Teachers often have great difficulty reading their students' handwriting. There are several ways to handle this problem, enabling your students to not only meet your standards, but improve their overall work ethic as well. Teaching students to slow down and take care with their work will benefit them in your class and for the rest of their lives.
Have Students Re-Write
When a student turns in work that is illegible, hand it back to the student with the instructions to re-write neater. When forced to erase and write the same answers over again, students will start to write neatly in the first place. This method takes patience and consistency, and some students may still be re-writing their work at the end of the school year, but it will reinforce your standards and expectations from your students.
Give a Failing Grade
When receiving an assignment that does not meet your handwriting requirements or is illegible, simply enter a zero in your grade book for that student. As the student's grades start to decline, explain to the parents and child that proper handwriting is all that is required to bring the grade back up. You should start to see a change in handwriting before the student's overall grades are in danger, and if not, you may need to consider the possibility that the student may have Dysgraphia, which may be what is affecting the handwriting.
Assign Handwriting Practice
Younger elementary grades, where students are still learning how to write, already have to practice handwriting for homework or class work. This is to ensure that they learn proper letter formation. If your older elementary students cannot seem to form the letters properly, resulting in poor handwriting, simply explain to them that you must return to the same handwriting practice until you are sure that they have indeed learned the proper letter formation as demonstrated by an improvement in their handwriting.
Showcase Neat Handwriting
When poor handwriting is a problem in your class, creating a showcase bulletin board may be a positive method of encouraging an improvement in neatness. Each day or each week pick a single assignment that was written neatly and make a big announcement. Have the student stand; receive the applause of the class, maybe a special pencil, and a place of honor for the neat paper. As the students become more motivated to receive the handwriting showcase award, they will in turn improve their handwriting.
You need not accept poor handwriting in your classroom. Your students need to learn how to write neatly, which means slowing down and taking pride in their work. Providing consequences for poor handwriting and holding your students responsible for turning in neatly written work will not only help you as you grade, but will help your students learn to take care in all that they do.
Learn more tips to effectively teach writing. Read more about improving student handwriting.
Check out Startwrite, a great program that provides teachers and parents the tools to help make handwriting lessons more fun.
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