Why Do We Write?

by Tricia Siudut Allen

Why do we write? Now, with our smartphones so handy maybe not as much as we used to. Perhaps to remember what we need at the grocery store, jot down a “to-do” list, or to share events with family on a wall calendar. I still love to write letters and “thank you” notes as I know many of our parents here at CFMS also do. To me there is a greater intimacy to be achieved by putting pen to paper, though that is not to say I am not grateful for the convenience of email!  

Even though most of us do not often hand-write the way past generations did I imagine we can all agree that the ability to write is one that we dearly want to pass on to our children. Dexterity and strength of the hand developed during writing exercises carries over into other mechanical endeavors. When we sit and write we clarify our thoughts to a finer point, we can reach lofty goals of literary portrayal, poetry and expression, and often feel satisfied that the exercise has made our thoughts and feelings understood to a greater degree.

Recently writing has been exploding in our classroom! Many of the children have been excited to write their names, numbers, lists of favorite things, and postcards to family members. The development of Language in the Montessori classroom is a fluid process that runs from Spoken, to Written, to Reading with many materials and achievement goals in between. The children tend to follow a path of what is specifically relevant to them and that guides their timeline through the Language area.

Naturally very young children are interested in themselves- so their own name is one of the first words they write with the alphabet that they move around on a rug, the Movable Alphabet. When their hand is strong enough to physically write they will use chalk to first write their numbers 0-9. Numbers are mostly easier to write than letters. Once the child is confident they practice writing isolated cursive letters over and over again, where they trace the Sandpaper letter and write, trace and write, trace and write until the board is covered with individual cursive letters. Next they write groups of letters that are organized by initial stroke in cursive (a, d, g, and q are together because they start on the line- go half-way up, and then follow the same curved line down again, for example). Noticing the height of letters is a lesson as well, and then connecting cursive letters into words. Because they learn the symbols by touching them with their fingers as they trace motor memory helps them to remember not only visually but gesturally how to create that letter or number.

The process of teaching children all 26 cursive letters of the alphabet, 3-letters at a time in one-on-one lessons as the Montessori Method prescribes can feel a bit daunting at times. When I feel daunted I remind myself that I am lucky not to be teaching Chinese where there are at least 20,000 characters, or Khmer (Cambodian) where there are 74 letters! Additionally the children themselves are sure to motivate with the way that they spread interest among themselves. When one person achieves a beautifully written word on the chalkboard their peers come over to observe and exclaim and then they want to try themselves. Effort snowballs and builds on itself as the children strive from day to day at their own pace.