What Handwriting Did You Learn In School?

[Corona688]

D'nealian and Zaner-Bloser both look so alike I can't really be sure at this point which I learned.

[putteringpenman]

Zaner-Bloser in the 90s although we just called it cursive. I am in the process of learning the Palmer Method for enjoyment and a way to use my pens.

[nauta_atramentorum]

Palmer Method, 1952, Kansas City Public Schools.

The "example" letter placards lined every classroom above the blackboards...

 

I have nice handwriting, but Man-O-Manischewitz -- do I aspire to the example below!!!

 

 

I received instruction in cursive writing in 1961 while in the 5th Grade of Elementary School. A workbook was used and the method was
The Palmer Method. I remember practicing pages of ascending and descending loops and counter-clockwise circles, always with the paper at a slight tilt.

Fifty years later, I have never strayed far from the basics I was taught. Without special attention, extra effort or concentration this is my penmanship.

Pen used an Esterbrook J with #9668 nib. Ink FPN Van Gogh Starry Night. Written on a legal tablet from Staples.

[MHBru]

i suspect what was taught in my 3rd grade was Palmer... however the question was what did I learn... apparently not much... my handwriting has devolved over the years into a mostly printed scrawl. Over the past couple of years I've made a concerted effort to improve it though.

[pen_master]

D'Nealian for sure. However, my handwriting has evolved over the years to a hybrid of what, I cannot say. All I know, it looks better than when I was in grade school. I have my old school books. Maybe I will scan them in for you all to see.

Edited July 14, 2018 by pen_master

[aih]

I'd love to see some samples of what style of handwriting people were taught in grade school.

 

I was taught Zaner-Bloser Simplified in the late 60s. It looks like this:

ZB Simplified.jpg

 

What did you learn? Non-Roman based writing systems welcome.

 

I really have no idea. All I can say is I was taught in Central Florida in the early to mid-60's. And I was bad at it, never really trying, by high school only striving to be legible. Nowadays all that matters is that I can read my writing, and sometimes I fail at that.

[OregonJim]

Second grade was about 1965. I am guessing based on what I recall it may have been D'Nealian, but I am not sure. This would have been Jordan School District in Utah.

 

I do remember the Q that looked more like a 2.... But my F, I, T, Q no longer look like the D'Nealian samples. It seems to look more like Palmer in some ways. (my F for one) My B still looks like a Zaner Bloser though. So I am not sure, but certainly it is combination currently. I think it is a Z-B or D'Nealian though.

 

It couldn't have been D'Nealian, as that was not introduced until 1978. We were taught Zaner-Bloser (traditional, not simplified) in 1967, so it may have been that, or possibly Palmer. I don't know exactly when Z-B simplified came out, but I'm guessing early '70s...

[acornham]

I learned Zaner-Bloser in third grade around 2012. However, I really didn't learn anything, and didn't use cursive again until I entered eighth grade in 2016.

Edited August 17, 2018 by acornham

[oneill]

I first learned Russian cursive:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Russian_Cursive_Cyrillic.svg/470px-Russian_Cursive_Cyrillic.svg.png

 

together with German "lateinische Ausgangsschrift", the same as Chevalier few messages later.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/a/a5/La-ges.jpg

 

I still write with something very close to that German maybe with some letters closer to Zaner-Bloser script (r, M, N)

I think that the example is fabulous ,I have NO idea what we were taught in school in England but it

looks much like the same as we were taught, we used the Three line paper that is in your example It produced some marvellous writers.Oneill

[azbobcat]

I'd love to see some samples of what style of handwriting people were taught in grade school.

 

I was taught Zaner-Bloser Simplified in the late 60s. It looks like this:

ZB Simplified.jpg

 

What did you learn? Non-Roman based writing systems welcome.

 

I was born in 1952, and I think I started to learn in the 2nd grade or somewhere when I was between 7-8 years old -- around 1959 => 1960 so it was *Probably* ZB. Indeed Just for FUN today I went and downloaded Spencerian (?) "Copperplate", Palmer, ZB, D'Nealian, and Modern American Cursive. Part of the reason is over the years my Script has changed. Palmer, ZB, D'Nealian almost all look alike, and many letters of Modern American Cursive share characteristics with the other three. My script has some simplified elements of Spencerian Cursive that has somehow crept in there.

 

With my Parkinson's getting worse I decided to see if I could improve it somewhat, so I sat down today and started to create *MY* own Cursive Alphabet and script, which I will practice. Most of this is sort of like leaning how to ride a bike. The hard part is not "forgetting" how to write -- kind of hard given that I have used cursive writing every day since I first learned it, but rather to improve the consistency of the quality. Even if I improve my writing just a tad that would be a victory, but YES my writing seems to be a mishmash of all 5 styles, though the elements of ZB clearly show through. It is a tad more simplified than ZB, but you can clearly see a simplified Spencerian influence in it as well.

[azbobcat]

Palmer method. Dominican nuns with their red faces framed by tight wimples and wielding brass edged wooden ruilers as they patrolled the aisles and attempted to slip the pen from your hand. That was the test, a death grip on one's pen was answered with a swift and gently firm rap across the knuckles with the ruler. Never the brass edge though, that was just for intimidation. The pens were clear plastic Sheaffers with chrome caps and cartridges of washable blue lest we ruin the white shirts of out school uniforms.

 

I've gotten over the aversion I had developed to Sheaffer pens but not quite the aversion to light blue inks. I still loathe the look of the Palmer method which to me seems ugly and childish–my script has morphed into some hybrid of styles and is still developing, I also reverted to writing left handed over time as I was strongly encouraged towards writing with my wrong hand by the nuns, and that was reinforced by the poor ergonomics of the school desks which were designed solely for the convenience of the right handers of this world.

Another one I see. Spot on description. And do I remember Sheaffers. God how I HATED them -- those suckers LEAKED. Then someone gave be a Parker 45 Arrow as a birthday present. To this day I REFUSE to look at any pen that cost less than $30. When my Parker 45 was stolen I finally broken down and bought a NEW pen in 1996. The Parker 45 was no more and I was introduced to the Waterman Laurate. Twenty-two years later I broke down and bought another NEW Fountain Pen -- this one a Conklin Duragraph with a 1.1 mm stub nib. This is by far the smoooothest pen I have ever used but am having a bit of a time getting to learn how to use a stub. My Parkinson's tremors can really complicate working with a stub.

[morethanjustacat]

We were never taught cursive (the Chinese curriculum demands highly legible, rigidly-formed print), but the first cursive alphabet I was exposed to was a French one, though I can't seem to find the exact style online.. Anyway, here's how I used to write in middle school if that demonstrates the style I emulated (sorry for the low quality pic). My handwriting is very different now though, as I've amalgamated various other styles of cursive into my personal hand.

[kealani]

Parochial School Palmer . . . a hybrid of Palmer script.

 

Though my script today has evolved/devolved into something else.

[Arkanabar]

The nuns at St. Benedict's taught old-school Zaner-Bloser, back when Disco was King. I distinctly remember how I hated the little loops on the capitols, and copied the Palmer Method flags like my Mom and Dad used. I also copied how Dad modified that top loop of the D, taking it all the way down to the base line for joining together with the next letter.

My actual handwriting style has nearly always been Cramped Inconsistent Awful. I need to do some intentional practice.

Edited February 16, 2019 by Arkanabar

[kl005]

I started out with print writing, as I'm sure most kids do. Then, we learnt cursive at about 10 years old, and I started to assimilate it into my handwriting. Spent a few years experimenting with different letter forms, and I think my handwriting stabilized when I was about 15 or 16, and it has remained the same for the past 15 years. I doubt that there's a named style for my handwriting; I consider it my own "font". The words I'd use to describe it are "cursive" and "messy". Oddly enough, my letter forms aren't always consistent, but I think that it's a unique feature rather than a point to improve on.