Here is a subject we all feel passionate about. Keyboarding. So, what better way to kick off our own "Howell Elementary Tech Teachers Blog", than a friendly discussion on the value of formal keyboarding?
How do you feel about the importance of proper keyboarding? When (if at all) should keyboarding be taught? How much time should be spent on keyboarding? What is an acceptable speed and accuracy score for an appropriate grade level?
Feel free to post any comments to the questions above, or add your own questions. (BTW, I typed this entire post using only my thumbs :)
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Although I believe keyboarding is a "life long" skill, it is hard to push this agenda when you only see the kids once a week. After I teach this unit I find more than 1/2 the students go back to hunt and peck strategies. It is very frustrating and feels like a waste of time when I see them revert back to old bad habits. Bottom line is; Yes, I think we should teach it, but not expect mastery for this skill. I think the students will see a greater need for this skill once they get to the middle school level and therefore become more serious about developing this skill.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think?
My Take:
ReplyDeleteI'm really not a fan of formal keyboarding instruction.
1. Its boring
2. Its over-rated
3. Does it really matter?
1. Its boring. Learning touch typing is boring. Sure, students are engaged and entertained for the first few minutes, but try to keep students engaged for more than 30 minutes, several times a month. The repetitive nature of the drill and practice techniques most typing programs feature, lead to disengagement rather quickly.
2. Its over-rated. One of the “pro” keyboarding arguments is, Students will need their keyboarding skills to type lengthy papers in their high school or college careers.” Let’s examine that argument. Most publishers use the standard of 250 words per page (size 12, double spaced, times new roman). Therefore, a 5 page report would consist of 1000 words. A student typing at 50 wpm (touch typer) would need 20 minutes to complete to the 5 page report. A student typing 25 wpm would need 40 minutes to complete the work. 20 minutes of time saved is not that big of a deal. Also, most people that consistently use a computer and do not have “proper” touch typing techniques, use their own techniques to produce a decent wpm.
3. Does it really matter? No, it doesn’t matter if a student uses proper technique or not. I do not care the technique that is used to get the job done. There is no keyboarding police to arrest or fine the typist who do not practice proper technique. Also, today’s students spend the smallest amount of time typing a report or a paper. They spend the majority of their time communicating with others by texting, or thumb typing on hand held devices.
Did we ever decide as a el. tech. group about this issue? It IS part of the Technology Standards (another good case for introduction of the skill at least). I know this can be addressed in other activities we have students do but how can we assess proper keyboarding skills if we don't have some kind of formal instruction of it? A catch 22 perhaps????
ReplyDeleteS. Laszlo
Although I understand these concerns I think there are good justifications for teaching keyboarding.
ReplyDeleteI revert to my own experiences in school and I realized, epecially when I entered college and the workforce, that I could have used keyboarding skills to be much more efficient in typing anything that required it. Time is everything and if technology has taught us anything it is this.
I think it creates a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem. My third graders feel good when they notice how much quicker they have gotten at it. It isn't easy and it requires students to challenge themselves, intrinsically.
It's physically and mentally challenging and therefore it's perceived as "boring"? I want my students to learn that anything that is worth having in life is not going to be easy. That doesn't mean that there aren't other appropriate technical means of communicating on various devices, I believe there are, and those should be taught, too. I do think keyboarding strenghtens fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination and language arts skills.
Keyboarding is not an essential skill that determines success or failure, but it is a skill and skills have worth.
The argument seems, in a universal sense, to be old vs. new. The crux is deciding what is worth preserving and what is obsolete.
I like to see students engaged and learning in whatever they are doing. If most of the students have a low level of engagement for an activity, I believe students should do the minimum required to satisfy the benchmark for the low engagement activity. If the activity is low engagement and has decreased in importance, all the more reason to de-emphasize the keyboard drilling practices.
ReplyDeleteI think this generations’ motivation for wpm comes from their social activities with each other, not in any research paper they might have to do in the future. I wonder if students do more socializing via proper keyboarding techniques at their computer or thumb typing with their cell phones.
I don’t know how most people go about typing their research papers, but my thought process is not as fast as my wpm. My typing seems to slow down as I construct the paragraphs, sentences and citations.
….. Had my students do some quick online research on formal keyboarding today …… not sure how accurate their info is (we’ve been spending all of our time on touch typing, and hardly any time on online search strategies). Here is what they found:
ReplyDelete-formal keyboarding has declined in popularity for the past 3 decades
-touch typing takes a very long time to master
-touch typing is the leading cause of heart disease in Kansas
-People in history with the very high wpm include: Hitler, Saddam Hussein, & Matt Millen
Check out 0:23 mark on the first movie above. I wonder if the same thoughts were being said not long ago about the importance of good cursive penmanship?
ReplyDeleteIs this a joke?????? the leading cause of heart disease in Kansas? Hitler, Saddam, Hussein, and Millen?????? Come on guys....lets focus here and try to resolve if we should still be teaching this or not.
ReplyDeleteSorry, we haven't had time to discuss & practice our online search strategies. Spending most of our time practicing our keyboarding.
ReplyDeleteJust a joke .... trying to show the importance of choosing to teach & reteach certain standards over other standards.
Selina, on our last PD Day, we had a discussion/debate on keyboarding. We did NOT come to a conclusion on when to teach it or how much to teach it.
Learning/memorizing your additon facts or times tables is boring too, but still a necessity in life. Should we stop teaching that too just because its boring to teach or kids are less engaged? My son thought reading was and still is a bore, but he now realizes the importance of the skill. Sometimes the hard lessons are still worth learning.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSelina said, "Learning/memorizing your addition facts or times tables is boring too, but still a necessity in life. Should we stop teaching that too just because it’s boring to teach or kids are less engaged?"
ReplyDeleteSean said, "The argument seems, in a universal sense, to be old vs. new. The crux is deciding what is worth preserving and what is obsolete."
Could it be that we need to rethink what is important in these current times? With so much information easily available for all, do we need to rethink the way we teach?
I can do math on my cell phone or iPod, which I have with me all the time.
For me, the question about keyboarding is not all or none. I think elementary students need some keyboarding. How much and when are what I am wondering.
ReplyDeleteHere are the Michigan Education Technology Standards.
Grades 3-5
Students know proper keyboarding positions and touch-typing techniques.
Grades 6-8
Students use proper keyboarding posture, finger positions, and touch-typing techniques to improve accuracy, speed, and general efficiency in operating a computer.
Grades 9-12
Routinely apply touch-typing techniques with advanced accuracy, speed, and efficiency
U R right Terry, it is not an all or nothing thing. By the looks of the Technology standards we just need to introduce but not have them master the skill. I think I heard this somewhere in an earlier blog on this page...... I think Ryan likes to play devil's advocate just so he can get a lively discussion out of all of us.
ReplyDeleteKudos to U Ryan...... U succeeded :o)
Gotta luv U guys!!!!!!
Roger that! Over and out!
So maybe I was trying to get a "lively discussion" going, but I have to admit, it was really nice to have an intelligent debate with intelligent adults!
ReplyDeleteWe have so much that we can learn from each other, and I feel that using a blog like this is one way for us to share and learn together (remember how we always say that time where we get to meet is very valuable time?)
I am looking forward to continuing discussions like this on a weekly or monthly basis. I feel like my brain is actually working harder when we have these discussions, compared to the normal interaction with students.
BTW, I too agree with Terry & Selina that keyboarding should probably be more of an introduction and less of a mastery at our level.
Personally, I am thinking that I would like to devote less of my time to keyboarding, and more of my time to other standards.
I feel that as long as it IS a Technology Standard that we are expected to teach " proper keyboarding positions and touch-typing techniques" at this time.
ReplyDeleteI think the amount of emphasis each school places on these lessons will vary.
My students do like learning touch typing and get excited about it, but I like teaching these skills so they may pick up my enthusiasm.
When I first began teaching keyboarding I used the following benchmarks:
3rd Grade: 5 WPM with 90% Accuracy
4th Grade: 10 WPM with 95% Accuracy
5th Grade: 15 WPM with 95% Acccuracy
I don't recall who told me these were the end of year goals for each grade level, but they seem attainable by the majority of students.
Kelly, welcome to the blog!
ReplyDeleteTerry posted the keyboarding standards for grades 3-5 & grades 6-8:
“Grades 3-5
Students know proper keyboarding positions and touch-typing techniques.
Grades 6-8
Students use proper keyboarding posture, finger positions, and touch-typing techniques to improve accuracy, speed, and general efficiency in operating a computer.”
How do these standards differ after you read them and think about them?
For me, I see a distinctive difference between Students “know” and Students “use”. On our last PD day we recorded that we spend 10 days worth of instruction time on keyboarding for grades 3-5. 10 days seems like too many for me.
Test
ReplyDelete