Studies find many elementary school teachers have had little-to-no preparation in how to effectively teach handwriting, and a University of Iowa special education professor has developed a free tool to help teachers everywhere teach cursive.
Professor Shawn Datchuk is director of the UI-based Iowa Reading Research Center and developed what’s called CLIFTER, the Curriculum-Based Letter Instruction for Fluency and Efficiency with Repetition.
“It has an e-learning module, and that’s on-demand, evidence-based descriptions on what are effective ways of teaching cursive handwriting,” Datchuk says. “And then the second pillar would be an actual free online application that educators can log on, click what letters they’re interested in teaching, and there’s video models that teachers can present on screen.” There are also worksheets that can be downloaded and customized for any curriculum.
Datchuk is introducing CLIFTER this week as the center hosts the annual Science of Reading Summit in Cedar Rapids…