ABCDE vs QWERTY pens and pencils and their ability to write long form essays. When schools resume, the teachers will have to go back to the basics Wonder what Maria Montessori would have to say about children starting to write with a keypad? The last one year of online schooling has thrown such challenges at educators. They’re noticing the impact online classes have had on basic skills and are planning on some intervention when schools reopen. “Many students can’t differentiate between formal and informal writing,” says Aloysius D’Mello, Principal of Greenwood High. “Students are not writing long form essays. Their sentences are short without details. Several other key issues like impaired fine motor skills due to not writing with one’s hands, slower cognitive recognition, loss of personal interactions with peers, handwriting not being scrutinized for form and style along with lack of teacher’s mentorship and corrections are now plaguing the student’s progress. This will have a long term impact. Digital learning has definitely stunted a student’s penmanship,” he added.