Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/635847
Learn to Type • TypingClub, typingclub.com: The school edition (free and paid versions) allows you to customize lessons, track multiple classes and monitor students' progress. • Keyboarding Without Tears, hwtears.com/kwt: K-5 curriculum includes "computer readiness" and "digital citizen- ship" components. • Nitro Type, nitrotype.com: Students compete in real-time typing races with one another or with typists around the world while improving skills. For our picks of top typing websites, see Tech Tips on page 12. A different type of learning Escalon sixth-grader Alexis White likes typing letters, but says it's tough to type the numbers, because her fingers have to stretch so far. Recently she gave up the "ghost" in TypingClub, the program that Irion's class uses, where transparent ghost hands show students where to place their fingers. She now types on her own — scary, but a big step, says White. In Typing Club, sentences appear on the computer screens and students follow along. The program measures speed and accuracy, and students can tell how they are doing right away. If the letter is green, it's correct. A red letter indicates an error. Anthony Barajas has several red letters. But he is determined to do better. He admits that he didn't want to take keyboarding at first, but his mother talked him into it. "She said it would be good for me," he says, rolling his eyes in frustration. Some students are already using their new skills for homework assignments and other communications. For exam- ple, E.J. Lewis likes typing so he can email his big sister, who's away at college. In Jennifer Pierce's third-grade classroom at Pacific Union School in Arcata, students use a program called Keyboarding Without Tears, designed for K-3 students. During a recent visit, students appeared to be having fun and nobody was crying. Students were impressed to hear Pierce tell them about a girl their age in Idaho who can type 125 WPM. "It's amazing how quick they can get," says Pierce, Teachers Association of Pacific Union. "It's an import- ant skill to have in your professional life. How would you feel if every time you wrote one or two words your pencil snapped and you had to sharpen it? It's the same as stopping to look at the keys." Back when Pierce was a teen, her mother said if she wanted to take an art elective in her freshman year, she'd have to teach herself how to type over the summer. So Pierce bought an old- style flip book and did drills for a half hour every day until she was up to speed. "It was one of the best things I ever did," she says. "It's funny, because many high school s stopped making keyboarding a requirement, while at the same time creating more computer labs and trying to gain more access to technology for students. How can we embrace more technology without making sure stu- dents can use it effectively? I think in our excitement to use computers and the Internet, we lost sight of some of the basics." High school teacher LaShon Tilmon says keyboarding has become a fundamental prerequisite for academic and professional excellence. 45 February 2016