Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libya's interim leadership gave residents in the pro-Gadhafi stronghold of Bani Walid a 48-hour notice to leave the city as it sent reinforcements there and to the former regime's other remaining strongholds at Sirte and Sabha. As the National Transitional Council sought to assert control over all its territory, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, arrived in Tripoli Wednesday to meet with Libya's new leaders.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s the emphasis on cursive handwriting today that there was when I was in school,” said Lisa Donohoe, Shelby’s mom.
“We do have a curriculum for cursive handwriting as part of our SLEs (Student Learning Expectations),” said Mary Ellen Maske, executive administrator for elementary education for the Cedar Rapids school district.The district uses the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting curriculum, which introduces cursive handwriting in third grade, and practice in fourth and fifth grades.The goal is 10 to 15 minutes of cursive handwriting instruction each day
Iowa is among 42 states and the District of Columbia, to have adopted the Common Core State Standards for English, which omits cursive handwriting from the required curriculum.
A 2009 study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington, D.C., cites cursive as important for cognitive development because it “requires fluid movement, eye-hand coordination and fine motor skill development.
Aren't there better ways to develop eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills? Note taking? Seriously?
“We tell our students ‘We’re teaching you this style, but as you get older, you’ll develop your own style,’” said Thea Thies, a fourth-grade teacher at East Elementary School in Waukon. “That’s the fun part.”
Thies said she cites historical documents and handwriting analysis as examples of cursive handwriting in effort to increase her students’ enthusiasm of the subject.