Oh, the joy of handwritten letters. To rip open an envelope to find beautiful penmanship etched onto the page. To hear the sender's voice like they were sitting in the chair next to you. Maybe I am a hopeless romantic, but I envision a life where I receive a bundle of notes wrapped in twine hand delievered by the postman. Perhaps this dream could be attained if I lived in a different time, or even a Nicolas Sparks novel.
Recently, I have been thinking about this "lost art." Everybody says that handwritten notes have faded away with the texting and email technologies, and that is true. Younger generations center their lives around speedy communication and instant gratification. The idea of waiting five days for an old fashioned stamped letter seems agonizing. We sacrifice the well-being of our thumbs to send an average of 88 text messages per day, according to CNN.
But what does this mean for education? For years, students across the globe have been taught the importance of clear, cursive penmanship. Teachers assess the readability of letters and the clarity of handwriting. And yet, when students step outside the walls of their school, they immediately run to their computers and phones to catch up on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. They log on to their videogames and email accounts. They trade in their pencils and paper for their keyboards and touch screens.
This trade leaves me wondering how to incorporate this exponentially changing technology into my classroom. How do I still encourage literacy in a society that prefers "c u l8ter"? This means that as much I cling to the nostalgia tied to bound books and handwritten letters, I must embrace this change head-on for my students sake. Technology is doing wonders for the educational system, specifically in literacy. Students can create multimodal projects that demonstrate a wide range of knowledge. They are connecting to students in other states and even countries through Skype and iChat. They literally have the world at their fingertips, begging them to dive into a wealth of knowledge that cannot be conveyed through a textbook.
Even though the world has shifted into the digital age, there will always been a need for pencils, just like there will always been a need for books.
I remember in middle school when I used to write handwritten letters to my friends and try to use my best penmanship rather than send them a text message (I didn't have a cell phone). I also used to send and receive letters in the mail from my best friend who lived in another city. I looked forward to receiving these letters. These were the highlights of my life of communication. What happened to this? I cannot stand the fact that the world is plagued with text messages and short-hand writing. I loved this post. Great points.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a book I once read, Scott Westerfield's Uglies. In this dystopian future, only those teenagers (a tiny, ostracized, and seemingly dangerous portion of the whole) who took it upon themselves to hunt down the lost art of handwriting and take the time to teach themselves knew how to write. This despite the fact that everybody could read the same letters perfectly fine. It may seem odd, that we can recognize and read letters without being able to copy them out longhand. But though we recognize the subjects in da Vinci's fantastic paintings, we would be hard pressed to replicate the forms. This may be an extreme example, but I do think the principle holds. Handwriting is in danger.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, I too love handwritten letters and wish they were more popular. There is something about a handwritten letter that just conveys care and love. If we want these to be more popular, I say that we need to be proactive. If we begin to hand write and send out letters, perhaps a pay-it-forward style movement will take off.
I love this post. I too am a letter fanatic! Getting a hand written letter is by far one of the simplest things that brings me so much joy. I feel deeply cared about if someone takes the time to write by hand to me. These days, that is rare. People consider it time consuming and a hassle to write out their thoughts. Why write a letter when you can write an email? However, I believe that letters are so much more personal. To me, it says " I took time out of my day for you".
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