Mindful Writing 

- How to promote it for character copying tasks

自察型漢字抄寫 －怎麼做和為什麼

Gisela Jia

Throughout the school year, CCBG students practice character writing by "filling in the boxes". 

每個學年，我們學校的學生都會在田字格裡抄寫漢字。

The boxes are in the homework books, or in additional sheets teachers sent out, or created by parents on their own initiative. 

有的田字格出現在家庭作業本中，有的是老師單獨發出的紙張，有的是家長自行製作的。

The specific task is to model a sample character writing, with stroke order indicated, and just write the character for a specific number of times, as indicated by the number of boxes given.

具體的任務，就是模仿一個標出筆畫順序的漢字，抄寫數遍。遍數由田字格的數量決定。

This week, after sending some character sheets home (Level 2 students catching up with Level 1 writing), one parent asked - Should we fill in all the boxes? Or some of the boxes? 

這個星期，在給一些家長發出了書寫紙後 （是二級的學生追上一級的寫字），一位家長問 “是要把兩行田字格都寫滿，還是只寫一行？”

As other parents have asked this question before, a note may be helpful.

因為以前別的家長也問過這個問題，這裡寫一個統一性的回答和總結。

The correct answer, based on our experiences in closely watching students learning characters over more than a decade, may be disappointing to you. It is, this depends. Ten students can have ten different scopes to set for the task.

有關這個問題，根據我們多年對學生漢字學習軌跡的密切觀察和跟蹤，它正確的答案也許令您失望。答案是，因人而異。十名學生，可能有十种任务量适合他们。

However, we do know one practice that benefits all students. That is, Mindful Writing.

但是，我們知道，如果做到這一點，所有的學生都會受益。這就是，自察式書寫。

Mindful Writing means, a person writes, with his/her mind concentrated on the evolving process, observing and feeling the details, all with a clear goal.

自察式書寫，是指書寫者寫字的時候，全神貫注於眼前的書寫流程，觀察、感受寫出的一筆一畫，腦中時隔持有一個目標。

The goal is, to remember the shape and the stroke order of the character, and enjoy the improved fluency and compositional look of each character as the writer moves from one box to the next.

這個目標就是，記住所寫漢字的形狀和筆畫順序，從一筆一筆書寫中看到並且享受自己看到的寫字速度和字體美感的提升。

Only when such a goal is achieved, the writer is NOT doing busy work, but productive work.

如果是這樣在寫字，那寫字就不是 “忙碌無目的”的練習，而是一個有效力的練習。

Different writers need different conditions to achieve such a goal. Why? They are very different.

不同的書寫者，达到这个目标所需条件不同。为什么？书写者个人情况有差异。

Some are weak in fine motor control of the pen (it can be due to age, gender, physical conditions), or weak in visual memory, or weak in the combination of these two.  Some are strong in both. Some are in between. 

有的人小肌肉控制能力弱（和年龄、性别、身体状况有关），有的视觉记忆弱，有的两方面都弱，有的两方面都强，有的一强一弱。

As a result, child A can write 30 times of the same character, in a mindful manner. Child B can write, at the most, 5 times of the same character, in a mindful manner. 

因此，孩子 A 能够高度注意力集中地连写 30遍，孩子 B 最多只能这样写 5遍。

If we call this a "Mindfulness Limit", it is 30 times for child A, and 5 times for child B. 

如果我們把這個叫做 “自察極限”， 孩子 A 的極限是 30次，孩子 B 的極限則是 5次。

Therefore, it is ok for child A to fill in 30 boxes in one sitting. It also doesn't hurt to have him/her break it down to different sittings.

因此，孩子 A 一口氣寫 一個字寫30次是可以的。

But it is very likely a waste of time to have Child B do the same thing. Instead, breaking down the task to as many sittings as doable for the child is only helpful.

孩子 B 一口氣寫 30次則是浪費了大部分的時間。這個孩子把這些字分成幾次寫是會受益的。

How do we know what is a child's "Mindfulness Limit"? 

我們如何知道一個孩子是否達到了 “自察極限”？

I trust family members know the best. You know how to watch your child's facial expressions, body language, speech utterances, as well as, the "products" of their work - the looks of the characters, to know when the "Mindfulness Limit" is reached. It takes the same skills and experiences used to gauge children's other behaviors.

我相信家庭成員最清楚。你們知道如何觀察孩子的面部表情、身體語言、所說言語、觀察寫出來的字跡，從中判斷孩子是否達到了 “自察極限”。

Of course, like anything else, the limit can be stretched. Paying positive attention to the "writing child", such as commenting on the characters, praising the child's focused behavior,  enabling the child to write in a quiet but relaxing setting, can all stretch the limit. Stretch the limit, not break the limit.

當然，像所有的事情一樣，極限是可以被挑戰的。孩子書寫的時候，給予他們正面的關注，比如表揚他們的專注行為、認真態度、優秀字體等，都是在幫助孩子拓展極限點。挑戰並拓展，不要毀壞極限點。

Also, you can explicitly tell your child what is "Mindful Writing", and get him/her to self-monitor the process. This will turn Chinese character writing into an executive function exercise. 

你也可以明確告訴孩子，什麼是自察式寫字，教他們去自我監督。這就讓這項漢字書寫任務變成了一個執行功能訓練任務。

Yesterday morning, I taught a 6-grader Kellie who is in our Level 2.  In her Unit 28 homework, characters such as 多，少，住 needed to be copied for about 10 times. Seeing that most of the characters were sloppy, I asked her why. She said "I have so much homework,  so I had just a few minutes to write these characters."

昨天早上，我較了一名六年級的我們二級的學生凱莉。在她28單元家庭做的書寫頁，需要寫 “多，少，住”等字大約10遍。我看到她寫的字大多字跡潦草，就問為什麼。她說“ 我作業太多了，只有幾分鐘寫這些字。”

I said, "If you just have a few minutes, it's more helpful just to write each character twice or three times, instead of 10 times  But whatever characters you write, they need to be the best you can do, and your mind needs to be on each stroke when you write. This is Mindful Writing and I'd like you to do it. Is that fair?"

我說：”如果你只有幾分鐘，那就每個字寫2-3遍好了，但是每個字都要寫到最好，你的心要放在一筆一畫上。這是自察式書寫，我希望妳這樣做。合理嗎？”

She nodded her head with no hesitation.  Later on, when her younger sister joined her while I'm still going through the characters, Kellie said "Helen, you also need to do Mindful Writing!" "What is it?" Helen asked. Kellie then explained it.

凱莉毫不猶豫地點點頭。後來，她的妹妹海倫來看她上課，凱莉說 “海倫，你也要做自察式書寫！” “是什麼？” 海倫文。凱莉給她做了解釋。

May your children all enjoy mindful writing, mindful practice, and mindful learning, forever.

希望你們的孩子享受自察式書寫、自察式練習、自察式學習。永永遠遠。