PointScribe's Back to School Sale: $100 Off Every License, Any Quantity

The title pretty much says it all...

Here's how to take advantage:  

Simply send us your PO marked "Back to School Sale" reflecting unit pricing of $395 per license on or before September 30, 2011.

FAX:  719-685-7885

eMail:  sales@pointscribe.com

US Mail:  3595 East Fountain Blvd. #E2 Colorado Springs, CO 80910

Questions?  866-566-7819 x3

  

Measurable Handwriting Data

I spent some time exploring some of the special interest groups in the area of early elementary education in LinkedIn over the weekend. Who knew there were so many specific niche areas of interest? (Well, okay, the people in those groups, but...)

I was particularly interested in a group called "Edubloggers" and a post there:  Being Responsible means Evaluating the Effect of Technology in the Classroom. 

This article really made me think about measurable data. I've been working with PointScribe now for a while. I can recite (and probably do) our marketing messages and product benefits in my sleep. But this article gave me a new understanding of one of them:  measurable data. 

We are now at a point where the evaluation of technology-based instruction should be mandatory when introducing it into a classroom. To date, this kind of practical work has been limited – especially when it comes to the younger grades. I am at a loss when trying to think of any other field where we introduce new tools without rigorous empirical consideration on their effect. So why would it be acceptable in the only field that directly and indirectly affects each and every member of society – education?

The author of the article calls for accountability and evidence based evaluation. I never realized what teachers of handwriting had to do before technologies like ours to measure not only student progress, but the effectiveness of their teaching methods... in a classroom of say, 25 kids, that's 25 times 26 uppercase letters, 26 lowercase letter and ten numbers to keep track of:  1,550 shapes to monitor, assess and measure. 

Wow. I have new appreciation for the product I've been in love with for three years! 

Teach Handwriting with PointScribe for 6 Months in your District

As the school year begins, I am going to get up on my soap box and use this blog space as marketing space. Not something I plan to do often, however, our company, PointScribe,  has just  launched an incredible new promotion and I'm working hard to get the word out: your district can now have PointScribe to teach handwriting with for 6 months, no strings attached!  

As I now have enough statistics to know that people are actually reading our blog, I am going to use it today to shout from the rooftop a little bit.

If you've been to our website, you already know that we have 30-day free trials available for download. Our experience shows that 30-days is more than enough for people to determine if PointScribe is a fit for the students and classroom. In truth, 30 minutes typically  does the trick...

That said, we are aware that every school and district does things differently and some require more evaluation, more data, more red tape and more hoops to jump through. For those organizations we  have created our 6-month Pilot Program.

The 6-month Pilot Program isn't for everyone. It is an opportunity designed for implementation at the district level, under the guidance of curriculum directors for GenEd and SpEd student populations.  We work with your district to strategically place licenses in both environments simultaneously for all those involved in the decision making and procurement process to monitor over a 6-month period.

PointScribe is fast becoming recognized as the most advanced, intelligent, and effective way to teach handwriting.  Years of development have positioned PointScribe light years ahead of other programs. Click here for a list of schools that have already made PointScribe a part of their curriculum.

PointScribe will make a difference to your students, teachers, and district. Be the hero and share this information with the appropriate individuals in your district, and suggest that they watch our video on the Evolution of Handwriting Education. 


Everyone wins. Our software gains exposure.  Your students enjoy learning while improving their handwriting proficiency and early literacy skills.  We simply want you to try it-- No strings attached.

Interested?  Click here for more information, or dash me an email. 

Handwriting Unlocks and Unblocks

I recently joined an Elementary Education group in LinkedIn and was absolutely delighted to see a posting on the relevance of handwriting to brain development, fine motor skills and other essential components to growth in young children. The posting, by Rhonda Cratty capsulizes recent research on the topic and netted an enthusiastic reaction from readers. I was heartened to hear that educators are resoundingly passionate about the role of handwriting in education.

I've posted research findings previously in this blog. Today, the anecdotal side of things. 

In my travels to conferences, in emails and calls, I am fortunate to be on the receiving end of so many stories of how the act of learning to hand write has reached a child that was previously deemed shut down or uncommunicative.

(And yeah, I'll blow our horn here, I am honored to be on the receiving end of these stories because of my work sharing PointScribe with the world).  PointScribe is designed for use in both GenEd and SpED, but it's those children who face learning challenges and for whom handwriting does not come naturally or easily that come to mind today. )

For the children I hear about, the act of forming letters successfully in a positive, engaging way has tapped into something deep inside and opened them up to learning letters and more.  For many of these children, the act of writing a few letters is never something they will take for granted. The success they experience gains momentum and spills over into other areas of their learning,  lives, and relationships.

I'll admit, I've been moved to tears on more than one occasion as a parent describes watching their child write her name for the first time or say the alphabet out loud while engrossed in writing the letters. (We caught one boy on film. Click here to view.)

Cursive may be leaving curriculum but the act of writing by hand is here to stay, especially if the educators and children I have the honor of connecting with have anything to say about it. 
 

Kudos to Massachusetts...

...and other states that are not so quick to dismiss cursive handwriting...states that actually plan to keep it around as a core standard!

With nearly all 50 states having adopted the Common Core State Standards,   I was happy to note that the State of Massachusetts actually added in their own standard for retaining instruction in basic cursive, considering it to be a foundation skill. 

From an August 14 article by Brian Benson in the MetroWest Daily News:

The Common Core State Standards, a series of curriculum guidelines adopted by 44 states, do not address handwriting. When Massachusetts adopted the Common Core last year, it amended them to ensure that fourth-graders can "write legibly by hand, using either printing or cursive handwriting," according to the state's curriculum.

School leaders said cursive writing is easier for many students than printing, improves the neatness of handwriting and is needed for writing checks and signing legal documents.

The article indicates that while schools in Massachusetts acknowledge it is challenging to teach handwriting with limited resources, they still feel it is important to retain as part of the curriculum.

Hmm... perhaps I should introduce them to PointScribe to actually lighten their load, save money, and, oh yeah:  teach handwriting!

Some Ideas Won't Wait for a Laptop or a Spreadsheet

I'm often asked about research about handwriting and research done using our product, PointScribe. All research aside, this Friday afternoon, after a crazy busy week defined by details and direction changes, I'm all about the practical side of things. I don't need documentation and data to prove to me how valuable hand written communication is, even in this day and age of technologyl

As I look at my desk---littered with checklists and brainstorming notes and voice over scripts and flow charts from a week of video editing, it's clear to me that being able to capture ideas quickly and fully in real time was my saving grace this week in terms of both productivity and creativity. And yeah, I was making a video about handwriting:  the evolution of handwriting education which was ironically inspired by notes scrawled on the back of a napkin--the kind of notes you just have to take in the moment. The kind that refuse to wait for a lap top or a spreadsheet.

In her article "The Pen & Paper: the most underrated creativity and productivity tool",  Nancy Messieh muses:

Whether it’s a mundane to-do list or the beginnings of a best-selling novel, using a pen and paper can be very satisfying, if not a little messy. The act of putting pen to paper, of making an effort, together with your inherently personal handwriting has both practical and emotional benefits.

I couldn't agree more. 

Handwriting is Healthy (and Research Says So!)

On June 15, 2011, the LA Times ran an article titled:  "The Many Healthy Perks of Good Handwriting."  Since then, my Google Alerts for topics related to "handwriting" regularly snag iterations of that same article running in syndication around the country and around the world.

Handwriting is on people's minds right now and it should be.

The article, by Julie Deardorff, discusses not the future of handwriting, but something more important: its relevance to the future in terms of developmental and literacy benefits experienced by young students as they learn to hand write.

Benefits of learning to hand write detailed and backed by years of research by renowned exports reported in the article include:

• Handwriting can change how children learn and their brains develop.  
• Good handwriting can mean better grades.  
• Handwriting is faster.   
• Handwriting proficiency inspires confidence. 
• Handwriting engages different brain circuits than keyboarding.  

I strongly recommend you click the link above and read about the research and findings---it's concise and captivating.

The other topic my Google Alerts captures regularly is the current wave of schools removing cursive handwriting from their curriculum. While the cursive form of handwriting may no longer be a standard requirement in our schools, handwriting and written communication are not going away any time soon and Deardoff's article clearly explains why.