Category: Keyboarding

Now Available: K-8 Keyboard Curriculum

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.

(more…)

Dear Otto: How Do You Teach Adults to Keyboard?

tech questionsDear 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:

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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…)

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"]tech tips 52 weeks of tech tips[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1057" align="aligncenter" width="150"]kid pix KidPix lessons for K-2[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1058" align="aligncenter" width="150"]google Earth Google Earth lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1059" align="aligncenter" width="150"]Photoshop Photoshop lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1063" align="aligncenter" width="150"]web 2.0 Web 2.0 lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1064" align="aligncenter" width="150"]ms word MS Word lesson plans[/caption]

excelpowerpointpublisherkeyboarding

[caption id="attachment_1075" align="aligncenter" width="176"]mouse Mouse lesson plans[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1072" align="aligncenter" width="150"]Computer humor Take a break[/caption]

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 ofHandwritingCursiveCapDir 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.

(more…)