Printing Legibility

Generally speaking, printing that can be read is considered legible. It can be broken down into three skills: printing on the baseline, letter size, and spacing between words. Please note that legibility does not account for spelling or grammatical errors which can make text difficult to read.

Background information on skill development

•Practice is important! When we first learn a new skill, we have to pay careful attention when executing this in order to be successful with that skill. We have to practice that skill many times, before it will start to feel familiar. Eventually with lots of practice, a pattern will develop in the brain and this skill will become more and more firmly established in our memories. It isn’t until after lots of repetition that it becomes automatic.

'How to' Practice

When a legibility skill is taught, have the students focus on that skill for a week or two (or longer if they need).

• In the beginning (when they require lots of teacher support), pick one or two printing activities you do regularly (i.e. journal , agenda, spelling, etc.) and have them practice that particular skill (i.e. “printing on the baseline”) during that task. Provide encouragement, reminders, and support as much as needed.

• As they start to improve with that skill (i.e. they require less support), increase the expectation for them to show that skill in other written work.

• Encourage practice of the same skill at home.

• Once they become good at the first skill, then introduce another legibility skill (i.e. letter sizing or spacing between words). Remember for the newest skill you will go through the same steps of practice as you did with the first skill.

Self-Evaluation/ Monitoring

Have the students check their work for legibility mistakes. Part of being able to improve at something is by learning from mistakes.

• Editing is a two step process; the student needs to be able to identify their errors and they need to be able to fix them. If they are not able to identify their mistakes, then they may not understand the content/skill. The skill of editing has to be taught. Teachers/parents, you will have to start by helping the students check over their work, but it shouldn’t take long for them to be able to point out mistakes.

How to Make Editing Fun!

Try using a checklist to remind students of what they are expected to do. This can be taped to their desk, placed in one of their writing books, or it can be stored in their pencil case. Make sure to draw their attention to the checklist (pull it out if it is tucked away) before starting a writing activity.

• At the bottom corner of a page, draw a circle. Once a student has finished editing their work, have them count the number of letters that were legible according to the legibility skill you are focusing on, then print the number in the circle. For example, count ‘sticky letters’ or all the ‘fishing’ letters that were printed the right size, or all the ‘finger spaces’ between words.