While writers may not feel it right away, something happens in the brain when you put pen to paper. Research studies have shown that writing by hand enhances electrical activity in the brain, memory, and the ability to learn. PW spoke with three educators who are integrating handwriting activities to boost their readers’ penmanship and literacy skills—and discovered a few surprises along the way.
Stephanie Fazenbaker, the assistant branch manager and adult reference librarian at the Ponte Vedra Library in Ponte Vedra, Fla, had an idea for incorporating handwriting into a Valentine’s Day display this year. But hers wouldn’t be just any old Heart Day display.
“I thought people could tell us why they love their library,” Fazenbaker said. Setting the mood for public displays of affection, Fazenbaker cut multi-color construction paper hearts and placed them in the children’s department for her young readers and their parents. She also placed a display with a decorated box near the reference desk for adult readers to compose a handwritten love letter to their library, librarians, and library workers. In addition, she took several handfuls of her hearts to different programs held throughout her library for patrons who might not see them, and would otherwise miss out on the literacy love fest.
Fazenbaker was smitten with the handwritten nature of the love letters. “It made them far more personal than if they had been typed,” she said. “There were readers who drew pictures and hearts and wrote in different styles of handwriting.”
While some kids who were emerging readers and writers used phonetic spelling, and others who were much younger dictated their sentiments to their parents or drew simple illustrations, they all took part in a shared literacy experience. “I liked how the letters and display allowed us to incorporate writing and handwriting into an activity,” Fazenbaker said. “This tied nicely into our focus of reading and literacy at the library and gave our readers a chance to share their often unspoken love of their library and librarians.” It wasn’t lost on her that it was a perfect time to do this with libraries and librarians dealing with book banning, jobs in jeopardy, and loss of funding, among other obstacles. But she was pleasantly surprised by the group of readers who completed a majority of the hearts.
“Many of the hearts came from teens who often attend programs but don’t always say anything about them aloud,” Fazenbaker said. “The handwritten hearts allowed them to anonymously share what they liked—and why they keep coming back. You really never know what’s going to touch a reader’s heart!”
The many different responses also moved many of her fellow librarians. As Fazenbaker took her “Love Your Library” display down to make room for the March display, she carefully gathered the hearts that called out particular librarians, library workers and/or programs, and hand-delivered the hearts to them.
“A number of the hearts mentioned our Friends of the Library, who are very supportive of what we do,” she said. “It was nice to acknowledge them!” One heart mentioned Fazenbaker, too. “It was from a student in my sister’s fourth-grade class who often comes to visit me to talk about books,” she said. “The heart read, ‘What I love about the library… is seeing Miss Stephanie.’”
Fazenbaker hung it above her desk and smiles every time she sees it. “Sure, it’s nice to know that what you do matters, but it’s nice to be reminded of that by someone, too!”
Every time Jay McCue, a librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia (Welsh Road Branch) receives an envelope from a faraway pen pal, he feels the joy of a handwritten letter. It’s one of the reasons he holds a weekly Wednesday Writing program, focused on polishing one’s handwriting skills, and creating human connections.
“We use the space that we ordinarily have for patrons,” McCue said. “The supplies I have for the writers include pens, stationery, envelopes, stamps, and things of that nature; and I invite patrons as they pass by to journal or do whatever they want.”
McCue wants to increase writing and handwriting in the kids and families who attend the Wednesday afternoon program after homework help or checking out some books, and before heading home for dinner. As part of the program, he regularly introduces his patrons to the many benefits of writing to people who could use notes to lift their spirits.
One of the organizations that McCue uses to find pen pals is PenPalWorld.com, where he has personally connected with those who like to exchange handwritten letters and life stories. The other is an organization called The World Needs More Love Letters. “It’s where people share stories of loved ones in need of thoughtful love letters,” McCue said. He makes sure to tell his writers that these letters can take many forms, including notes of encouragement, courage, and camaraderie in a world that is suffering from a loneliness epidemic.
“I have been pretty much an introvert for most of my life,” McCue said, “and having these pen pals has made me develop more social skills. They have also enriched my life enormously.”
He explains to the program’s participants how connecting with others through writing helps him and how it might do the same for patrons with a variety of needs. “I know for myself that my brain often goes faster than I like it to. Sometimes, I might be mush-mouthed or my speech is garbled, so I like the idea of communicating through writing, where I can review it first before I send it,” McCue said.
Through his pen pal experience, he has received handwritten letters that he described as “things of beauty,” including invitations to meet friends from across the country. Since the library writing program is relatively new, his kids are starting by hand-writing notes for family members and friends, and exploring the possibilities of pen pals. He’s eager to see where their writing experiences take them.
“Together, we are discovering that there is something magical about letter writing,” McCue said. “I have benefited greatly from it, and I’m hopeful that my patrons will, too.” When they are ready for pen pals, he will ensure that they practice safe pen pal habits. These include only writing to pen pals in their age range and using the library address to correspond if they are not with parents or caregivers. Kids accompanied by their adults can use their addresses or the library’s if so desired.
Looking ahead, McCue is planning to expand the program to introduce more kids, adults, and families to the transformative power of writing letters. “Letter writing may be a lost art form for some,” McCue said, “but it is coming back… and it’s a wonderful thing.”
Lacresha Berry is a singer/actor and poet, a former veteran ELA teacher turned part-time teacher, and a current education specialist/program coordinator at the Lower Eastside Girls Club in lower Manhattan, where she models the power of pen, paper, and poetry. Berry chose teaching poetry to get her literacy program at the club up and running. “Poetry brings out so much in young people that I’ve kept on doing it,” she said. “It has been magical.”
She offers her young poets two lanes to choose from. One is called Aspiring Authors, where they can write and share poetry. The other is the Page to the Stage route, where her students write and perform their poems in front of an audience in an open mic program.
Inspired by the writing workshop style of teaching she used in her past ELA classes, Berry first surrounds her young poets with the works of classic and contemporary poets, as well as hip-hop and rap artists. Next, she invites them to copy and rewrite their favorite poems to get a feel for the structure and the texture of poetry. Then, she mixes in games and various activities including having the poets stand in a circle riffing, freestyling, improvising, and building off of each other. “This is the way we synergize and make meaning of the environment around us.”
Soon after, it’s time to get down to the business of writing their own poetry. “Unlike typing, writing with pen and paper focuses your attention on what you want to say—and what you need to take out,” Berry said. “Looking at your own handwriting forces you to examine who you are, what you want to say, and the stories you want to tell. You can see everything on the page in front of you. You can say, ‘Wow, did I say that? What was I thinking here?’ ”
Berry believes it’s the magic that happens when pencils (or pens) move across the page, along with the new neural pathways that are created while doing this, that fuels her poets’ impassioned approach to their writing. “It’s almost like there is fire in their brains, and they have to get it out!” she said.
One way Barry helps her poets generate ideas is through creating lists. She may start by asking them to list their top five artists on their playlists or their top five ice cream flavors, and then ask them to give their reasons, all the while using their five senses to describe them. Recently, she asked them to list 10, five, three, and then one thing that they can’t live without. “By the time they get to one, they have pages and pages of things to say because it’s the most important thing,” she said. “And no one can say, ‘I don’t have anything to write about!’ ”
After all of the listing, riffing, and reading, the next step is often writing a list poem or whatever they choose. The result? “The poems become much more sophisticated with more details and specifics.”
She finds that her poets’ collective work using repetition, poetic devices, hyperbole, and personification keeps the poetry growing and changing, and her poets trusting the process—and themselves. “Writing with pen and paper has allowed my kids to create more creative, connected, and authentic poems,” Berry said.
And she’ll be there to champion her girls as they continue to develop as young poets and women. “I want to be the adult who says, ‘You are a work in progress, and you’ll continue to grow and to learn more about yourself as you get older,’ ” Berry said. “That’s how the Page to the Stage program works, too. You have a first draft, a second draft, a third draft, and you keep refining because you keep learning new things. I want to be the adult who says, ‘Be free: there is liberation in your pen.’ ”
