Now, REALLY, let’s leave the debate whether it is necessary to teach keyboarding/typing skill as a separate skill (see previous post)  in Elementary school or not aside.

Since it was asked of our tech team to incorporate typing instruction into our precious time (about 30 minutes a week with each class) , I am working on developing a compromise…the following are my thoughts on how to accomplish that.

There is a need to inform the parents of our approach with the understanding that keyboarding speed and accuracy will not happen by simply showing kids how and where to place their fingers on a keyboard. Speed and accuracy is directly related to their reading and writing abilities according to their developmental grade level. Once a student knows the “logistics” of “proper” keyboarding, it is a matter of practice to increase accuracy and speed. That is when practicing the learned skill comes in, similar to the learning and practicing of a musical instrument.

As Andrea Hernandez pointed out in a comment in previous post:

I still think there is something to going through some type of structured practice to build muscle memory and accuracy. Just not during my class, PLEASE!

During the first few weeks/months, we will dedicate time in TechConnect introducing keyboarding skills to  all grades at their various levels. That will mean for Pre-Kindergarten (4 year olds) becoming familiar with letter recognition and area of placement on the keyboard, Spacebar and Return key . For 6th graders (11/12 year olds) that will mean fluency and accuracy when typing. This introduction of “proper” keyboarding will be a preparation for students to continue practicing at home. They will become familiar with various keyboarding programs and sites at school (How to get to the sites, how each program is set up, how to track their progress, etc.) Practicing to type will have to continue throughout the school year and summer from home.

We will have the following web based keyboarding practice sites available as links on classroom blog as well as on Tech Connect. Parents are also made aware of open source or commercially available keyboarding programs & games. Commercial programs are available at office supply stores (Ex.: Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, etc),  “teacher” stores (Teacher’s Aid) , or discount stores (Target , K-Mart, Walmart).

It will be up to the classroom teacher to assign, monitor and motivate their students to enhance and increase their keyboarding skills. I believe the key, as with any learning, needs to be the motivation.
How can we motivate our students to practice typing? Please contribute any other keyboarding strategies you have successfully implemented with your students. How can we best simulate the seemingly intrinsic motivation most digital natives have to type fast with their electronic devices and on social network places?

Here are some of my ideas:

• Some type of typing competition (similar to the book reading award, where number of pages read is counted).
• Students will have to record their practice time on a log sheet and parents must sign the form as verification.  Have students create their own keyboard log chart
• Involve students in creating a tutorial lessons for others on how to best learn, improve their keyboarding skills or explain why they should learn it to motivate others- give them a reason to learn not just mindless practice content
• Involve teachers to include typing practice as homework
• Create a Reward system for minutes practiced (classroom wide or school wide)
• Hold a Keyboarding competition across a given grade level
• Use a chat as reward or practice time in computer lab- http://www.chatzy.com/

Other activities to motivate or teach awareness of keyboarding among students:

• Students create their own “Proper keyboarding posture”
• Students create their own keyboard finger placements chart
• Older students help younger students with their typing

Programs available at school:

• KidKeys (Commercial Program)
• Tux Typing 2
• BBC Practice Typing

Programs available from home (web based or free download)

• Tux Typing 2
• BBC Practice Typing
• http://sense-lang.org/typing/
• Fun School Super Speller Play a game and improve your typing speed
• Krazy Keyboarding for Kids
• Stack Cups
• Key Seeker Keyboarding for Kindergarteners
• Super Hyper Spider Typer Hungry lizards with words on their backs are after Berry the hairy spider!

Here are some great Keyboarding Activities from Lee’s Summit R-7 School District to play with your students. Check out activities such as :

• Alphabet Typists
• Alphabetical List Relay
• Baseball
• Categories
• Clues for Keyboarding
• Dinosaur Endurance
• Flash Cards
• Keyboard Bingo
• No View
• Spelling List  Relay
• Spelling Practice
• Stop the Music
• Story Starters
• Think or Sink
• Tongue Twisters
• Top Ten

Posted: 21. August, 2008 at 4:55 pm. Filed under: Elementary School, Technology Integration Facilitator.
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