Hello Everyone,
My name is Alycia. I am new to the site. I have to say I am quite impressed with how well it is laid out, the quality of the posts, as well as the informative feedback.
I learned Gregg Shorthand back in the mid-1980s. I had no idea that there were multiple versions of it until relatively recently. I believe I learned the Series 90 version. I have found it to be so useful and have used it in many aspects of my life from taking notes in college to using it on the job as a paralegal, to writing simple to do lists. I even went to court reporting school thinking there was a similarity between the two. While the concepts are similar, there is quite a difference between them.
I currently teach the Centennial version, with some Series 90 input, to homeschool students. My mother taught shorthand and business classes back in the 1960s. I hope to keep the tradition alive by teaching shorthand to others as well as my own children.
With that being said, I see various references to specific kinds of Gregg Shorthand dictionaries. Are there any dictionaries that compare the different versions in one spot. That could be a chart or spreadsheet of different words and the way to write it under each version heading.
Thank you in advance and I look forward to reading more from this site.
Best wishes,
Alycia
Welcome to the blog, Alycia!
As to the question on the dictionary, certainly nothing like that was ever published by McGraw-Hill, and I'm not aware if anyone has put together that kind of dictionary electronically either.
Thank you so much, Carlos. I wonder if that is something that anyone would be interested in.
Alycia, Even though there is no Gregg Shorthand Dictionary comparing Anniversary, Simplified, Diamond Jubilee, Series 90, and Centennial, you can find individual dictionaries for each method. They are relatively easy to find on ebay and other sources of used books.
A 30-page booklet that you might find useful is GREGG SHORTHAND DIAMOND JUBILEE SERIES, A PRESENTATION OF SYSTEM CHANGES. This booklet compared Diamond Jubilee with Simplified and came out in 1965, so it would be out of print. However, I do have an extra copy of it, if you would like it. Similar booklets were available when Simplified (1948) and Series 90 (1978) were introduced.
If you are teaching shorthand, there are two excellent books on shorthand teaching methods. Likewise, you can find these on ebay or other sources:
SHORTHAND LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION by VanHuss, Lambrecht, and Christensen, South-Western Publishing Co., 1980
METHODS OF TEACHING SHORTHAND AND TRANSCRIPTION, by Crank, Anderson, and Peterson, Gregg Division/McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1982
Both of the above-mentioned "methods" books are excellent for teachers of shorthand and cover all aspects of shorthand learning.
I taught Gregg Shorthand for nearly twenty years; but it was eliminated from the curriculum by 1990 in favor of word processing and related computer courses and the need for shorthand in offices decreased.
Hello Peter,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate the sources that you have listed. I will look into them further. I have not had formal training for teaching this subject, but I feel like many of my students not only "get it," but they seem to really enjoy it. However, I think understanding techniques that may help for a fuller understanding could be helpful since students learn differently.
Just before 1990 was around the time that I learned shorthand. My shorthand teachers and I were very disappointed that it was taken out of the curriculum. I felt quite lucky to have had the opportunity to learn it when I did.
Thank you again.
Best wishes,
Alycia
Yay! Another homeschooler teaching shorthand to their kids! I started teaching mine Notehand editions a few years ago. They know it quite well now but we've run out of Notehand reading material. We're dipping into other editions now for reading practice. Anyway, welcome!!
Rich Harrison did an earlier post comparing a sampling of editions (Simplified, Diamond Jubilee and Notehand). You can see that here. It's pretty interesting.
And here is a link to books for teaching shorthand that you might find useful.
Hello Washbear,
It is nice to meet you.
I'm glad to see there are other homeschooling families who value the merit of teaching and learning shorthand. Are you still homeschooling?
Thank you for the links. Unfortunately, the Outline Comparison under Rich Harrison's post is not available. I'm disappointed because I think that would have been interesting to see. Thank you for the link to the other books. That looks like a wealth of information.
Best wishes,
Alycia