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~~Should Schools Still Teach Cursive?
Sophomore Andrew Forbes of Nashville, Tennessee, used cursive every day in elementary school, from third grade through eighth grade. He was required to write out all his papers, worksheets, and notes in the flowing line of slanted script. Andrew says he” finds cursive so much faster and easier than printing, he still uses it daily in high school.”
But he gets the feeling he’s alone. “Everybody uses print. Out of all my friends, there is maybe one person who, I think, uses cursive. When my friends saw that I use cursive, they were very surprised.”
Forbes might be one of the last holdouts. The decline in teaching cursive handwriting, the rise of the keyboard, and the introduction of the Common Core State Standards that do not require children to know cursive has the New York Times asking, “Is Cursive Dead?” Some teachers and handwriting experts say “the decline of cursive is natural”, and what should be allowed is a hybrid (mix) of cursive and print.
Handwriting expert and founder of the World Handwriting Contest, Kate Gladstone, “found in 2012, found only 37 percent of teachers wrote in cursive; another 8 percent printed. The majority, 55 percent, wrote a hybrid print-cursive. Why teach it when most teachers don’t use it.
“It just takes so much time to teach it and there are far more important things for kids to learn now.”
OUTDATED PRACTICE?
Kids are lacking in so many skills, says retired fourth-grade teacher Barbara Kuykendall, who taught cursive handwriting for twenty years in Evansville, Indiana, she’s glad the Common Core Standards no longer require students to learn cursive. “I used to teach cursive and am glad it’s out of the curriculum now. It’s a time issue. It just takes so much time to teach it and there are far more important things for kids to learn now.” She said it would be easy to teach kids to sign their name in cursive, then leave it at that. “If none of them know cursive, it wouldn’t be as big a deal to them as it is to us.”
“I think there is value in learning a skill that that takes patience, perseverance, and diligence to master.”
Of course, there is more to cursive handwriting than the time it takes to teach it or benefits of using it. Cursive’s roots are in our history the Declaration of Independence was written in cursive and how about finding a letter written in a grandma’s unique handwriting.
Marjorie Martin teaches cursive in her second-grade class at Crossroads Academy in Lyme, New Hampshire, she said. “No woodworking class, no sewing, no knitting, we are creating a generation that won’t know how to build a simple doghouse or replace a button. But shouldn’t they be able to create a reasonably attractive handwritten note?”
After reading the editorial post a reply to the following questions on the blog.
1. What is the thesis statement of this editorial?
2. Has the autor used “facts” to support their thesis statement? (Quotes, polls, numbers or percents). List three examples.
3. Has the author included the “counter point” opposite point of view? if so list an example of the “counterpoint“.
4. Has the author made a “strong argument” to support their thesis?
NBC News Report-Cursive Writing
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
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After watching the video “What if your kid is cut from the team”. Answer the questions below. Be specific. You answers should be 4-5 sentences for each question.
1. If you were cut from a team you tried out for and thought the coach was wrong. How would you deal with the coach?
2. If you tried out for a team and your best friend or best friends made the team….How would handle the situation?
High Schools Address the Cruelest Cut
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Severna Park High School sophomore Filip Olsson, far right, gets cut for the second straight season despite his best efforts to make the team. (Toni L. Sandys – The Washington Post)
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Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 22, 2005
He arrived 10 minutes before his fate, so Filip Olsson stood outside Severna Park High School and waited for coaches to post the cut list for the boys’ soccer team.
Olsson, a sophomore, wanted desperately to make the junior varsity, but he also wanted justification for a long list of sacrifices. His family had rearranged a trip to Sweden so he could participate in a preparatory soccer camp; he’d crawled out of bed at 5:30 a.m. for two weeks of camp and tryouts and forced down Raisin Bran; he’d sweated off five pounds and pulled his hamstring.
Finally, a coach walked by holding a list, and Olsson followed him into the high school. He walked back out two minutes later, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his eyes locked on the ground.
“It felt,” he said later, “like a punch in the stomach.”
Thousands of area teenagers suffered similarly last week during high school sports tryouts, an increasingly high-stakes process both coaches and players abhor. As more families invest money into year-round club sports and intensive summer camps in an effort to propel their kids onto top high school teams, the pressure has increased on what remains a subjective tryout process. Because a spot on a varsity or junior varsity team can dramatically impact a teenager’s self-confidence and social status, there is little tolerance of mistakes.
In an effort to better explain cuts to players and parents, coaches have started to record player evaluation grades. Few coaches, though, agree on how to decide which players are cut. Fewer still agree on how to cut those players. Only one thing, coaches said, can be universally agreed upon: Tryouts are as imperfect as their punishing end result.
“The day you have to cut kids is the worst day at the school all year,” said Andy Muir, the field hockey coach at W.T. Woodson. “Everybody is trying hard to do the right thing — the kids to make the team, the coaches to pick the right team — and everyone ends up devastated. It’s heartbreaking.”
Olsson, 15, tried hard not to think about that possible endpoint when he arrived at Severna Park at 7:30 a.m. last Monday. He had enough to worry about. As the coaches took attendance for the first time, Olsson stood out awkwardly from the other 48 aspiring junior varsity players. At 6 feet 2 inches, he hovered more than a foot above many of his freshman and sophomore counterparts. His long, wavy hair — a style that befits his rock-and-roll guitar playing — stamped him as unique amongst crew-cut soccer players.
Even more unusual, though, were the circumstances of his tryout. Of the 48 players competing for about 22 spots, only Olsson had been cut the previous year and chosen to return. “Kids who get cut as freshmen almost never come back,” said Stan Malm, coach of the junior varsity team. “Nobody wants that pain twice.”
Severna Park players never touched a soccer ball for the first two hours last Monday, the first day Maryland public schools were allowed to practice. Instead, they ran timed 40-yard dashes and shuttle runs, a result of a trend that has overtaken high school tryouts.
Because of increased complaints from parents, many high school coaches now strive to make cuts more scientific. Until she retired last season, longtime Eleanor Roosevelt girls’ soccer coach Kathy Lacey made her players run 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes to make the team. Mike Bossom, the volleyball coach at Centennial, scores players with a number — 1 through 5 — for each drill and then logs the scores on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
For the first time this season, Severna Park Athletic Director Wayne Mook required his coaches to record running times and player evaluation grades, then hand in that paperwork to him. It is an arduous process that many coaches find tiresome, but Mook instituted it for a reason: After a player was cut from the girls’ lacrosse team last spring, the family hired lawyers to meet with the school.
After reading the editorial post a reply to the following questions on the blog.
1. What is the thesis statement of this editorial?
2. Has the autor used “facts” to support their thesis statement? (Quotes, polls, numbers or percents). List three examples.
3. Has the author included the “counter point” opposite point of view? if so list an example of the “counterpoint“.
4. Has the author made a “strong argument” to support their thesis?
1. I think the theses statment is getting a shorter summer.
2.1 The auother included numbers when he said that America has 180 days a year.2. Japan had a whopping 243 days a year.3. And England had 180 which is half of 360.
3. The auother said what differance would it make with a shorter summer.
4. I think he made a strong argument because he said that kids need to relax and unwind over the summer.
1. I think the thesis statement is " summer is time for kids to unwind and relax after the school year.
2. They put numbers when it said there is 180 days in a school year. They asked a mom what she thought about summer vacation and she said it was a" waste of time". Japan has 243 school days.
3.The counterpoint was a mom said summer vacation was a waste of time.
4. I think that the author had a strong argument because he but a lot of examples .
its not true period.
The thesis of these paraghraphs were saying that the amount we get for summer break is great ! Where as somee people like a mother of four states that 'The time kids have off is to long they will forget every thing they learn.She also stated that 'the time kids get off for brake is the amount of complete courses that kids could have.The counter point of this article is a mother named liz she belives that we dont need a summer brake.I think that the author has made a strong thesis statment because he/she put in the pros of summer vacation and the cons of summer vacation.I also think that the author supported his/her thesis because he/she listen to both sides of the argument.
1. Thesis:
"A shorter summer break would bring huge improvement to the American education system."
2.Examples:
1. Liz Earl mom of 4 daughters stated that, “Summer vacation is often a waste of time”
2.Others argued,“that the long summer break presents students with opportunities to engage in beneficial activities they would have otherwise missed without the long break”
3.America average on a measly (little) 180 days a year,180 is less than half of 365.
3.Example:
What difference does it make, though? Why should it be shortened? The answer is that a shorter vacation period and a longer school year can allow students to spend less time in school and to graduate earlier.
4. I think this article isn't a strong argument because, they should have put down more reasons to convince people that making summer shorter isn't a great idea.
1) The thesis in the passage is students should have shorter summers and longer school years.
2) Three facts that support the thesis are:
A mother of four daughters argues that, "Summer vacation is often a waste of time".
This will help workers-in-the-making and get jobs earlier and help the ecnomy of this country.
A shorter summer break would bring a huge improvment tothe American education system.
3) Many summer students hold summer jobs allowing them to make some money for collage.
4) No, because summer vacation is just as important as school. During the summer students get to rest, visit family and travel to places they don't have time to go to during the school year.
Thesis
A shorter summer break will be a huge inprovment in American education systems.
Some facts (polls,survays,percenteges,quotes)
1)'' Summer vacation is a huge waste of time''
2) England schools have 192 days in the school year ,Isreal has 216 days in a school year and Jappan has a whopping 243
3) American Average on a measly is 180 days and 180 days is less then half then 365
The Counterpoint
There is more posibilities much more then just playing Halo.
I think this is not a strong argument because there is only 1 person explaining how it could be more productive.
For the food waste video:
I think that school lunches shouldn't serve canned goods. I think that canned goods can contain a chemical from the canns or the actual food itself. If they serve a healthier meal then they could know that the students eat healthy meals everyday.
I don't think changing the vegetables' names to Powerbeans or X-ray Vision Carrots will make the students want to eat them. Adding to much salt and sugar isn't a great idea because salt and sugar can be produced into fat. However ketchup can prevent cancer, but too much of anything isn't good.
i think schools should have a little salt in the food because if it dosent the kids wont want to eat it and all of the food will go to waste . i also think that changing the vegetables names would not help the cause because kid all know that even though the names are changed there still the same.they also should be alowed to put salt and suger in the food but too much is not good
I think schools should add so e flavor to the food or find a healthy food kids love. If they don't kids probroably wouldn't eat it.
I don't think changing the vegetables names would help this because kids would be able to regonize the foods with many of their senses.
i do think they should be aloud to put salt and sugar in the food for a little flavor. Otherwise, kids may not think it is very savory or good. I think that they should only put a little bit and not let the kids put on the salt because 1.too much salt is very unhealthy. 2. Kids will probroably put too much salt on or accidentally put a lot.
If you eat well as a kid you can grow taller and become more fit, if all you eat is sugar and meat you will be obese. However, children should at least have some sugar, fat, and salt because without it you can die. If you waste your food by throwing it in the garbage you can increase amount of waste in New York. Also, if you don't eat your lunch, you will not have energy and can get sleepy towards the end of the school day. Even though you don't exactly like your lunch, you should eat it because it will give you energy and can keep you healthy. In my opinion, I don't think changing the names will help decrese the amount of waste in America, it is a creative idea but will not help much. School's meals should have sugar, either a fruit or a vegtable, a beverage, and a food of their choice. If they have a meal that includes at least all of those things, the children will be happy, healthy, and more awake and alert during the school day, they will also be getting better grades since they can particapate during lessons.
I think that school lunches should try harder not to have sugar or salt in the foods that they serve. Changing the names of vegetables does not seem to make much sense to me. Maybe though if they added a dip with the vegetables or even make a cute face out of them it would make kids eat them. Sometimes kids just have to try things and even if they do not love them they should understand it is good for them. This world has to learn to eat better or we are all going to grow up and be very sick adults.
-Emily
for theobesity video
i think that there should be the same amount of salt and ect as fruits and vegitibles
For the obeisity video
1. What is the thesis statement of this editorial?
kids complain that school lunch is not filling enough
2. Has the autor used "facts" to support their thesis statement? (Quotes, polls, numbers or percents). List three examples.
"sometimes the food is just nasty"
"kids are now throwing away twice as much food as last year"
"schools say they have found a 50% increasment of school trash"
3. Has the author included the "counter point" opposite point of view? if so list an example of the "counterpoint".
"schools have enough calories its just how you get to those calories"
4. Has the author made a "strong argument" to support their thesis?
they have made a very strong argument because it gives problems and solutions and has actual videos from youtube about the complaints
for the school day shortening video
1. What is the thesis statement of this editorial?
summer vacation should be shortened and school days extended
2. Has the author used "facts" to support their thesis statement? (Quotes, polls, numbers or percents). List three examples.
"sumer vacation is a huge waste of time".
"this extra time is gonna give them the time to go ahead and compete on a higher level".
"this is gonna give them the time to succeed".
3. Has the author included the "counter point" opposite point of view? if so list an example of the "counterpoint".
"kids might be a little burnt out on this"
4. Has the author made a "strong argument" to support their thesis?
yes they give lots of answers
Thesis
I think the thesis statement is that kids are complaining that the school lunches do not fill them up.
Some foods are hard to swallow
The food is nasty sometimes
Kids are throwing away twice as much food as the previous year
Counterpoint
Calories are raising
I think that they have made a strong argument because obesity is bad for kids.
I think the thesis statement is that kids think cursive is way more easier than print.
Andrew Forbes used cursive every day.
Teachers stopped teaching cursive.
New York Times is asking “Is cursive dead?''
I think the counterpoint is that most people use print.
I think the author did make a strong argument because the New York Times was involved.
The thesis statement in the paraghragh is that teachers shouldn't teach cursive. 1. ''Why teach cursive when some teachers don't know it.''
1. What is the thesis statement of this editorial?
"everybody uses print".
2. Has the autor used "facts" to support their thesis statement? (Quotes, polls, numbers or percents). List three examples.
"everybody uses print. Out of all of my friends there is one, I think, that uses cursive".
"I used to teach cursive and Im glad its out of the corriculum now".
"it just takes a long time to teach it and there are far more important things for kids to learn now".
3. Has the author included the "counter point" opposite point of view? if so list an example of the "counterpoint".
“No woodworking class, no sewing, no knitting, we are creating a generation that won’t know how to build a simple doghouse or replace a button. But shouldn’t they be able to create a reasonably attractive handwritten note?”
4. Has the author made a "strong argument" to support their thesis?
I think the author has made a strong argument because they gave lots of answers.
1. thesie is if curise should be leared or if its opinol
2. “Everybody uses print. Out of all my friends, there is maybe one person who, I think, uses cursive. When my friends saw that I use cursive, they were very surprised.”
3. 37 percent of teachers wrote in cursive; another 8 percent printed. The majority, 55 percent.
4. no because they did not add people in the text to say if they agree to learn curvis or if its opion.
Thesis Statement: I think the thesis statement is children should not learn cursive in school.
Three Examples Using Numbers, Percentages, Polls, and Quotes;
1. Found in 2012, found only 37 percent of teachers wrote in cursive; another 8 percent printed. The majority, 55 percent, wrote a hybrid print-cursive. Why teach it when most teachers don’t use it.
2. “Everybody uses print. Out of all my friends, there is maybe one person who, I think, uses cursive. When my friends saw that I use cursive, they were very surprised.”
3. “It just takes so much time to teach it and there are far more important things for kids to learn now.”
Counterpoint: “I think there is value in learning a skill that that takes patience, perseverance, and diligence to master.”
I do think it is a strong arguement because it does take alot of time during school while you can be learning something more important. On the other hand, i do not agree that children should not use cursive. People use it alot during there lifetime and you may need to know it during your lifetime incase it comes back in style, somebody writes you something, or you just see it around. I understand it may be hard, but with alot of hard work it will pay off.
-Sydney
1.The thesis statment of this story is that school's are not allowing cursive
2.I think writting in cursive is another way of writting
3. “I think there is value in learning a skill that that takes patience, perseverance, and diligence to master.“It just takes so much time to teach it and there are far more important things for kids to learn now.”
4. I think the author makes a strong statement because the author includes a lots of information from retired teachers. The author asked many teachers and their opoinion.“I think there is value in learning a skill that that takes patience, perseverance, and diligence to master.”
The thesis of the story is Should kids get cut from sports teams
A couple of facts,quotes and polls are
The 48 players competing for about 22 spots
The coach made her players run 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes to make the team
"like a punch in the stomach."
I think that kid should get cut because they learn from there mistakes and work harder
1. The thesis statement is should people be cut from teams
2.The volleyball coach at Centennial, scores players with a number — 1 through 5 — for each drill and then logs the scores on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Of the 48 players competing for about 22 spots.
Olsson stood out awkwardly from the other 48 aspiring junior varsity players.
3."The day you have to cut kids is the worst day at the school all year," (yes)
4.yes because the information he put really described what happened.
1) The thesis of the article is Kids getting said about not making then cut for a team.
2) Not making the cut is like getting punched in the stomch.
Kids who get cut as frechmen don't really come back.
The day you have to cut kids from teams is the worst day of the school year.
3) The counterpoint was Kathey Lacey made her players run 1.5 miles in less then 12 mins to make the team.
4) The aurther made a weak arggument because insted talking about kids making the team he talked about kids not making the cut.
The thesis is kids being mad and sad when they get cut from a sports team.
Being cut feels like a punch in the stomach.
If I didnt make a team I would tell the coach that i shouldve made the team.
If my friends were on the team and i wasnt I would be so left out
1. I would tell the couch to lookat the lict again and check just to make see
2. i would tell my buddys godd job and mabe next time i mabye make it in to the team
The thesis in this story is Should Kids get Cut from Teams.
Here are some polls,surveys and quotes.
''Kids who gets cut as freshmen almost never come back''
''The day you have to cut kids of its like the worst day in the school year''
''It felt'' like ''A punch in the stomach''
The counterpoint was coach Kathy Lacey made her team run 1.5 miles in 12 min or less to make the team.
I think the author made a weak argument because he should have said more about how a parent would act to this.
If I was cut from a team and think the coach was wrong I would get my mom to come talk to him or her with me. When thats done if the coach still says I'm cut then I would work harder at playing to prove him wrong. Somtimes its good to cut kids sometimes beacuse the good players get bored. If you don't cut kids they will not learn that nobodys perfect.
If I was cut from a team and my friends made the team I would be alittle upset but realize that I will need to work harder. I will encourage my friends and not say thats not fair and start acting out. I will come to all there games becaus they are my friends and so I can see what Iwill have to do better to make the team.
1. If the coach told me i was cut from the team and I thought he was wrong, I would at least tell him that I think he's wrong.
2. I would handle this situation by telling my Mother and telling my friends that i didn't make the team.
What if your child is cut from?
1. I would just leave the coach alone because what happens is what happens. If I got last place in skating I couldn't do anything to change the score and the only thing that was left for me to do would be to work even harder.
2.I would just congulate them and try another sport. There isn't only one sport, there are many opportunities to choose from. Who knows you might end up a lot happier and you might succeed in that sport.
1. If you were cut from a team you tried out for and thought the coach was wrong. How would you deal with the coach? I would have been silent and depressed, although on the inside I would have been raging. I would have thought the coach was wrong if I have been practicing but if I did not practice, I would agree with the coach.
2. If you tried out for a team and your best friend or best friends made the team….How would you handle the situation? I would have handled it pretty well in-front of my friends, but once I would have gotton home, I would show my feelings. I would be feeling dissapointment if I had done pretty well. I know I would be feeling this because this actually happened to me when I had my last comepetition. My friend got 2nd Place while I got a merit. Since my category was very hard, at the end, they had "Dancer of the Year" awards and I got one.