I have been teaching for 20 years this year, and not a year goes by that the discussion of keyboarding skills doesn't come up. (Usually someone also brings up Dragon or Siri, these days, as a reason that kids won't need to type in the "future", but that's a topic for another blog post!) THIS blog post assumes that we all agree that typing skills are valuable in 2015 (and likely for at least the next few.) What does "keyboarding skills"really mean?
At Peabody, we believe in the rule of thumb of Grade Level x5 as a good words per minute (WPM) goal for our lower school students. (So, your typical 3rd grader should be typing 3x5 or 15 WPM.) Using Typing Club, students learn the home row keys and proper posture (which really does make a difference!) and the lessons carefully move students through lessons that emphasize first accuracy, and then speed. To gain that necessary speed, Typing Club changes the goals for students - lowering their accuracy %, while increasing the WPM goal. MANY kids really struggle against their perfectionist tendencies - wanting to be 100% accurate, rather than type faster. It's really fascinating to watch - and it frustrates the kids to no end! I spend much of my time telling them to "make more mistakes!"
During the week, students from 3rd-5th grade practice typing for 20 a week, but this is probably not enough. Certainly, early exposure to proper hand placement and posture are vital - and something that definitely needs to be taught and constantly encouraged. Speed will come with regular, frequent practice - like most learned motor skills. By the time students are in MS, 40 WPM is a good speed to shoot for, although many students are faster than that.
If you'd like to offer up some additional typing practice to your child, below is a link to a Symbaloo curated compilation of keyboarding sites. They are all a little different, so try a few out to see what might be a good fit. Remember to encourage proper finger placement and posture, even during "game" like keyboarding tasks.
Symbaloo Keyboarding Links
Happy Typing!
At Peabody, we believe in the rule of thumb of Grade Level x5 as a good words per minute (WPM) goal for our lower school students. (So, your typical 3rd grader should be typing 3x5 or 15 WPM.) Using Typing Club, students learn the home row keys and proper posture (which really does make a difference!) and the lessons carefully move students through lessons that emphasize first accuracy, and then speed. To gain that necessary speed, Typing Club changes the goals for students - lowering their accuracy %, while increasing the WPM goal. MANY kids really struggle against their perfectionist tendencies - wanting to be 100% accurate, rather than type faster. It's really fascinating to watch - and it frustrates the kids to no end! I spend much of my time telling them to "make more mistakes!"
During the week, students from 3rd-5th grade practice typing for 20 a week, but this is probably not enough. Certainly, early exposure to proper hand placement and posture are vital - and something that definitely needs to be taught and constantly encouraged. Speed will come with regular, frequent practice - like most learned motor skills. By the time students are in MS, 40 WPM is a good speed to shoot for, although many students are faster than that.
If you'd like to offer up some additional typing practice to your child, below is a link to a Symbaloo curated compilation of keyboarding sites. They are all a little different, so try a few out to see what might be a good fit. Remember to encourage proper finger placement and posture, even during "game" like keyboarding tasks.
Symbaloo Keyboarding Links
Happy Typing!