Old-school skills still worth cultivating

Here are a few other old-school skills that are still worth cultivating:

• Handwriting. Research shows that forming letters by hand, as opposed to typing them into a computer, not only helps young children develop their fine motor skills but also improves their ability to recognize letters — a capacity that, in turn, predicts reading ability at age five. But many schools are now emphasizing typing over writing. Last year, for example, the Indiana Department of Education announced that the state’s public schools no longer had teach cursive writing, and should ensure that students were “proficient in keyboard use” instead.
  
• Argumentation. In a public sphere filled with vehemently expressed opinion, the ability to make a reasoned argument is more important than ever. Educational research on argumentation demonstrates that it helps students learn better, too. A study published in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching in 2010, for example, foundthat tenthgraders who were taught how to construct an argument as part of their lessons on genetics not only had better arguments but also demonstrated a better understanding of the material.
  
• Reading aloud. Many studies have shown that when students are read to frequently by a teacher, their vocabulary and their grasp of syntax and sentence structure improves. Educator Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion and co-author of the new book Practice Perfect, explains why: “Children who are read to become familiar with the sound and rhythm and complexity of language long before they can produce it themselves. By virtue of being exposed to a wide variety of writing types and styles, they come to understand that the use of language involves intentional choices made by the author, and is representative of the author’s time and place.”

Stories are especially powerful when narrated by a good reader, says Lemov — “someone who brings the story to life, models expressive reading and shows kids what a book ‘sounds like’ in the voice of someone who reads with passion.” But reading aloud, he adds, is a “dying art.” Maybe we adults should brush up on our old-school skills, too.

TIME.com