Handwriting is on the wall: Penmanship champ has a way with words

Kimberley McGee

Friday, June 29, 2001 | 4:10 a.m.

It's in the way she loops her letters in perfect form and how her words flow evenly across the page.

"I just like to write the words," said Shannon Sherwood, a straight-A student in Marietta Kym's fourth grade class at Warren Walker Elementary School.

Shannon has been chosen as a state champion in the National Handwriting Contest, sponsored by Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of handwriting texts for elementary schools.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl has always taken her penmanship very seriously.

"I want to be a doctor and so I hope patients can read what I write," Shannon said.

The 10-year-old said she had hoped to win the contest since the second grade.

"Every year they have the contest and they take our papers" to be selected, Shannon said, emitting a slight sigh. "Every year I wanted to win. This year I did."

She was among more than 104,000 students from around the country who participated in the contest.

The win was a welcome surprise, Shannon said, but not the ultimate goal. What she writes -- in notes to her friends, cards to her family -- and its appearance conveys a message. She wants that message to be clear.

"Whatever I do when I grow up, I want people to know what I'm writing," Shannon said. "It would be embarrassing if somebody asked, 'What's this word?' "

Shannon will compete for the title of National Grade Level Champion and Grand National Champion to be judged by Zaner-Bloser's master penman, Dr. Clinton Hackney.

Warren Walker, a private elementary school, has entered the contest for the last five years. Last year it had four state champions. This year Shannon was the lone winner.

The school emphasizes strong writing skills for comprehension, said Ron Bennett, principal of Warren Walker since 1996.

"Concentration and thought is required when writing something out," Bennett said. "It takes time and depth of thought to write and that aids comprehension."

Shannon is meticulous about her penmanship, Kym, her teacher, said.

Kym chose five students from her class who excelled in neatness, consistent slants and conformity of height in the structure of the letters.

To do this, Kym places a ruler above the lowercase letters to ensure each reaches halfway above the lines on the paper.

She uses her own handwriting as an example.

"Every once in a while one of my lowercase letters will be higher than the other (lowercase) letters, and I'll tell (students) that's the way not to do it," Kym said. "You can't be perfect, but they have to try."

An elementary school teacher for 16 years, Kym has taught in North Dakota, Minnesota and California.

She has seen the emphasis on handwriting decline, but teachers still strive for legible letters in class. It's not the conformity, but the creativity and care that good penmanship instills in students that teachers are trying to convey.

People who take pride in their handwriting tend to succeed in other areas as well, Kym said.

"Penmanship tells a lot about what one achieved in school," Kym said. "Although doctors would disagree."

Technology has de-emphasized good writing skills, Kym said -- and she's not talking about the mechanical pencil.

"In the computer age, penmanship is becoming a lost art," Kym said. "That's sad. (Writing style) reflects so much on one's life."

Georganna Harvey, national product manager for Zaner-Bloser, said the contest is a chance for students to be honored for something they do all day in class -- write.

"We wanted to reward children for good practice in handwriting and let them understand the importance of good, legible handwriting," Harvey, who judged the state competition, said. "It's a life skill."

The papers are evaluated in four key areas -- the shape of the letter, the size, the slant and the spacing.

Zaner-Bloser has made a few modifications to its cursive alphabet in the past few years.

For instance, loops in capital letters such as the cursive "M" have been removed. The capital letter "Q" has been changed to look less like the number "2" and more like a printed "Q."

"We research what isn't working in the schools," Harvey said. "It might be old-fashioned. This way a 'Q' looks like a 'Q' and the kids get it."

Zaner-Bloser began the contest in 1991 as an incentive for teachers to encourage students to strive for legible handwriting at a time when school funding was at a low. Handwriting was one of the first courses to fall victim to tight budgets.

"There definitely was not as much emphasis," Harvey said.

Handwriting will never go out of style, she said, as long as tests require students to write, and therefore to think.

"Realistically, in the schools we won't lose handwriting," Harvey said. "It's a good part of the day where children have to communicate through their writing."

Writing is a way for schoolchildren to express their own style, she said.

"It's a little bit of ourselves," Harvey said. "It's a part of who we are."