Common Core & Keyboarding Skills

Common Core & Keyboarding Skills

This 15 - 20 minute CUE Tips session will offer a brief, yet comprehensive look at the options available to educators who need to rapidly, easily, and inexpensively improve student keyboarding skills. Come learn about various keyboarding instruction options and see how a Career and Technical Education NBCT teaches keyboarding in her classes.

Keyboarding has long been an essential 21st Century skill. With the advent of Common Core and Smarter Balanced Assessment requiring students to test online, this has become even more apparent. Keyboarding skills are necessary at an earlier age than ever before, necessitating inexpensive, high-quality, and easily accessible skill-building curriculum to train students. Web-based programs make the most sense in almost every classroom allowing ease of instruction and student management. Online keyboarding instruction can be implemented from elementary to adult level classes and offers an intrinsically motivating way to quickly build speed and accuracy while keyboarding.

Programs we use at Spurgeon Intermediate School

Keyboarding Online

www.keyboardingonline.com

I use their Keyboard Mastery full web-based keyboarding course, appropriate for secondary (intermediate and high school), as well as for adults, (used at a local community college). It is based on the Ellsworth Publishing’s renowned business technology textbooks series. The program allows complete monitoring of every keystroke, and can be modified fully by the instructor. Tech support emails immediately if you have an issue, and implements suggestions from instructors, such as exporting data, and migrating to HTML5 precluding the need to run Java. They also have a program for younger grades K-5. Additionally, they offer a free Office Suite curriculum. This program is very affordable, and is the program I use for my keyboarding instruction.

 

Typing Club

typingclub.com

Typing Club promotes itself as a “free touch typing tutorial” and pledges to be free forever. Instructors may purchase upgrades which allow more management options such as multiple classes, and access to the grade book. But, the bottom line is the exceptional lessons are totally free. They just rolled out a school portal that I signed up for this past week, and it is wonderful! It is web-based through a browser, but it also is available through a Chrome app.

NitroType

www.nitrotype.com/

I was introduced to this wonderful online multi-user typing game by a dear colleague, Tim Byers at Villa Intermediate School in the Santa Ana Unified School District. Tim opens his classroom at lunch, and students pour in to challenge each other to a friendly game of Keyboarding Skills! Tim is the teacher I want to be when I grow up!

My only rule for my students, well, two rules, are:

Home Keys

No Potty Mouth when chatting or choosing an alias

 

Programs for Younger Students

BBC’s Dance Mat Typing

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Free, fun, and very wacky!

TechnoKids
www.technokids.com
K-12 Office Suite application curriculum. Several attendees at my session inquired about training for MS Office programs. The "Techno Kids" curriculum is wonderfully engaging, and age appropriate. Like NitroType, I learned about the Techno Kids curriculum from my colleague, Tim Byers!

Learn to Type by Touch with Keyboarding Online!

Today we will learn about the web-based keyboarding course, Keyboarding Online!

Open your browser and go to the website:
www.keyboardingonline.com

• Click the red button that says "Login Now".
• Enter the School Login and Password.
• Click the Screen Based: Keyboard Mastery button.
• Select the checkbox that states "Trust all applets from Ellsworth Publishing".
• Click "Allow" when asked to download the Java application for Keyboarding Online.
• Click "Open Existing Student File."
• Click on this class period.
• Click on your name.
• Click "Open."
• Enter your password.
• Click "Set Up" on the left, then click on each tab to see how the system is set up for grading your keyboarding lessons.
• Click "Introduction" and we will review this section as a class.
• Click on each step, we will read them out loud as a class.
• Follow the instructions in each section as required. These practice exercises will teach you how to use the Keyboarding Online program and will prepare you for the regular lessons.
• Click "Lessons Menu."
• Type only Line 1 in the Lesson 1, Line 1 window, do not type any other line at this time.
• Repeat Line 1 if you still have time left on the timer. Don't forget this part or your WPM will drop!
• The length of each timing is listed at the top of the window.
• The timer is displayed at the bottom of the screen. When you reach the end of a sentence, you will hit the return key with your right pinky finger, and retype the line until your timer runs out.
• You will only receive a score when you have reached 10 WPM.
• You are required to type each line until you receive a score, but you may repeat a line to receive a higher score.
• You will find your top three scores at the lower right hand side of the window.
• Continue with Line 2 when you have received a score for Line 1.
• Type Line 2 only in this new window. Don't forget to keep typing if your timer has not run out.
• Continue this process for every line in each lesson.
• Click "Progress Reports" and "Comprehensive" to check your progress.
• Click "Grade Reports" and "Current Grade" to see your current grade.

You will be amazed at how quickly your speed and accuracy improve!

2013-2014 Intermediate Technology
with Ms. Kline 

Welcome back to another great year with Spurgeon Intermediate's Technology program!

You will have a lot of fun learning a variety of computer technology related skills including:

• how to type using the touch typing technique.
• digital literacy and how to effectively and efficiently use the Internet.
• how to use Google Apps to create documents, presentations, websites, spreadsheets, blogs, and more!
• use digital art software to create artwork.
• produce multimedia projects with digital photography and digital video.
• use audio editing software to create audio projects or produce podcasts.

Today you will be assigned to your permanent computer station in Lab D.

Over the course of the next two weeks we will:

• review Spurgeon's school-wide procedures especially Spurgeon's P.A.W.S. (Positive Attentive Willing and Safe) program.
• review Ms. Kline's class procedures.
• attend a grade-level opening assembly.
• take a tour of our beautiful new campus.
• review the Santa Ana Unified School District's Acceptable Use Policy.
  
• begin using Ignition's "Digital Literacy and Responsibility".
• learn how to log in to our Google Apps accounts.
• learn how to use a web browser, like Google Chrome, or Firefox to visit a web site.
• begin using the Keyboarding Online program to learn to type by touch.

Keyboarding Online

Spurgeon Technology Students Honored by SAUSD School Board

Tonight, Ms. Kline's amazing advanced technology students were honored at the SAUSD board meeting by Dr. T and the board!

Kevin Huynh has now reached 119 WPM in keyboarding, and he was invited to demonstrate his keyboarding skill in front of the entire board meeting. I think everyone was nervous for Kevin!

Lixi Nava, Eric Morales, Carlos Gonzalez, and Eduardo Garcia presented a video about Spurgeon's amazing teachers that they and the rest of the advanced technology students produced called "Meet Spurgeon's Teachers."

It was such an exciting evening, and the students' families seemed to enjoy it most of all!

Proper Keyboarding Technique

Yesterday, you learned how to log in and use your online keyboarding instruction program, Keyboarding Online. You can be proud of the fact that this system is used in high schools and community colleges around the world, and you are able to use this in middle school!

Today we will review proper body position and keyboarding technique. We will learn about the science of ergonomics, the science of fitting job demands (at work or play) with job conditions, and why it is important to understand ergonomics while keyboarding.

Ergonomics, Integrated Safety Management, Berkeley Lab

Building on Ms. Kline's "Intro to Keyboarding" lesson, today we will learn about the importance of proper hand placement, and how to use the "home row" or "home keys" to improve both your speed, measured in words per minute (WPM), and accuracy while keyboarding.

Click on the "Intro to Keyboarding" image to enlarge.

You can also download the pdf to your desktop after you have clicked on the hyperlink for this file under "Resources" on the right.

Let's Start Keyboarding!

Today we will learn about the web-based keyboarding course, Keyboarding Online!

Open your browser and go to the website:
www.keyboardingonline.com

• Click the red button that says "Login Now".
• Enter the School Login and Password.
• Click the Screen Based: Keyboard Mastery button.
• Select the checkbox that states "Trust all applets from Ellsworth Publishing".
• Click "Allow" when asked to download the Java application for Keyboarding Online.
• Click "Open Existing Student File."
• Click on this class period.
• Click on your name.
• Click "Open."
• Enter your password.
• Click "Set Up" on the left, then click on each tab to see how the system is set up for grading your keyboarding lessons.
• Click "Introduction" and we will review this section as a class.
• Click on each step, we will read them out loud as a class.
• Follow the instructions in each section as required. These practice exercises will teach you how to use the Keyboarding Online program and will prepare you for the regular lessons.
• Click "Lessons Menu."
• Type only Line 1 in the Lesson 1, Line 1 window, do not type any other line at this time.
• Repeat Line 1 if you still have time left on the timer. Don't forget this part or your WPM will drop!
• The length of each timing is listed at the top of the window.
• The timer is displayed at the bottom of the screen. When you reach the end of a sentence, you will hit the return key with your right pinky finger, and retype the line until your timer runs out.
• You will only receive a score when you have reached 10 WPM.
• You are required to type each line until you receive a score, but you may repeat a line to receive a higher score.
• You will find your top three scores at the lower right hand side of the window.
• Continue with Line 2 when you have received a score for Line 1.
• Type Line 2 only in this new window. Don't forget to keep typing if your timer has not run out.
• Continue this process for every line in each lesson.
• Click "Progress Reports" and "Comprehensive" to check your progress.
• Click "Grade Reports" and "Current Grade" to see your current grade.

You will be amazed at how quickly your speed and accuracy improve!