Handwriting, Current Events, and Leadership: Why Edify Podcast #48

In this episode of the Why Edify podcast, the importance of handwriting in education is discussed, along with integrating current events into the classroom, leadership development for educators, the need for innovation in teaching practices, and personal reflections on growth and wellbeing.

Episode Newsletter: https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/handwriting-current-events-and-leadership/

Takeaways:

• Incorporating handwriting enhances cognitive development in students.
• Balancing technology and handwriting is crucial for effective learning.
• Current events can engage students and improve critical thinking skills.
• Leaders should model vulnerability and prioritize self-care.
• Creating a supportive classroom environment fosters personal growth.
• Innovative teaching practices can enhance student engagement.
• Setting boundaries is essential for teacher wellbeing.
• Regular handwriting practice can improve student performance.
• Encouraging feedback from students promotes a growth mindset.
• Journaling is beneficial for both teachers and students.

AI Created and Edited Transcript

If you want your students to learn something new, find a way to incorporate handwriting. That's one of the topics in this week's Why Edify podcast. I'm Jeremy, and this is your weekly rundown of the Friday Five newsletter, along with a few of my weekly reflections. First, what started off as a far distant mirage has finally become a reality: Spring break

is here. And just like my students, it was sorely needed. If I had my way, all educators would get at least one month off for their spring break. You all deserve it. Now, this week's newsletter, the Friday Five, has one of my favorite features called Why Edify Wisdom.

And this week I share the reflections of Evan Dupuy. Really like that last name. He talks about authenticity and continuous learning. He's also an awesome cardio drummer. He's got a YouTube channel — he's a PE teacher — where he has these exercise physio balls, and he jams out with some cardio drumming to some popular tunes.

It's really worth checking out. And of course, like always, I'll put the link to the newsletter in the show notes so you can check that out. I've got a link to his channel in that. Now, first, our three reflection questions for this week. Number one is connected to handwriting: How are you currently balancing handwriting and technology in your classroom? What changes could you make

to better serve your students' learning needs? Second question is: Which current events topic or topics resonate the most with your students? And how could you leverage their natural interests to create more engaging learning experiences? And finally, the third question to ponder this week is, looking at the leadership qualities that will be discussed,

which area do you feel needs the most development in your practice? And what specific steps could you take this week to grow in that area? So those three questions are kind of framing this week's Friday Five. First topic is titled "By Hand." And according to KQED's MindShift, handwriting plays an important role in children's learning and cognitive development.

Even in today's digital age, when students write by hand, they develop stronger connections to letter recognition and memory, building essential language skills. Both print and cursive writing styles offer unique benefits, but the key to success is consistent practice until letter formation becomes automatic.

The physical act of writing helps students process information more deeply than typing. I have seen this in my own practice. It creates stronger neural connections through the combination of motor skills and visual learning. While technology advances, this experience of putting pen to paper remains a really powerful tool for learning and memory retention. And balancing technology and handwriting

is something that's very achievable. We have, of course, many computers in schools today, at least most of our schools do. So it's important to think about when it's best to use those computers versus writing stuff out by hand. When students are learning something new, writing it down by hand helps them remember it better. For example, taking notes with good old-fashioned pencil and paper during class

helps students learn the material more effectively than typing on the computer. But computers are great tools for researching and also writing final drafts of papers. We can help students by setting specific times for handwriting practice, like morning journal writing, and then other times for computer use, like working on group projects. We also know there are a variety of apps

that can go on iPads and other tablets where you have the digital environment but then also the ability to use tools to write by hand in those apps — kind of a best of both worlds situation. By using handwriting and technology at the right times, we can help our students get better at both skills, which helps them learn more effectively in schools. So on the elementary side of things, here are some tips:

Focus on proper posture and grip. Teach students to sit still with both feet flat on the floor and maintain good posture. Then demonstrate the correct pencil grip to prevent hand fatigue. And if you're an elementary teacher and you do that, my eighth-grade teacher self will thank you. I've got some eighth graders who every once in a while come up with some really strange

ways that they grip the pencil or pen, and I think it kind of hinders what they're able to do and definitely is not good for their hand fatigue. Also in the elementary grades, letter formation routines establish consistent letter formation patterns and use verbal cues while demonstrating each letter's creation on either a whiteboard or chart paper.

And try using multi-sensory practice. Incorporate activities like writing letters in sand, using Play-Doh, or tracing letters with fingers to reinforce proper formation. Also have some lined paper guidelines in place. Use appropriately lined paper with a clear baseline, midline, and top line to help students understand letter size and placement.

And then finally, you have to set time aside to practice. These sessions should be short, focused handwriting sessions. That's much better than longer, infrequent ones. Schedule short, focused handwriting sessions regularly rather than longer, infrequent practice periods.

Now in middle school, here are some tips to follow. First, teach efficient note-taking techniques that combine good handwriting with organized content structure. Next, focus on speed and legibility and a balance between those. Help students develop strategies to maintain legibility while increasing writing speed through timed exercises.

And then in middle school, you can kind of start to encourage them to develop their personal handwriting style that also maintains readability and consistency. I still am struggling with how to teach some of my eighth graders, especially my boys, how to shrink their words and to get them to be able to write faster while significantly increasing their legibility. If you are in my situation,

you might ask — I've asked some of these boys to come up, and I point to their notebook and say, "What did you write here?" And they're unable to read it back to me, which is not a good situation. So across all curricular areas, try to incorporate handwriting practice and do that in various classes and also provide a way for students to self-assess their progress. You could do this through providing

rubrics, checklists, and on a consistent basis have students reflect on their growth and also set goals for their handwriting.

Now, second item from this week's Friday Five is about current events and March Madness, baby! First, if you're looking for March Madness resources, I have put together something for you. It is in the newsletter. Remember, the link is in the show notes. I hope you find something you can use with your class. Bringing current events into the classroom helps students become better thinkers who understand today's world.

You can use hands-on projects, videos, websites, and class discussions to help students learn about what's happening now. It's important to make the classroom a place where students feel comfortable sharing different viewpoints, asking questions, and backing up opinions with facts. And current events have, all of a sudden in some ways, become a little controversial. But if you can introduce them and get students thinking and talking about it

while you just kind of step back and don't offer your opinions, those current events can be quite engaging. When you do this, the students can see how their schoolwork is connecting to real life. Hopefully, they start to learn to spot reliable news sources and also prepare for their role as citizens. So incorporating these current events has many benefits. They can learn to think

carefully about information by comparing different sources and viewpoints. And students can also learn about more cultures and what's happening around the world. And then, as I said earlier, I think it's very important right now that students are learning how to become informed citizens, and students can make good decisions based on what they're learning and through discussion with others so that they can tackle the challenges

of tomorrow. That's kind of a form of community service. We help students do that, then they continue to do it, and hopefully the cycle continues. So some tips: An elementary school tip would be to create a News of the Week bulletin board where students bring in appropriate stories, things that interest them. They could draw pictures about the news and write simple summaries in their own words. This helps build

basic media literacy while keeping topics accessible and engaging. A middle school idea is to implement maybe a global connection project where students follow a specific international topic like climate change, sports, or technology throughout an extended period of time and have them create digital presentations comparing how different news sources cover the same topic.

This can also be a way to help them understand potential media bias and multiple perspectives. And then the final tip is for high school: You could establish a weekly current events café, a discussion where students lead conversations about pressing issues. Students can prepare by reading from diverse news sources, fact-checking claims, and connecting events to their coursework

in history, economics, and science. This will develop critical thinking and civil discourse skills, and hopefully, it will also deepen their subject matter understanding. Current events could definitely be a gateway to improved student engagement. The third item in this past week's Friday Five is about leadership:

Developing your leadership in life and at school. Leaders who practice self-empathy create stronger, more effective organizations by fostering trust, authenticity, and psychological safety in the workplace. When leaders acknowledge their own humanity and set healthy boundaries, prioritize well-being, they establish a culture that values personal growth

and resilience. When I think about being a teacher in the school, those are definitely things that I would want the leadership to put forth. This approach enables better decision-making, promotes open communication — which I think is very important, I'm sure, in every workplace environment, especially in schools — and also empowers team members to bring their whole selves to work.

And this can drive both individual development and organizational success. So here are five ways to incorporate some of these ideas into your teaching practice. First, model vulnerability: Acknowledge limitations and mistakes openly in the classroom to create a safe space for students to take learning risks. Next, set healthy boundaries:

establish clear work-life boundaries. I know, easier said than done. And then demonstrate the importance of maintaining them for long-term effectiveness.

Practice self-care. Take your needed breaks. Attend to your emotional well-being and try to do that to maintain the energy and enthusiasm that make you a more effective teacher. Any little progress in that area pays off. Next, welcome feedback. Respond positively to student and peer feedback, showing how to grow from constructive criticism.

Even though it can be a little bit scary, sometimes just ask your students, "How am I doing? Did what I just say to you or teach you make sense? What could make this better? How would you improve this for another group coming up?" Those things sometimes are a little scary to ask, but after you do it for a few times, I think the students actually appreciate being asked. And I've gotten a lot of really good ideas from feedback.

Finally, do whatever you can to create a supportive environment. Foster a classroom culture where authenticity, psychological safety, and personal development are prioritized for both teachers and students. That last one is probably one of the most important — you've got to set the tone that in this room, in this grade, you are okay to be yourself.

We want kids to feel safe at school, and we want to show kids that we are invested in personal development and we're going to walk the talk. Powerful and good lessons for students to learn. Fourth item in this past Friday Five is a quote from Steve Jobs that goes, "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."

And I guess my thought on that would be take some time and plan one thing you want to do that maybe is a little bit scary, but something that's a twist, something that your students maybe haven't seen before, and see where that goes. Try in some way to innovate your teaching practice. And that's going to look different for any teacher. And just because another teacher may have done it,

doesn't mean it's not innovative for you. Good advice there from Steve Jobs, rest in peace. Fifth item is always a musical selection, call it the Teacher Commuter Playlist. And because it is vacation week, at least for me, I picked "Island in the Sun" by Weezer, which I am not gonna sing for you now, but you'll find a link to that in the newsletter.

A couple choose-your-own-adventure resources: First, you might want to check out Padlet's new artificial intelligence offering. I think it's called Padlet TA. I think it stands for Teacher's Assistant. They have a lot of things there that I think teachers will benefit from using. I've got a Bluesky post I found as I just recently switched over from X.

I actually hit the delete button. I was worried about it for a while because I had built up a following, but eventually it all became too much, so X for me is a thing of the past. Sorry, I miss Twitter. That's gone as well. But Bluesky moved over there and found some good connections. And one of them had some great solid book report alternatives. If you're interested in that.

And then as we get close to this week's reflections, I want to take a moment and invite you to subscribe to this channel. If you have been watching, it's on YouTube. If you're on a podcast, please take a moment to subscribe, share it, leave a comment, leave an idea for another teacher that you think would be beneficial. Say hello. I'd love to get some questions.

Just a little connection and try to build up this community here around Why Edify, and also remember to check the show notes for links to all the resources and a link to this newsletter. I do try very hard each week to find things that I think would be helpful or interesting or both to teachers. And so I hope you find that when you check it out. So here we are, final section: our weekly reflections.

First, a tough day teaching tip: Protect your peace. Turn off email notifications from school after you've left school, especially if you're on vacation. Create those boundaries that honor your well-being and personal time.

Maybe you would benefit from transforming your car into a sanctuary. Get out there, you go to the car, you're in the parking lot. Take a moment and just pause for 10 minutes of complete silence. See if you can picture the tension from the day melting away. Maybe even spend some time pondering what you're gonna do with some time that you set aside just for yourself.

I've got a quote here from Lao Tzu. It says, "Who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." That one really resonated with me simply because I realized that there are so many areas that I think I could improve in. And I find every time I do something that puts me in the right direction,

it does make me feel a little bit more powerful, a little bit like I am in more control of my life and where I'm going. We had already some encouragement to do 10 minutes of handwriting practice, but also this last one is a call for you to do some journaling on your own. Not just because handwriting is important to practice and you can fall out of practice even as an adult,

but also the simple act of journaling is really good for your health and well-being. And then I'll end today with something that I wrote down for myself earlier in the week. It just says, "One challenging day does not define your teaching journey." One challenging day does not define your teaching journey. So thank you for coming along for the ride today

on the Why Edify podcast, a little recap of the Friday Five and some of my weekly reflections. Soon I hope to share my connection with the Education Podcast Network, something new for this upcoming season. So I'll share more of that as I go. And I want to encourage you to check out my Strong Teacher School course and community, building things all into one package

where the goal of the community and the course is to help teachers become happier, healthier, and stronger, and to support each other in doing so. Thanks again for being here, and take care.

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