It was just brought to our attention (my peer teachers and I) that we will be piloting Handwriting Without Tears for our district. We currently implement D'Nelian handwriting to transition students to cursive writing. It was decided by principals that the 3 Kindergarten teachers at my building, along with 4 Kindergarten teachers at another building in our district will use Handwriting Without Tears for the 2013-14 school year with our classes and decide for our whole district if all 4 elementary buildings will make the switch. I am having mixed feelings. Part of it is the comfort level of finally being able to teach students the tips and tricks of D'Nelian writing that I have learned over 6 years in my own classroom, so I will have to exit that zone and have an open mind to learn something new for this coming year. I have had very little experience with Handwriting Without Tears, except I know that a few years ago my coteacher in Special Education used it with the students we shared because from my understanding it was originally designed by an Occupational Therapist to help students with motor skills. We will have training on using it with our classes, but know nothing other than that. I am someone who likes things already in place before I start my school year, otherwise I feel very disorganized (which is important to have structure with Kindergarten), and it appears we will not have training until after the school year begins. I know that there are certain sticks we will use to help with formation of letters, but will only have enough to use with about 4 students at a time and will not have any workbooks that students will use. I am nervous to pilot something when it seems that we will not have the resources we need to fully implement with 100% of the program. I guess only time will tell. Until then I found this great website that I think should help me research it a little better this summer: http://www.hwtears.com/hwt.
Our preschool and kindergarten classrooms use HWT. They really like it. I also have a little experience using HWT when I was student teaching in a preschool classroom in another district. I loved teaching it! We had fun songs that we would sing to help students. I think once you get started, you will enjoy it. However, I do see your frustration in not having training prior to the school year starting. Best wishes on your new adventure with HWT.
ReplyDeleteOur classroom uses Handwriting Without Tears as a component to our handwriting instruction. My students all love it and I think once you “dive” into it, you’ll enjoy it as well. I did not receive training prior to implementing it, but more or less fumbled through it and eventually got the hang of it. If you have questions as you begin using it in the fall, please let me know. I would be more than willing to share what I know about it, as I know it can be frustrating at times to pilot something new.
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