanks for such a fun and illuminating post!
Not sure where your comment about graphic novels fits in, Anon, but there are studies showing they can be the “gateway” to kids reading non-illustrated books. I learned cursive in 3rd grade back in the 60s.
ReplyDeleteI worked in elementary schools for years where the teachers chose to teach it rather than it being a requirement. My historian son was taught it and needs to know how to read it to look at old documents.
Congratulations on both of your books’ releases, Ang! — Pat S