Let us summarize the points we have made so far.  In teaching and reinforcing good penmanship habits, keep these guidelines in mind:

1. Do not expect the students to sit in regimented feet-flat-on-the-floor positions.
Allow them to sit comfortably in their seats, but do not allow them to write with their hands too close to their papers.

2. Very often a right-handed student suddenly begins to write backhand.  Stop
that student immediately.  Insist that he or she return to the straight-up-and-down writing and refuse to accept a paper until that student does it correctly.

3. Left-handed students often write with a backhand slant.  Many times they can,
without too much effort, learn to write straight up and down.  Do not force them, however.  Encourage them to change the position of the paper on the desk, and the backhand slant will disappear.

4. If a student develops a regular slant, with every letter form slanted the same
way, do not require him or her to write straight up and down.

5. If a students is a good writer, do not try to change the writing even though his
or her letter forms are not exactly as you taught them.

6. Once in a while a student will not write slowly enough.  You will see his or her pencil going quickly and the writing done carelessly.  Encourage the
student first; then refuse to accept the papers.  Require that the student do the
paper over until he or she conforms to your directions.  When you first become aware that a student is writing too fast, stop him or her.  Do not wait until the student has gone too far and has to recopy too much.

7. At the beginning, as they write slowly, the students will hold their pencils too
tightly.  They will complain of pinched fingers.  Tell them that this will pass
quickly as they become more relaxed and sure of themselves.  Do not make an issue of it.

8. Many students hold their pencils in grotesque positions.  These students can be taught to change those positions at any grade level if a teacher is persistent in requiring the change.  The change should come in first and second grades.  In the upper grades the students' bad habits are so firmly established that you may become discouraged.  You may fail with some students unless you take the drastic step of refusing to accept their papers unless they do change the position of their pencils!

9. As the students' writing improves, post a sample of their new writing under their autobiographies.  Let the students see the contrast.  This is the beginning of the pride that will stimulate their desire for more improvement.

10. Once in a while compare your students' papers with the papers of another teacher's class.  You can learn a great deal from each other.

11. You may find that students are staying in the drawing stage longer than you had expected.  Remember, they probably are trying to undo years of bad habits.  If this is training for a lifetime, allow them to draw their letters as long as they feel they need to.

12. Be sure to make shorter written assignments while the students are in the drawing stage.  Longer assignments will encourage faster, more careless penmanship as the students strive to finish.

13. The student who has many problems in his or her schoolwork but who shows improvement in penmanship should be given generous praise.  Be sure, however, that the student is doing his or her best.

14. Do not lower your standards in any way.  One glance at a paper written in a content area will tell you what writing habits a student is acquiring.  Never allow the students to hand you papers that indicate they are "slipping back.”

15. In accepting papers, look at individual letter forms.  Do not accept papers that just "look neat".  If you see that a student has made some letters carelessly, ask him or her to circle those letters and to make them correctly directly above the letters.  This is drill with a meaning.  Expect perfect letter forms; you will not reach that goal, but it is not necessary to tolerate poor letter forms.

16. Do not hesitate to ask students to do their papers over if they submit papers that are written carelessly.

17. If a paper is written beautifully but the name and date on the paper are scribbled, refuse the paper.  If students are to form lifelong habits of good writing, everything that they write must be done well.

18. Be consistent and strict if you want excellent results from every student.

19. Give praise and more praise for improvement!

20. Try to improve your own handwriting.  Students are very quick to criticize.  Set a good example.