In addition to the usual reasons about developing efficient typing skills, I have these additional reasons:
- Self Control: in this culture of immediate gratification, students have few opportunities to develop this critical life skill. Teaching students to keep their eyes on the screen when keyboarding builds their ability to resist temptation.
- Stamina: Students need to slowly build stamina in reading and writing for extended periods of time. Likewise, keyboarding practice provides students with an opportunity to train their brain to “stick to it” and avoid distractions.
- Perseverance: keyboarding can be frustrating, and students often want to give up. Frederick Douglass said, ” If there is no struggle there is no progress.” With proper keyboarding instruction, students can succeed even though they struggle. They need to learn to not give up when the going gets tough!
I believe these are key skills we need to teach our students. I also believe they will transfer these skills to other areas of their lives throughout school and beyond.
What other reasons do you have for teaching keyboarding?
In March, we started second graders on typing with Dance Mat Typing. I avoided the program for formal instruction for quite a while as it did not save the students’ work. This year I decided to try an experiment.
I began with basic posture for good typing skills: feet on floor, hips back, spine straight, elbows at sides, and trying to locate the home row without looking. We started typing with 5 minute lessons, and gradually worked our way up to 35 minutes as we developed our ‘typing muscles’, which also included their attention span. I tell them that ‘focus’ is also a ‘typing muscle’! I don’t allow them to talk during keyboarding practice.
Another strategy I implemented was the use of shields, so they cannot see the keyboard. By using them starting with the third session, they now think nothing of them, and the majority type without looking. I do allow them to take a quick peek occasionally if they repeatedly hit an incorrect key, and many take a quick peek just to get their fingers on the home row to start. Then they adjust their posture, slide their eyes up to the screen, and start typing.
It is quite a sight to see rows of second graders, hands on the keyboards, backs straight, and eyes on the screen!
In Dance Mat Typing there are 12 stages. I have found that a number of students can complete a stage in 20-35 minutes. Some started very slowly and could not finish a stage in one setting, but some are developing stronger finger control Since the program does not track, I keep a chart of each students’ completed stages. One other point: if a student does not finish a stage in one setting, they have to start it again at their next session. I have not found this to be a big problem, as most students will go through it faster the second time. I tell them it is like basketball or playing an instrument. Once you do it, you don’t stop – it’s OK to practice over and over again!!
Does this sound hard? It is. Is there a problem with teaching students to work hard? I don’t believe so. This will give them confidence when they encounter other hard tasks in school or elsewhere. Will it develop good keyboarding skills? I believe it will.
The second rational for being so demanding is that students will soon be expected to type answers to online test questions. Do we want them spending their time looking for which key to press or thinking about the answer they want to give?? I think it’s a no-brainer.
Once they finish all 12 stages, they receive a special certificate I designed. Then they are invited to bring their writer’s notebook to the next session. They use TextEdit to type up a story or poem, and then I allow them to print it. Now that 7 students have finished, the others can see the end of the tunnel and are becoming more motivated!
This activity has also allowed me to identify several students who had fine motor problems. I enlisted the assistance of our Occupational Therapist and their teachers so we could set them up with a different keyboarding program: Custom Typing.
I will be most interested to see how these students do with our school’s Type to Learn program when they get to third grade in the fall. Once they start that, they are given a keyboarding grade on their report cards. Stay tuned for a description of that program!
Do you make your computer labs available to students before school?
We do!!!
In the mornings before school starts I offer the library computer lab to be open for students to come in to use the computers for reading (eBooks), writing, typing practice or exploring World Book Online. Our 4th & 5th graders have google docs accounts, and it has really taken off – meaning there are a significant number of students who are using their account for ‘free’ writing – I’ve seen poetry, stories, informational pieces.
Recently (during this cold snap that keeps everyone in during morning recess) several boys have been creating docs about their favorite sports teams, and one did a piece of MimeCraft. I informally showed a couple of them how to copy and paste photos from World Book into their docs. That did not take long to catch on and soon a lot of boys were coming in to create sports pieces (I haven’t told them yet that they are ‘writing’).
Today, a 4th grader, who frequently scores “partially meets the standard” and has some attention span and self-control issues, sat down in the lab and asked if I would show him how the other boys made their sports pages. My very first reaction was that he would not be capable of doing it. Fortunately, that reaction was only an instant, and I recovered quickly, put a smile on my face, and said, “Sure!” In less than 10 minutes he had a google docs page with a photo of Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady, a citation, and a heading! He was so proud of himself, and I was grateful that I had not turned him down in his request. He left with a huge smile on his face that told me he felt clever, smart, and was able to do something just as well as the other boys could do.
Our computer lab has computer chairs – complete with wheels to roll, swivels, and handles to adjust up and down. How do you keep the students from playing with their chair?
I’ve tried various methods, from giving them one whole class just to play with chairs, to dismissing them from class for playing, along with various comments of praise and threats!
One day I noticed a first grader sitting very still in his chair, not rolling or playing. Upon closer look, this is what I saw:
Right hand on the mouse.
Left hand & elbow resting on the table.
Voila!
Keeping his hands in this position kept his chair still, kept his shoulders squared to the monitor, and kept his attention on the screen.
This also gives young students a place to keep their fingers other than in their mouth and nose! I often say, “Hold that table down!” and they giggle.
This is our new model for students to keep their hands on learning.
Try if with your students for your 2013 New’s Year Resolution!
Now, about that color-coded keyboard, stay tuned!
This year in our computer lab for K-3 students, we purchased color coded keyboards along with mini-mice. The mice fit small hands nicely and lend themselves well to proper hand-mouse position.
The color-coded keyboards assist students in proper finger placement and keystroke. The challenge is that some 1st and 2nd graders are so intent on knowing which fingers press which color keys that they loose sight of the task at hand. I’ll deal with that in a separate lesson.
One of the attendees at my ACTEM presentation on Friday asked about how to keep students using proper keyboarding techniques after their 6-week instruction. I did not give her much of a response, and have thought a lot about it since then.
At our school, we use Type to Learn 4. It is a paid subscription, but has 30+ lessons that few students will complete in one year. We have only used it since last December, so our 4th and 5th graders are not proficient yet. We sent letters to parents introducing the program and giving an outline of suggestions for use, such as how to download it, how much time per setting and per week, and proper posture & hand position.
We expected students to work at least one half hour per week at home, but that did not happen. A few did, and the 20 or so students working with our Occupational Therapist completed 10-20 lessons.
Knowing that some students did not have Internet access at home, we opened the computer lab before school, during lunch, and after school by appointment. By June, we were standing room only in the mornings, no one at lunch once the warm weather came, and never had anyone ask to work after school.
We also suggest students can use the free DanceMat Typing if they are using a computer on which downloads are not possible (slow speed, or public computers such as at the public library)
How to encourage continued use of proper keyboarding?
- Positive reinforcement: When we are doing other computer tasks requiring use of the keyboard, I frequently say, “Look at you using home row!” or ‘proper posture’ or ‘keeping your eyes on the screen’. It’s amazing how many other students suddenly reposition themselves!
- Incentives: Rewards are debatable, but if it works for you…
- Time: This year all 3rd and 4th grade teachers are scheduling a half hour per week just for keyboarding. Less and less time is being devoted to handwriting due to the curriculum/testing squeeze, but if we want them to be proficient, perhaps WE need to give them the time in school.
- Assign grades: I gave grades to 4th & 5th graders for our last trimester last year, and will give grades to 3-5th every trimester this year. We thought it might be its own incentive, and parents would see that we are serious about keyboarding.
What other strategies have worked for you? Please share them here!
Just Imagine... 