promised Stenophile to go through English Gregg books for general vs gregg advice i suggest title, etc; descr of what the book does; usefulness if don’t write gregg; understandability if don’t write gregg

dull and uninteresting quote, not in: course of study, gregg anni, 1939 edn

add Fast Dictation to the rotations?

separate speed recs from building methods. Keep the building methods short.

I’ve decided the paper needs splitting. I’m not yet sure how to do it. Maybe 3 parts: Course (for those who just want to be told what to do and when, don’t even worry much about “teachers vary, this is a middle ground”.) Details (so the course can be a checklist; move the paragraphs describing Leslie’s One Minute plan to details). Interesting (all the other stuff).

Maybe use 1st, 2nd, dictation? Or 1st few? first few are learning the tools.

write different sizes, immobilize joints, change pen hold – get all the joints involved.

https://archive.org/details/penmanshandbookf00gask/page/n7/mode/2up p29 fig 11 p161, fig 9 contraptions to enforce proper grip

for course: spreadsheet? passage, length, method, speeds, first encounter, prep experiment, repeat method, experiment with

decision tree? Cricket’s Dice method ? roll 1d6 for each choice?

ss was known about motor skills than is known today.

  1. Strive for Even, Rhythmic Writing. Most of those who used that expression meant to convey the idea of smooth, even, gliding motion. “Gliding” used to be a favorite word in the penmanship class, and it expressed rather well the idea that the teacher sometimes demonstrated on the blackboard. Unfortunately, that smooth, even, gliding motion is not a good motion for writing shorthand. SHORTHAND PENMANSHIP 139

table of contents for theory stages and practice methods

include 1 sentence summary

How to Teach Shorthand

How to Learn Shorthand

Swem’s …

Swem was …

link to full text

Swem recommends his method when you can legibly write at 80wpm for 5 minutes. You can start it sooner with some modifications. I recommend alternating this method with Leslie’s

You will have to modify S

Use the rotation method described under Speed Building

p60, dictation, gradual introduction

p64 ore difficult and the dictations may be longer until finally, at the end of 120 to 140 periods, 60 minute period most of the pupils in the class will be able to take dictation for five minutes at 60 words a minute and transcribe it (probably in longhand, for lack of typing skill) with 95 per cent accuracy or better. A few will be able to write as fast as 80 words a minute.

end of chp IV, anni, so 12 lessons note writing, not dictation p58 When the pupils first begin to write, at the end of Chapter IV, writing speeds of 40 to 60 words a minute should be regarded quite satisfactory.

Leslie’s Speed Forcing Plan has examples starting with

When you write legibly at 60wpm for 1 minute for your first attempt at new material, alternate Leslie’s method and Swem’s Systematic Speed Course (Modified). Starting slow enough to be comfortable and fast enough that you miss some words work on different skills.

When you write legibly at 80wpm for 1 minutes for your first attempt at new material, use Swem’s method (Unmodified) for 4/5 of passages, but continue to use Leslie’s for 1/5 until you are extremely confident that you

First Few Dictations

For your first dictation, use Pratt’s 10 Word Copying Method until your pen is happy, then Leslie’s One Minute Speed Forcing Plan. Start with 20wpm and 10wpm steps for your first 10-word passage. Try starting with 30wpm for your second passage, then combine first and second as Leslie describes. Use 30 or 40wpm to start your third and fourth passages, and combine them as Leslie describes.

You have now written 40 words at 40wpm or higher.

Stay with that or increase to 40wpm for your third and fourth. Then combine

For your second passage, try starting with 30wpm, and 40wpm for your third and fourth.

Write the first 10 words several times, until your pen is happy with it (Pratt 10-Word Method), then take dictation using the first steps of Leslie’s One Minute Speed Forcing Plan, using 10wpm steps. For your first passage, start with 20wpm and do a few more repetitions. For your second passage, try starting with 30wpm. If it felt easy, increase to 40wpm for your third. Continue Leslie’s program until you combine four 10-word

All exercises are written in shorthand at least once before dictation. If the book has shorthand, copy that.

Copy well-written shorthand if you have it, but it’s ok if you have to skip that stage.

Then write from

This stage ends when

Use the first steps of Leslie’s One Minute Speed Forcing Plan to build speed, so your final speed is at least 40-60 wpm for 1 minute, within a few sessions. Then keep a bit of pressure on. Aim to finish the theory and reach 60-80 for your final speed within 1 semester (40 min/class, 20 classes/month, 4 month/semester = 53 hours in class, plus equal time at home). If you can go faster, then do so, but not at the expense of finishing the theory.

Do four 1-minute passages and combine as

Do four 1-minute passages

Only write material from the book until you finish the theory. Even then, fully write each exercise until your pen is happy with it before dictation. Start transitioning to less preparation when you can write 95% of new material without hesitation. Then read the material and practice unfamiliar words until you are comfortable writing new words from scratch, before moving to the next stage.

Pratt’s 10 Word Sentences is also useful at any stage when you want to force your pen to go faster.

Speed.

Endurance.

There are …. methods of

Practice Methods

Copy from well-written shorthand.

Write from typed material.

Pratt’s 10 Word Method Easy Intro to Dictation

For an easy intro to dictations, you can use just one easy sentence but repeated say five times in a single sound file, to make a longer “passage”, in order to remove outline recall obstacles and just get used to the dictation scenario of having to write without hesitation…You can do the same without a sound file, just write the same sentence down the page, and by the time you get to line 20, you feel you’ve gone from snail to racehorse, gets the juices going and the cobwebs gone. (Beryl Pratt, Reddit, July 17, 2025)

Leslie’s One Minute Speed Forcing Plan

Swem’s Systematic Speed Course for Advanced Writers (modified)

Swem’s Systematic Speed Course for Advanced Writers (unmodified)

Making Shorthand Teaching Effective BY JOHN ROBERT GREGG (A paper read before the Eastern Commercial Teachers’ Association) 1921, Gregg Publishing Company

P4 I believe that the remedy is simply this: to teach students to write shorthand rapidly and accurately from the first, instead of teaching them to write shorthand slowly and carefully.

p14 I believe the answer is to be found, as it is in the case of penmanship, in the statement that the teachers keep before the students from the beginning the end to be attained^ and that is rapidity as well as accuracy. They start the student right; they see that the posture is right; that the method of doing the work is right; that the student is kept alert and enthusiastic from the very first day and all through the course; above all, they aim to eliminate every false motion.

16 The point I am trying to make is that the way to make shorthand teaching more effective is to drill the students in correct habits from the hegi^ining, and The Teaching of Shorthand 17 that we must keep before them the idea of rapidity of execution.

17 In teaching shorthand we have given too Httle thought to the right posture and to the development of swift, effortless writing from the beginning. Many teachers place such emphasis on slow, careful writing that the hahit of slow movement is fastened on the student. Afterwards, in the advanced work, the student finds it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to overcome the sluggish, painfully precise style thus acquired. He has no facility in “getting around corners,’* as it were. Under pressure his notes go to pieces, just as the penmanship of the “copybook” penmanship student went to pieces when rapidity was required.

Continue to fully prepare all passages until you have mastered the theory and your penmanship is legible when written just faster than comfortable. (19 words out of 20 correct on first attempt, and something readable for the words you don’t know.) Then reduce preparation to only practicing words you expect to be a problem. (Reduce starting speed to compensate.) Then, finally, stop preparation altogether.

Legible = Someone familiar with your writing, or yourself in six months, can read it, although it might take two attempts.

For each passage past the first few, when your hand is fairly comfortable with the new shapes, challenge yourself by increasing one thing slightly: Starting speed, top speed, final speed, or duration. All other numbers should be comfortable. Occasionally push one number much farther than is comfortable and see what happens.

While you are still learning the theory, focus on theory and slowly building speed and duration.

Once you finish the theory and your penmanship is reliable, start pushing harder – but still only one aspect for each passage. Switch half your dictation time to “mailable transcript,” slow enough that you can focus on penmanship, but only one attempt, and type it the next day during typing class. (Trust me, typing it a day later, or at least reading it out loud, makes a huge difference.)

, practice problem areas, then take dictation with a textbook or clean copy in front of you. (You will naturally stop looking at the sample as your speed increases. Don’t force it.)

++++

Ask for help checking each and every reference.