Essay Week 4: Memories of Writing

I distinctly remember learning to write the alphabet, which for me began super early (pre-school and pre-K) but hit really hard in the beginning of first grade. I was a very eager student and I always liked school as a child…until my first grade teacher began trying to correct my ‘writing posture’ which was essentially the way I held my pencil. I understand that some ways of holding a pencil may be more comfortable than others, but I still to this day don’t believe that one way of holding a pencil can be more correct than another.

Regardless, I was told that I held my pencil wrong. I gripped my pencil super low and rested my pencil on the side of my ring finger nail, which I guess is a no-no. My teacher tried and tried to break me of this habit, but I wasn’t having it. My way of holding a pencil worked for me and felt most natural to me. However, my teacher didn’t give up. She made me use these special training pencil grips, like the ones pictured below.

I hated those pencil grips! For a while, I stopped doing my writing at school because I refused to use them. I would take almost all of my schoolwork home where I could do it comfortably with my grip-less, naked pencil. I’m sure nobody has excellent penmanship in first grade, but these pencil grips totally destroyed my penmanship. My writing was almost illegible because I couldn’t control the flow of my handwriting in this mandated position.

Long story short, my teacher was fighting a loosing battle. For a while, I struggled through her insisting that I use the grips, but I think she eventually caved. It’s possible that this could have gone on for the entire year of first grade, but I never changed my ways.

Almost fifteen years later, I still hold my writing utensils ‘incorrectly’. I do have a small bone spur on my right hand ring finger, so I guess I’ve paid a price for my stubbornness, but I wouldn’t change anything. This is how I’ve written 

from the moment I started writing, and I’m sure this is how I’ll write forever.

(Pencil training grips, Amazon.com)