Pencil or a Keyboard

This chapter examines how handwriting and typing shape early literacy instruction and how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated shifts in writing modalities. Drawing on cognitive science, neuroscience, and literacy research, it argues that handwriting remains essential for developing phonological processing, orthographic mapping, spelling, and writing fluency, while typing supports efficiency and digital participation. The pandemic highlighted gaps in teacher preparation, as preservice teachers received limited training in handwriting pedagogy and defaulted to digital tools during remote learning. The chapter proposes a dual-modality approach in which teacher preparation programs intentionally integrate handwriting and typing, preparing educators to make research-aligned instructional decisions that support reading, spelling, and written expression in post-COVID classrooms.