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The Death of Cursive and the Repercussions
According to an article by Christopher Bergland in Psychology Today, “accumulating evidence suggests that not learning cursive handwriting may hinder the brain’s optimum potential to learn and remember.” Thank you for validating what we educators have been saying for years: students remember material better when they take longhand notes rather than type into a computer. I’ve preached it. If you had a me as a professor, you know that I’ve shared these findings with you. Mind you, I’m not discounting the importance and relevance of digital devices, I’m merely focused on retention of information via handwritten notes. In study after study, the results are in: there is a direct correlation…
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There’s Something You Should Do During Quarantine and Social Distancing
Prologue You don’t have to listen to me. But it may serve you well if you do. More importantly, it may serve someone else well. And so, let me share with you something that has the potential to be one of the best choices you’ve made during this pandemic. In This Time of Self-Quarantine and Social Distancing… I’m a teacher. I’m a writing professor. I teach people about writing. I’m also a professor of communication, and I just finished instructing two courses in interpersonal communication. We dissected theories and concepts, nonverbal and verbal communication, work relationships, friendships, and love relationships, self-disclosure, reciprocity, and so many other things about relationships. In…
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Instructions for Writing a Love Letter: Taking the Love Letter Oath
In one of my previous blog posts entitled Nostalgia I wrote about having a box of memories—a collection of the things we don’t want to forget—and what exactly it is we put in those boxes. I admitted to throwing away many old letters, especially love letters that I’d received when letter writing was still vogue and electronics weren’t even in existence. It makes me mourn the longhand form of letter writing. I miss the feel of the pen running across the page, the ink adhering to attractive stationery that reflects the sentiment at hand as the letter comes to life. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a love…
