Category: Keyboarding
Now Available: K-8 Keyboard Curriculum
The Essential Guide to Teaching Keyboarding in 45 Minutes a Week
You may think it impossible to find an effective keyboarding curriculum for the skimpy forty-five minutes a week you can devote to keyboarding. You teach what you can, but it always seems to be the same lessons—hands on home row, good posture, eyes on the copy. You wonder if it’s making a difference, or if it matters.
Yes, it does and there is a way. It requires a plan, faithfully executed, with your eye relentlessly on the goal, but if you commit, it works. In this book, The Essential Guide to Teaching Keyboarding in 45 Minutes a Week: a K-8 Curriculum, I’ll share a unique keyboarding curriculum for K-8 that I’ve seen work on thousands of students. The book includes:
- A summary of the literature
- Answers to the most-asked questions like ‘Can youngers learn to keyboard—and should they?’
- The importance of the teacher to early keyboarders
The K-8 curriculum includes a lot more variety than keyboard exercises on installed software. Here’s a rundown of the pieces used:
- Keyboarding software (yes, you do need repetition)
- Online keyboarding websites
- Age-appropriate use of hand covers
- Quarterly speed/accuracy quizzes
- Quarterly blank keyboarding quizzes
- Monthly homework
- Wall charts to support learning and display evidence of success
- Grading based on student improvement, not conformity to class norms
You’ll learn practical strategies on how to blend these pieces, each added at the right time, to teach the keyboarding skills required for today’s classroom.
Share this:
Dear Otto: How Do You Teach Adults to Keyboard?
Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.
Mr. Holloway in Odessa wanted to know if there were lessons for teaching keyboarding to adults
Teaching keyboarding to adults is similar to teaching kids. They still need to learn correct posture, hand position, use of all fingers, touch typing–they just get it faster and take it more seriously. The game-like approach prevalent in teaching children isn’t necessary.
I have a wiki I use for a summer keyboarding class that starts at the beginning of keyboarding and proceeds through to mastery. You might find the progression of skills and the mix of activities useful.
Here are a list of websites that should serve well with adult students:
- Online keyboarding–this page is from Nimble Fingers. It’s great for adults, done online, and instructive
- Typing Lessons– A progressive and thorough approach designed for high schoolers–and great for adults
- Flash Cards–scroll down to ‘flash cards’ and have students type the words they see. This is challenging and important for adults to accomplish
- Typing Test–a great way to track improvements in typing speed. No log-in required
Share this:
Tech Tip #10: How to Undelete With Two Keystrokes
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!
Q: I was typing and wanted to make a change (formatting, etc). Suddenly, my whole paragraph/sentence/document (fill in your disaster) disappeared. How do I get it back?
A: Let me start by saying, this Undelete tip doesn’t apply to deleted files or folders. I’m talking about when you’re typing and for some reason known only to God, all or part of your work is deleted. One moment you have two pages of your work memo completed; then, before you can scream Stop! it’s gone.
Two ideas:
- Push Ctrl+Z to undo your last steps. You may not even realize you deleted, so go back in time one step at a time until it comes back
- If the entire program disappeared from your screen, check the taskbar. It might be sleeping down there. Click on it to awaken.
Share this:
5 Best Online Keyboarding Programs
I gave you-all a long list of great websites that will help teach your students keyboarding. Here are my top five:
If the lesson plans are blurry, click on them for a full size alternative.
Share this:
What are Your Favorite Summer School Keyboard Activities
Hi guys–I’m looking for suggestions on what to teach in a summer school keyboarding class, grades 3-8. I’m offering one for the first time this summer and don’t want it to be non-stop typing. I got some excellent suggestions from my friends over at Elementary Tech Teachers, but I always want more.
Do you have any activities that work well for you in a more-relaxed, casual summer environment? Once I have a list, I published them for everyone.
Thanks so much in advance for all your help! (more…)
Share this:
Tech Tip #31: What’s Today’s Date
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! (more…)
Share this:
Where Would You Like to Go Today?
Are you here for a lesson plan… Tech tips… Humor? Click the category below and you’re there.
[caption id="attachment_1055" align="aligncenter" width="154"] 52 weeks of tech tips[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1057" align="aligncenter" width="150"] KidPix lessons for K-2[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1058" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Google Earth lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1059" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Photoshop lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1063" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Web 2.0 lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1064" align="aligncenter" width="150"] MS Word lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1075" align="aligncenter" width="176"] Mouse lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1072" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Take a break[/caption]-
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
Share this:
Weekend Website #21: Test Your Typing Speed
Drop by every Friday to discover what wonderful website my classes and parents loved this week. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of yours as they are of mine.
(more…)
Share this:
Is Handwriting Like Camera Film–So Last Generation
Another problem for cursive in schools: Common Core is ‘silent’ on it, according to the Alliance for Excellence in Education. That’s like the Fat Lady warming up, but not sure when she’ll be performing.
Studies show one in three children struggle with handwriting. I’d guess more, seeing it first hand as a teacher. Sound bad? Consider another study shows that one in five parents say they last penned a letter more than a year ago.
Let’s look at the facts. Students hand-write badly, and don’t use it much when they grow up (think about yourself. How often do you write a long hand letter?). Really, why is handwriting important in this day of keyboards, PDAs, smart phones, spellcheck, word processing? I start students on MS Word in second grade, about the same time their teacher is beginning cursive. Teach kids the rudiments and turn them over to the tech teacher for keyboarding.
I searched for reasons why I was wrong. Here’s what I found:
- 1 in 10 Americans are endangered by the poor handwriting of physicians.
- citizens miss out on $95,000,000 in tax refunds because the taxman can’t read their handwriting
- Poor handwriting costs businesses $200,000,000 in time and money that result in confused and inefficient employees, phone calls made to wrong numbers, and letters delivered to incorrect addresses.
Read on:
Schools: Less cursive, more keyboarding
BROWNSBURG, Ind., Aug. 28 (UPI) —
Officials in an Indiana school district said cursive writing lessons will be scaled down this year in favor of computer keyboarding.
Share this:
Find Great Kids Websites
They’re user-friendly, kid-tested, organized by grade and topic. Just click this link to Great Kids Websites and scroll down until you find your grade and subject.
Send me an email with any websites you use with your students: