We're old school - we ask that our students write with pencils on paper and discourage them from using iPads or laptops.
There's a reason behind our request: writing on paper exercises a different part of our brains.
In a Wall Street Journal article, Gwendolyn Bounds cites research supporting this fact. It turns out that forming letters by hand enhances overall learning, idea comprehension and expression. The hand has a special relationship to the brain so when forming the shapes that create letters it is "working harder" and creating more neural connections than when selecting a button with a character on it. In addition, our handwriting becomes part of who we are - think of how we feel when we come upon a letter handwritten written by a favorite grandmother, an old family recipe written on an index card, or a page from a diary.
So, at "Take My Word For It!" we're not only cheerleaders for the art of creative writing, we're big believers in the importance of using handwriting to compose it.
Here's to paper and pencil!