To:
From:
Re:
Keyboarding Practice
The third and fourth grade computer classes
have been working on keyboarding skills for the last several months. I am
emphasizing sitting in a chair that is at the appropriate height, sitting with
good posture, and gently striking the keys without looking at the keyboard. No
one can become fluent at keyboarding while practicing just one day a week; so I
have requested that each student also type at home each week “two or three
times for 10 minutes each” These sessions should not occur on the same day.
They do not need to use a special keyboarding
program, but may if they have one. I have created practice sheets (that can be
typed using any word processor) that reinforce the program that we use at
school, Success With Typing. There is
a practice page for each lesson. The students do not need to type the whole
practice page all in one sitting. Research shows that short bursts of
repetitive practice lead for better retention than one long session. Each time
the student types, he/she can do a different section of the practice sheet. The
practice is in four sections:
a) single letter practice and letter
combinations; b) the new letters in words;
c) the new letters in sentences; and then
d) the ‘Skill Checks.’ After they have become fluent with sections a-c, the
“Skill Check” section is the most useful part to practice. The skill checks are
the "quizzes" they take in class to pass each lesson. The skill
checks should be typed as they are done during the “quiz;” they are typed
without stopping and without correcting any errors.
I would prefer that the students not correct their mistakes while they are typing any of the sections so that they are concentrating on fluency while they are typing. Afterwards, they may look at their passage and see where and what kind of mistakes they are making. If they print out their passage, they might want to highlight their mistakes. This is how our keyboarding program works at school. After they type a passage, the program highlights and identifies their errors. It identifies errors as either mistyped letters (e.g. dak instead of dad), missed letters (e.g. da_ instead of dad), or extra letters (e.g. dasd instead of dad). If they typed a ‘Skill Check’ they also get a Words-per-minute score (WPM) and an accuracy score. Occasional printing would be good for the students to look at, but don’t waste the ink to do it each week, I know how expensive it is.
The
students should be practicing the same lesson that they are working on in
class. When they can type a skill check at 10 WPM with 92% accuracy, they will
move on to the next lesson. (This standard is modified for students with
special needs.) At this time they will receive a new practice sheet that
coordinates with that lesson. It takes them many weeks to pass the first two
lessons; the subsequent lessons are passed at a quicker pace. And of course,
the more they practice at home, the sooner they will pass each lesson!
To show me that they have completed their homework each week, the students should record the minutes they practiced on the appropriate day of the calendar I have provided. Your signature or initials should be added daily, or weekly, whichever works best for you and your child. The calendar should be turned in at the end of the month. This practice is essential to making progress in our keyboarding skills; your support and cooperation in this matter, is greatly appreciated.
Please e-mail/call me with any questions you may have.
fortin “at” pomfret.ctschool.net
928-2718 x163